17/02/2008
NEWS STORY
ART Grand Prix - Romain Grosjean 4th Stephen Jelley 23rd
Wet conditions and chaos saw ART Grand Prix walk away from the Indonesian round of the GP2 Asia series with two fourth placed finishes, both courtesy of Romain Grosjean. After winning both rounds last time out in Bahrain, the Frenchman added another 8 very valuable points to both his and the team's overall tally.
For race one, the dust on the Sentul circuit caused the engine in his car to overheat, leaving him unable to continue his fight for victory, while chaotic conditions in race two left the ART driver with very little grip in his rear tyres.
Teammate Stephen Jelley had a disappointing weekend with a disqualification in race one due to the mechanics refuelling his car on the grid. He had finished tenth after starting from the back, the same position he started in for race two after the DQ. Unfortunately, due to the treacherous conditions, he failed to make it to the chequered flag.
The team now looks forward to the next round of the championship that will take place in Malaysia from the 23rd to the 25th of March.
Romain Grosjean: "There were several differences at Sentul compared to Bahrain: only 30 minutes of free practice and then, and most importantly, the rain, which disturbed the weekend a lot I spun on my first flyer with slick tyres because the track was a bit wet at the beginning of the session. It was a true disappointment because I think that I could have been much higher on the starting grid. The beginning of the first race went rather well as I managed to keep my fourth place, but we lost time during the pit stop. The team was not ready for such an early stop when the first safety car came in. The left rear tyre was still in the box when I came in, my mechanics thought that it was necessary to change all 4 and not just 2 tyres, and the nut on the left back was stuck. I went out again with the bit between my teeth, and I gained several places. However, my engine started to overheat when I attacked Hanley. The problem became so bad that the engine went into safety mode and I had no more than 70% power. Therefore the objective was to rejoin and try and score some points.
The second race was very chaotic with very precarious conditions. After having had an impeccable start to the race thanks to a perfect car, I fought for 3rd place with Pavlovic, but because of the drying track we very quickly destroyed our back tyres. The end of the race was chaotic. Hanley tapped Pavlovic and he turned into me. In the end a driver one lap down spun across the track in the final turn. Senna had to slow down and there were four of us capable of finishing second but I could not do anymore as I had no traction.
We knew that we could not expect to win every race like we did in Dubai, and this weekend is a very enriching experience. We limited the damage and have another 10 points, but there is still more progress to be made, by me and the team."
Stephen Jelley: "Race one, well, we had a penalty from qualifying and had to start at the back of the grid, and we had a gearbox problem at the start which meant we were a little bit late fuelling the car up, and the fuelling machine didn't work quite correctly. So we got out with one minute to go, but the car didn't have enough fuel in it so we put some fuel in it on the grid which is forbidden. Then I started the race and managed to fight through and finished tenth on the grid, which is quite a good effort. I took advantage of one of the safety cars to pit and the strategy and everything was good. The officials threw me out of the race because the team put fuel into the car, which is a bit silly because it gave me no performance advantage.
We had to start at the back again because we got kicked out yesterday. I managed to get up to sixteenth; it was a wet race, pouring with rain. Unfortunately after the safety car, somebody drove into the back of me and that ended my race. I didn't have a very good weekend really. It's been a bit of a strange one because the circuit was in very bad condition, and the race track has been clumping up underneath the car a bit so it feels like driving around in a gravel pit. All the cars have got big holes in the side parts and are falling to bits and my helmet's completely broken, so I don't think we'll be coming back here. But it's been interesting..."
Frederic Vasseur: "If the aim was to learn all the difficult possible conditions of GP2, the weekend was a success! It's been a nightmare for the drivers between the weather and the track conditions. Therefore it is quite hard to judge the performance of the drivers but it was important that they could show us that they can handle the situation and finish the races in such horrible conditions. Romain did particularly well and scored some valuable points for both championships."
