15/07/2006
NEWS STORY
Super Nova International - Jose Maria Lopez 3rd Fairuz Fauzy DNF
In blistering 38 degrees Jose Maria Lopez made a great start from his pole position, proving his talent, recording some very quick sector times. Unfortunately a wheel nut was cross-threaded during his pit stop, which caused him to lose valuable time and places. Back out in 6th Jose battled hard to regain places, which he successfully did passing both Giorgio Pantano (Petrol Ofisi FMS) & Nelson Piquet Jnr. (Piquet Sports) to take a well deserved 3rd place. Meanwhile team mate Fairuz Fauzy gained several places before he took out Trident driver Andreas Zuber while going into one of the circuits sharp hairpin corners. Although Fairuz was then able continue, his race would end short when he took corner 6 took quickly, hit Bruni and then experienced hydraulic problems.
Timo Glock took 1st place for iSport International today ahead of ART driver Alexandre Premat and Super Nova's Jose Maria Lopez who has scored 6 points this weekend so far, putting him joint 7th in the driver championship (21points)
Team Principal - David Sears: "Jose Maria Lopez looked set to win the race today, after a making an excellent start and leading comfortably until his pit stop. Unfortunately a rear wheel nut got crossed threaded and Jose lost an enormous amount of time in the pits. He then drove a fantastic race fighting first with Giorgio Pantano and passing him for 4th place, and then catching Piquet Jnr. and passing him to finish strong 3rd. In the second half of the race Jose was between 0.5 and 1 second quicker than any other car on the track, so the team feel the speed is there to try and win the second race tomorrow morning from the third row of the grid.
Fairuz Fauzy was really strong in the opening laps moving up from 23rd to 15th place, but then an over optimistic overtaking move, spun his car & Zuber. After this incident hydraulic gear change started playing up & Fairuz had to retire. He have to start at the back again for the second race tomorrow."
Jose Maria Lopez: "It was a very good race! It would be great to keep this up, tomorrow and for the rest of the season. I'm pleased to have scored some points, and just a little frustrated as we could have won today, but the car felt good!"
Fairuz Fauzy: "I had a very good start gaining many places in the first few laps, and suddenly I lost my brakes again like yesterday in qualifying. It was unfortunate that I hit one of my colleagues but there was nothing I could about it. I'm disappointed for the team who have done a great job. And I will be starting at the back of the grid."
Piquet Sports - Nelson Piquet Jr 4th
Nelson Piquet Jr ensured the championship battle is right back on by closing the gap from himself to Lewis Hamilton after finishing today's 41-lap Magny Cours GP2 feature race in fourth position, while Hamilton could only finish 19th.
Starting from fifth on the grid, Nelson had a difficult race after he was forced to lose positions while avoiding an incident on the first lap when Hamilton crashed into fellow Brit Adam Carroll. His Piquet Sports team chose an excellent strategy for position by bringing Nelson in for his compulsory pitstop very early, with Nelson able to come out in effectively second position.
However, he was forced into third when Alexandre Premat shunted into the side of him, forcing him onto the grass. He struggled with the car set-up for the race, and with bad tyre wear in the last quarter of the race, Nelson fell down to fourth after Jose Maria Lopez passed him with four laps to go.
Nevertheless, Nelson was happy to nurse his car home to fourth, scoring five valuable championship points, closing the championship gap to just 17 points. Tomorrow's 28-lap sprint race will begin at 10am local time, with today's top eight reversed to form the grid. Nelson will begin in fifth position behind pole-sitter Fernando Monfardini, Lucas Di Grassi, Giorgio Pantano and his Piquet Sports team-mate Xandi Negrao.
Nelson Piquet Jr: "I didn't do the best start, but I got away okay. But when I got to the first corner, Hamilton went into Carroll right in front of me and I had to go wide to make sure I didn't get hit by anyone, so I lost out there. The car was not great, it was a bit of a battle to drive and then we stopped early. It was a fantastic pitstop by the team, and it was good for strategy because we came out in second, but it meant that the car was totally undriveable for the last ten laps. I knew Lewis was far back so it was really important for me to finish strongly, so although I am unhappy with only getting fourth, it's great for the championship because it's closed the gap from me to Hamilton. I start in a good place tomorrow, and the plan is to score some good points and get even closer to Hamilton."
