29/07/2006
NEWS STORY
Trident Racing - Gimmi Bruni 1st Andreas Zuber DNF
An absolutely perfect Gianmaria Bruni has dominantly obtained his second season victory for Trident Racing. Bruni was at the front practically from the pole position right to the end, except for some of the laps after the pit stop. Even with this extraordinary victory, the Roman driver was quite anxious due to a few small problems, which kept him from obtaining an easy victory, granting the German public a great fight on tenths of a second with Lewis Hamilton. But Bruni continued to control his opponent with coldness and great determination, bringing himself once again to the top of the championship classification. Andreas Zuber, due to a contact at the second curve where he found himself already in sixth position thanks to a great start, instead managed only 8 laps where he then was forced to retire from the race due to the consequences of the contact from the first lap. Tomorrow he will start from the twentyfourth position.
Gimmi Bruni: "Yesterday I said that it would be hard. In fact, it was, because in the beginning Piquet hit me damaging my exhaust. Then I had an electronic problem with the gearbox that unabled me to use the 6th gear. In the end, Premat was behind me for a few laps, while I was overlapping him. Hamilton was chasing me, so I was pretty busy holding on to the first position. But the car was good and I knew I could win regardless. I think I did a good job".
Alessandro Alunni Bravi – Team Principal: "Today Gimmi deserves a great hand shake for his splendid performance: this victory is entirely his. Gimmi did not make even the slightest mistake and pushed, driving the whole race as if he was trying for a fastest lap, even if the left part of the exhaust was broken, because of a contact with Piquet during the first lap and even without the sixth gear just after a few laps: an excellent race, above all after the pitstop, when he took advantage during overlapping while defending with experience the leadership. This victory brings Trident Racing at the top of the ranks in the championship classification, giving the team members a great motivation and trust for the final rush of the season. I would like to thank the entire team, from the engineers to the mechanics, for the way they have reacted after a few difficult races and for having continued to work hard for the victory".
Racing Engineering - Adam Carroll 6th Javi Villa 11th
Racing Engineering's Adam Carroll starts tomorrow's GP2 Sprint race from 3rd on the grid after finishing today's feature event in 6th. Meanwhile it was a good day for Javi Villa as he showed his future potential finishing 11th after starting from 22nd.
A blistering start by both Racing Engineering drivers saw Great Britain's Adam Carroll move from 12th to 7th by the end of lap one whilst the less experienced Javi Villa moved up 6 places to 16th.
A quick pit-stop on lap 14 by the team meant that Adam could go out and challenge hard on his second set of tyres. Villa pushed on up to 8th position before pitting later in the race.
The second half of the race saw a tough battle between 5th place Carroll and the hard charging Nelson Piquet Jr who eventually broke through. Villa continued his solid progression finishing in 11th position.
Team Principal Alfonso de Orleans Borbon said: "I'm happy with today and I'm so pleased with Adam. He drives with such courage and I've said before we are desperately trying to get him the perfect car and it is nearly here. Hopefully tomorrow! Javi drove solidly and made up 11 places. The most pleasing thing is the way the whole team has worked and if we all continue like this, our first win this season will come very soon."
Adam Carroll: "That was pretty hard work out there today. I made a good start and was happy with the way everything was going. Throughout the race the car had lots of grip on the rear but a lot of under-steer and was therefore slow at the apex of the corners and the other guys could make up so much ground on me. Tomorrow should be good from 3rd. It is so important to get a good start and hopefully I'll be back on the podium."
Javi Villa: "I'm really pleased about my whole race today. I said after qualifying that I would be happy to finish mid-field but I'm really happy to come 11th. I made a good start and after the pit stop my new rear tyres gave me much better grip. Now I'm excited about tomorrow and I'm planning on getting a good start!"
Super Nova International - Jose Maria Lopez 7th Fairuz Fauzy 22nd
Slightly cooler today with the threat of rain holding off, this 40-lap race was eventful but rewarding for Super Nova, after some nail biting moments! Fairuz Fauzy stalled on the grid, & moments later Jose Maria Lopez who made a brilliant start, got clipped & spun 360°, yet managed to continue pitting on lap 2 as planned, coming out six places up. Meanwhile the majority of the field pitted mid race, Jose drove consistently reaching 8th position, where he remained until the very last lap when Nelson Piquet Jnr, 4 places ahead of him clipped the rear of iSports car & retired, leaving Jose to finish the race in 7th position, gaining 2 championship points.
Team mate Fairuz Fauzy who began from the pit lane, struggled to gain any places, and despite some quick times, ended the race in a disappointing 22nd.
Team Principal - David Sears: "Jose Maria Lopez made up for his first lap crash in qualifying yesterday, by coming through from 26th place at the start and surviving a spin on the first corner to finish 7th place & start front row for the second race on Sunday. By being the earliest car to pit, the team strategy paid dividends and we all look forward to race tomorrow. Fairuz Fauzy unfortunately stalled on the grid and had to be pushed into the pit lane. He eventually got going a lap down and ended up finishing 22nd. However Fairuz managed to be 0.2seconds quicker than his team mate on their fastest laps, which shows that if he hadn't made the start line error he could have possibly finished in the top eight, which is extremely encouraging!"
Jose Maria Lopez: "That race felt good! We had our work cut out for us starting from the back, but the team did a great, early pit stop! We were aiming for top eight and we got it, & 2 points, so I'm happy! I am looking forward to starting tomorrows race from 2nd row on the grid."
Fairuz Fauzy: "This is the first time I've stalled on the grid for the race, so I'm frustrated about that as from then on it was hard. We have a great car, so tomorrow morning we can aim for fastest lap as well as improving positions"
Piquet Sports - Nelson Piquet Jr 13th
Nelson Piquet Jr suffered a devastating mechanical retirement from fourth place just metres from the finish line after putting in a brilliant performance at today's GP2 feature race at the Hockenheimring. Nelson looked set for a possible win until he was delivered a drive-through penalty. He fought back valiantly, making several stunning overtaking manoeuvres, and was battling hard for third with Timo Glock when forced to retire.
Nelson made a great start to the 40-lap race, moving from his third place start straight up to second past Glock. He fell to third on lap 15 after his first set of tyres began to wear, and immediately made his compulsory pitstop. He came out in third behind Glock and Gimmi Bruni, but was then forced to make a drive through penalty for speeding in the pitlane. He emerged in seventh and started chasing down the drivers ahead. He made a stunning overtake on Ernesto Viso on lap 23, followed by another stellar pass on lap 26 on Adam Carroll to go into fifth. On lap 33 he passed a struggling Giorgio Pantano and then set upon third-placed Glock. He was right on his tail and went to overtake when he suddenly began to slow. He battled with his car to try to bring it past the finish line but just could not make it, pulling onto the grass with the finish line in sight.
Tomorrow's 27-lap sprint race will begin at 10am local time, with Nelson lining up 13th on the grid.
Nelson Piquet Jr: We are not sure exactly what was wrong with the car, at the moment we think it might be something to do with the fuel or the pump but we're not certain. With the speeding in the pitlane, that's something else we need to check when the car comes back. The limiter was on and then it went off and then on again, so although it's always the driver's fault, something wasn't right. I'm obviously really disappointed and it makes things a bit more difficult for the championship, but it's not finished yet.