A new season begins for Racing Engineering in Barcelona.

12/05/16 A new season begins for Racing Engineering in Barcelona.

The GP2 teams are assembling this weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain for round one of the 2016 GP2 Series and Racing Engineering are looking forward to another competitive season with their drivers Jordan King and new signing Norman Nato.

The 2015 Series was very successful for the Spanish team with their driver Alexander Rossi finishing second in the Drivers’ Championship with three wins and Racing Engineering taking the same position in the Team Championship.

The pre-season testing at Barcelona and Jerez has been very successful for both the team and drivers with one or other driver in the top four in every session, when not going for race simulations, at Barcelona and, at Jerez, Norman was fastest on day one and three with Jordan taking the honours on day 2.

Once again we can expect the 2016 GP2 season to be as competitive as ever but with the confidence gained from the pre-season testing both Norman and Jordan must be considered as very strong contenders for this years’ Championship.

The GP2 cars will use the Pirelli P Zero Orange hard and P Zero Yellow soft tyres this weekend and with a significant performance gap between the two compounds it will reward a good high downforce set up and careful tyre management as the quick corners and abrasive surface of the circuit mean that tyre wear is a very important factor in achieving a good result.

Practice: Fri 13 May 2016, 12:00 (GMT+2)
Qualifying Session: Fri 13 May 2016, 15:55 (GMT+2)
Race 1: Sat 14 May 2016, 15:40 (GMT+2)
Race 2: Sun 15 May 2016, 10:25 (GMT+2)

©GP2

©GP2

©GP2

Length of lap:	4.655 km

2015 best Racing Engineering:	P5 in Qualifying - P3 in R1 – P4 in R2

Tyre Wear:	Medium

Brake Wear:	Medium

Downforce:	High

Throttle Average:	62%

Fastest turn:	T9

Hardest Braking Point:	T1

Gear shifts per lap:	31

Top Speed:	310 km/h

Average Speed (Qualifying) 2015:	187.176 km/h

Average Speed (Race) 2015:	168.044 km/h

Pole Position Time 2015:	1:29.273s

1. The track has a maximum gradient of 7%. It is right after the finish line.

2. It was in Barcelona that Michael Schumacher took his first win with Ferrari in 1996 after a dominant performance during a torrential rainstorm.

3. Racing Engineering’s Alexander Rossi finished on the podium in 2015 thanks to a third place in the feature GP2 race.

4. The Elf corner is the place favored by spectators because it offers a very good view of one of the best overtaking opportunities.

5. The main straight is one of the longest in the championship, with 1.047 meters.

6. To encourage overtaking and allow cars to enter the main straight very close to each other, a chicane was introduced into the stadium zone (corners 14 and 15) in 2007.

7. One of the key sections of the circuit is before reaching Turn 10 (La Caixa) because it is one of the few areas where you can overtake.

8. The section between the Elf and Renault corners is critical because it is necessary to keep a delicate balance between speed and control.

9. The circuit is built on top of a hill, since its layout adapts to the terrain, it has several sections with ups and downs, making interesting for both drivers and spectators.

10. The Circuito de Cataluña is one of the most complete on the international scene, with a variety of corners. Making it not only interesting from a driving point of view, but also difficult to set up a car properly.

©GP2

©GP2

©GP2

• F1 top speed is 335 km/h and GP2 is 310 km/h.

• F1 drivers will change gears 58 times per lap while GP2 drivers have to do so 31 times.

• Race distance is different: F1 go around the circuit for 66 laps and GP2 does a total of 62 laps during two days- 37 laps in the Feature Race and 26 in the Sprint Race.

• F1 pole position was set at 1:24.681 in 2015 – GP2 pole position was set at 1:29.273 in 2015.