Trident Racing - Ho Pin Tung 6th Harald Schlegelmilch DNF
Trident Racing ended the second round of the GP2 Asia Series in style at Sentul: Ho Pin Tung scored a valuable points finish on the Indonesian track, adding a positive ending to an extremely thorough weekend. The race was once again conditioned by environmental factors, this time being heavy rain to compromise the drivers` vision and control. Despite the decision - taken by race control - to start under safety-car conditions, Harald Schlegelmilch, who was trying to gamble on dry tires, ended up off-track on lap 4. Tung was able to keep a strong pace easily, earning more and more positions on each re-start. In the final corners, he managed to keep Sebastien Buemi behind, making no mistakes in what will be remembered as the hardest weekend of the year. Trident Racing will be back on-track before the end of the month at Paul Ricard, for the first GP2 Main Series collective tests of the season. The team will line-up the new Mechachrome-powered 2008 Dallara chassis.
Ho Pin Tung: "This weekend proved to be extremely challenging under any aspect, and today`s points finish represents a partial reward for the great job done by the whole team. The race itself was even tougher but, thanks to our great handling of our car, I was able to climb up to the 6th spot. In the closing stages I eventually managed to hold off Sebastien Buemi, despite a problem with a car that spun around in front of us. I have to thank Trident Racing and all the staff for the outstanding job they made to put me on the grid after the damage suffered on yesterday`s Race 1. They were great, as they also had to replace the broken engine: I hope this will be the end of our bad luck period. We have everything is needed to be at the top".
DPR - Armaan Ebrahim 9th Diego Nunes 10th
David Price Racing were back on track in Indonesia today, enjoying two top ten finishes in the fourth round of the GP2 Asia Series held at Sentul circuit this weekend. Indian driver Armaan Ebrahim finished ninth just ahead of team mate, Brazilian Diego Nunes, who crossed the line in tenth place.
Yesterday's feature race had a premature end for both drivers with Ebrahim retiring with a cooling problem and Nunes crashing heavily. The DPR crew worked late into the night and early morning to repair the Brazilian's car, but were back on the grid for today's sprint distance race.
Ebrahim lined up in 16th place with Nunes behind him in 17th position for the start. The monsoon weather of Indonesia had returned today and with the treacherous conditions the race started behind the safety car. Five drivers opted to start on slicks, a decision which would have played into their hands if the rain abated, but it continued to fall and these cars soon struggled with the conditions.
Both DPR drivers coped well in the difficult conditions, benefiting from others mistakes and tyre decisions, although with only 11 laps of green flag racing within the race distance and a slippery track, there was little opportunity to race hard and make up ground. Both drivers held position at the start, and then started to make progress forward, but Nunes was forced to take avoiding action from a spinning car of Puglisi, which ended up with the Brazilian skating across the gravel trap. He was able to continue but had dropped back to 19th. With safety car periods littering the race it was a challenge for the DPR drivers to develop a good rhythm, but they both kept their cool and out of trouble. With less than six minutes of the race remaining Ebrahim was lying 11th and Nunes in 14th place. A return to green flag racing for the dash to the flag quickly saw Nunes move up to 12th behind his team mate.
As the team mates had the chequered flag in their sight both drivers had improved, with Ebrahim in ninth, ahead of Nunes in tenth, and Nunes was pushing hard to overtake, but the two finished in this order. After crossing the finishing line Ebrahim's race took an unexpected turn, with a spinning car crashing into him and causing damage to the car.
David Price, Team Principal, DPR, summed up the short sprint race saying, "It was a race of attrition today and I'm pleased that we survived and both drivers finished. Two top tens is more than we expected today, but Armaan and Diego drove well. I was a bit worried when I saw them racing each other on the last lap, but thankfully they were sensible. The DPR boys have had a tough weekend. After working late to put Diego's car back together, watching the two drivers complete the race unscathed, they then have Armaan's car coming back with a corner missing!"
