Alex Lynn knows a strong showing at Monza this weekend could prove crucial in him staying on track for a top-two finish in this year’s GP2 Series.

The racing driver from Dunmow heads to the iconic Italian circuit looking to put a disappointing round in Spa behind him.

Lynn, 21, took just one point from the two races in Belgium two weeks ago, but stayed fifth in the championship standings and feels second place is still within his grasp.

However, he knows strong performances are necessary at the final four GP2 rounds of the year – starting at Monza this weekend.

“I’m still very much in the hunt for second in the championship, so now we just need to go and produce some good results,” he said.

“That would mean a podium in the feature race (at Monza) and a good reversed-grid race, and we can get that without needing to do anything spectacularly different to what we’ve been doing so far.

“I’ve no doubt I can be competitive.”

Lynn has good memories of racing at the iconic Italian circuit, having finished second there on his way to becoming GP3 Series champion last year and is looking forward to tackling one of the highest speed tracks on the calendar.

“Because of the nature of Monza, I’m really looking forward to it,” he said.

“In Formula Three I felt a bit cheated because both my trips there were marred by rain and last year in GP3 I had a title to try and win, so my points for a second place were really valuable.

“This time, if it’s dry, it’s going to be great, because you get racing like you don’t see anywhere else.

“I enjoy driving the circuit so much and my favourite part is the Ascari chicane.

“It’s very very technical and you’ve always got low downforce for the long straights.

“It’s extremely difficult to get right, but when you do, you’re floating from the left apex to the right to the final left and it’s such a sweet feeling when you see the gearshift lights coming on nice and early – because you’ve got such a good exit – on the run down to Parabolica.”

Qualifying in Monza will take place at 2.55pm (British time) tomorrow, with the feature race at 2.40pm on Saturday and the sprint race at 9.35am on Sunday.

Lynn, who is also development driver for the Williams Martini Racing Formula One team, has been preparing for his trip to Italy by dissecting his performances in the previous GP2 Series round at Spa.

He has been working with his DAMS Racing team engineers to work out where things didn’t go as they wanted and is feeling positive for the trip to Monza.

He added: “We had a bit of a disappointing weekend at Spa, but we’ve actually been very positive.

“You just have to take it on the chin sometimes.

“We’ve regrouped and understood what went wrong, and I feel that at Monza we can be competitive.”