Pierre Gasly was crowned the 2015 GP2 Series champion in Abu Dhabi after getting the better of Prema Racing team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi.
Gasly became the second Frenchman after Romain Grosjean to take the title, and did so with a great Feature race victory on Saturday at the Yas Marina Circuit, and although he finished outside the points positions on Sunday, Giovinazzi was unable to better sixth himself, giving the title to the Red Bull Junior Team driver by eight points.
“So we are champions, its unbelievable, it feels amazing finally after such a long season,” said Gasly. “A great and long fight with Antonio to get the title at the last race.
“It’s just mega so I just want to thank the team for all the hard work all season. It wasn’t easy every race but we just kept fighting until the end, until the last weekend and we got it!
“Honestly I have no words to describe because it’s been so hard to get it that it just feels awesome at the moment. I give thanks to my family, my friends, all the people for supporting me all season, who kept believing in me and big thanks to Red Bull and Prema for the opportunity. Of course without them nothing would have been possible.
“Now it’s time to enjoy with everyone involved in that achievement. Big congrats to the team as well because for the first season to win the team championship and finish one and two in the drivers championship, I think that’s the first time in the GP2 history so big congrats to them and I’m looking forward to the future now.”
Looking back at his victory on Saturday that gave him the advantage heading into Sunday’s Sprint race, Gasly was happy that the Prema car was once again really quick, and the Frenchman repelled a challenge from ART Grand Prix’s Nobuharu Matsushita, who was running the alternative strategy, for his fourth Feature race victory of the season.
“The car was really quick from the first lap and we also had a very good strategy with the team,” said Gasly. “In addition, tyre degradation wasn’t too bad. Everything went smoothly.
“We lost a bit of time at the pit stop because the pit lane was really busy but in the end it didn’t affect us too much. I just tried to push as much as I could while saving the tyres in the end to make sure I could keep Matsushita at bay when he had moved to Supersofts. I pulled a bit of a gap but the race wasn’t easy.”