DAMS - Ferdinando Monfardini 8th Franck Perera DNF
Ferdinando Monfardini will start from the 1st position on tomorrow's race after taking 8th place in today's long race in Magny-Cours. Ferdinando has made an impressive performance today, he managed to push enough in the crucial moments in order to gain the point of 8th place on the track, he passed 2 cars on the start and 3 more during the race. From 14th place on the grid, he has made another demonstration of his level of performance in racing with an impressive progression in the classification.
Ferdinando Monfardini : "For the second time in my career I will start in the front row of a GP2 race, it is amazing. My start was very good and I passed 2 cars. During the first lap I had a good fight with Di Grassi, it was hot but I could not pass him. I spent 11 laps behind him and we decided to stop for the tyre change as I was loosing some time behind him. I got back on track behind Jani, I passed him at the braking of Adelaide hairpin. The car was good and I managed to pass more cars, Viso in Imola esses and Yoshimoto in the 180°, at that time I reached the 8th position. In the end of the race I decided to manage without risk, I was just driving fast enough to make a gap over Yoshimoto but Di Grassi was too far to try something. The start will be crucial tomorrow, and I have a good chance to make a big result."
Today's race became a nightmare for Franck Perera when he stalled on the start of the formation lap. He left from the last position and passed several cars before a retired due to a technical problem.
Racing Engineering - Javier Villa 17th Adam Carroll 20th
Adam Carroll lost what looked to be another certain podium on the first lap of race one at Magny Cours when championship leader Lewis Hamilton clattered into his rear at the Adelaide hairpin, necessitating a long stop for a new rear wing and dropping the Ulsterman from third to the back of the field.
A great start by Adam pushed him up from sixth on the grid, and he was running easily with the front runners. The collision was heartbreaking for the Racing Engineering mechanics, who were soon hard at work in the pitlane. Meanwhile Javier Villa had a grip problem at the start and had his hands full trying to hold off his rivals all around him. Despite the problems, however, both drivers were soon able to run at a strong pace throughout the remainder of the race. Adam lost almost two laps in the pits, but when he re-emerged his pace was consistent with the front runners, while Javi soon had his car sorted and was able to fight hard against his rivals.
At the end of the race Adam was a lap down in twentieth position, while Javi passed a number of drivers, including Hamilton, to finish seventeenth behind eventual race winner Timo Glock.
Disappointed team principal Alfonso de Orleans Borbon stated after the race: Obviously the race was a great disappointment for us: Adam had a good qualifying session and was up to third place, so a podium was definitely there to be taken. It's just a shame that he was hit out of contention, but these things happen sometimes, unfortunately. The boys did a great job to get Adam back out so quickly, and at least he was able to run well afterwards. Javi had a great drive after some early problems, and his overtake on Hamilton was great to see. We can't despair too much, and we'll just hard to work hard tonight and see what happens tomorrow."
A sanguine Adam Carroll later noted: I had a pretty good start and the race was going well until the hairpin, when I was hit hard from behind under braking and my rear wing was broken. It lost us two laps in the pits, which is a big shame, but at least the lap times were good afterwards. We could have been in a strong position, but that's racing. We'll just have to have a good start tomorrow and see what happens."
Javier Villa sat cooling down in the truck after the race, and said: At the start of the race I had some grip problems and I really needed to watch out not to damage my tyres too much. I had to still push a bit, because I wanted to keep my position, but I went off track. After the pitstop the car felt much better, and I was able to lap with good, consistent times and fight with the others. Hopefully we'll have the car like that from the beginning tomorrow, and then I can really get out there and push."
Trident Racing - Gimmi Bruni DNF Andreas Zuber DNF
Maurizio Salvadori - Team Owner: "Both our drivers retired during the first lap: Gimmi because of a clutch problem, Andreas because heavily hit by a competitor who came at the hairpin surely too fast. Today has not been our day. Tomorrow obviously will be difficult, I hope a bit less than today".