The fifth round of the Bridgestone-supported GP2 Series will take place at the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring, on 11-12 July. The Nurburgring is an undulating circuit, set in a scenic and rural location, and is a race which currently only features every other year on the Formula One and GP2 calendar.

GP2 drivers will be racing on the Bridgestone GP2 soft compound tyre here this season, which is one step softer than in 2007 when the medium compound was the specification allocated for this track. It will be the first time that the soft tyre is used as part of the 2009 GP2 Series, the other circuits scheduled for this compound being Valencia, Spa and Portimao.

 In 2007, German driver Timo Glock (iSport International), and Spanish driver Javier Villa (Racing Engineering) both took race wins at the Nurburgring. This season, Nico Hulkenberg (ART Grand Prix) is the only German driver in the GP2 Series and will be looking to emulate Glock’s success in the feeder series which took him to Formula One.

“At the Nurburgring one of the key factors influencing the races is the weather, as it can be very changeable so we could see our GP2 wet tyre used for the first time this season,” said Hirohide Hamashima. “This circuit has an interesting course layout and there are two typical points for overtaking, these are the fast downhill corners at turn one and turn thirteen. The braking and turning in required for these high-speed corners is a challenge for the drivers. It is anticipated that the wear rate and degradation of Bridgestone’s soft compound tyre will not be too high at this venue, but tyre management will be important due to the heavy braking necessary for overtaking here.”