GP2 Series

Pierre Gasly: “I’m very happy about this positive weekend”

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Pierre Gasly - Credit: Sam Bloxham/GP2 Series Media Service

Pierre Gasly secured his second consecutive Feature race victory in Hungary on Saturday to move back to the top of the GP2 Series championship standings.

After failing to win any race since 2013 before triumphing at Silverstone two weeks ago, the Frenchman proved that he had firmly got the monkey off his back with a strong drive at the Hungaroring, starting from pole position and picking the right strategy to lead a Prema Racing 1-2 ahead of team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi.

“It has been a fantastic day for me,” said Gasly. “Starting from pole position, the main thing was to get a good start and keep the lead and it’s what I managed to do.

“I still had a lot of pressure with Antonio and Sirotkin behind and they were really fast. I had to push for the entire race. It wasn’t easy at all with the very hot conditions and definitely not easy on the tyres. The Team chose the right strategy and we had a good pace on both compounds.

“In the end we managed to win, our second win in a row after Silverstone. It feels really good to achieve such a result, being on the top step of the podium and scoring big points. This is a really important moment of the season and it’s vital to score big. I want to thank the team for the great car I had since the beginning of the weekend.”

Gasly remembered the lost talent of Jules Bianchi with his victory, a year after his fellow Frenchman succumbed to his injuries suffered during the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix.

“Winning here at the Hungaroring is very special for me after one year since we lost Jules, it really means a lot,” said Gasly.

Gasly was unable to better seventh during Sunday’s Sprint race, feeling it was a boring affair, but bemoaned the first lap turn two spin from Arthur Pic that the Red Bull-backed driver felt denied him a better finish.

“There isn’t much to say about today’s race,” said Gasly. “It was a bit boring because it is always difficult to overtake here and I didn’t have a good start from P8.

“There was a kind of a mess in turn one and two where I tried to be opportunistic and recover a few positions, but after that, Pic spun in front of me which forced me to lose three spots instead, dropping to P8. So I basically lost the positions I gained at the beginning.

“After the safety car restart I was seventh. It was difficult to follow the cars and save the tyres at the same time so we decided to save the tyres and push for the fastest lap at the end. I managed to grab it with two laps to go, scoring two extra points for the championship.

“The result is still ok even if we would have wished for more. Overall I’m very happy about this positive weekend. We’ll keep pushing at Hockenheim aiming for the same amount of success there.”

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