The DPR team returns to its UK base and turns its attentions to preparing the new GP2 cars which will race in the main series this summer. The first test for the car will take place in two weeks time. The GP2 Asia Series continues next month with the third event being held as support to the Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix.
DAMS - Kamui Kobayashi 15th Jerome d'Ambrosio DNF
Today the DAMS Team competed in the second race of the Indonesian round of the GP2 Championship on the Sentul circuit. Jerome D'Ambrosio and Kamui Kobayashi, who both had a hard day yesterday, started from 15th and 23rd positions on the grid. The field set off behind the safety car because of the difficult weather conditions. The race itself was marked by numerous neutralisations.
Kamui's only hope of scoring points was to take a gamble so the Japanese driver shod dry weather tyres hoping the shower would soon cease and that track conditions would evolve. Unfortunately, the rain did not stop until 3 laps from the finish, and he saw the flag in 15th place. Jerome was no luckier than on Saturday. The Belgian driver could only manage a handful of laps until his gearbox gave up the ghost and he had to retire.
The team returns to Europe disappointed at not having scored any points but there are still 6 races to go, and it is optimistic for the rest of the championship. The next round of the Asian GP2 Series will take place on 22nd/23rd March as a supporting event for the Malaysian Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Eric Boullier, team manager: "Leaving Sentul without scoring points was not what we were aiming for. We did our very best to try and cope with a track that was very hard on cars in addition to the difficult weather conditions and erratic reliability. Kamui's weekend was spoilt by an overheating issue for which the team was not responsible; it was not solved until Saturday evening. As for Jerome he ran into transmission problems on 2 occasions. Despite this disappointing result I'd like to congratulate the team for all its hard work in Sentul. I'm convinced that our efforts will pay off in Malaysia."
Kamui Kobayashi: "This morning the overheating problem that had afflicted my car all weekend was finally fixed. Unfortunately, I had to start from 23rd place on the grid and my chances of scoring points were almost non-existent unless I took a gamble. So we decided to start of dry weather tyres, and it would have paid off if the track conditions had improved more quickly. We've been very unlucky this weekend, and we'll soon forget Sentul to concentrate all the better on the rest of the championship."
Jerome d'Ambrosio: "Short is the best adjective to describe my race today. After starting behind the safety car I was able to cover only a handful of laps before my gearbox got stuck in neutral. It's frustrating, but I still have absolute confidence in both my capacities and those of the team. I'm sure that when we have a weekend without mechanical problems we'll be fighting at the front. I hope that I've used up my share of bad luck and the aim is to restart the season on the right foot in Malaysia in a few weeks time."
Qi-Meritus.Mahara - Hiroki Yoshimoto 20th Luca Filippi 21st
Under wet conditions after a dry morning, the 31-lap-long second race started at 1 PM. On the grid Hiroki Yoshimoto was in 11th position while Luca Filippi the recently appointed Honda Formula One test driver was leaving from the back of the grid as a consequence of an exclusion from the results after race 1. This was, of course, a huge disappointment for the team having scored ten points in Dubai on the occasion of the new series first event.
The wet race was interrupted by several outings of the safety car. Filippi was sided in an incident with Nunes. The incident almost stopped Filippi's race prematurely on the tenth lap. But Luca was able to restart the car and bring his car to a finish for the second race of the second GP2 Asia Series event.
Hiroki Yoshimoto in car no. 26 encountered a problem with the clutch and his car stalled on the grid thus losing the advantage of starting in 11th place. He started along his team-mate at the back of the grid. When Hiroki pitted on lap 13 he felt he had nothing more to loose and tried slick tires in case the rain would stop. Three laps from the end his gearbox blocked and he was out of the race.
Luca Filippi:"There was nothing I could do when Diego Nunes and I touched cars. He pushed me off. It took me three laps to restart the car. I have the impression that the 31 lap long race never started and that we were always behind the pace car. In my opinion, it was not wet enough to start behind a pace car. The rest of the time I could never really push because of combination of the conditions, the accidents and the interruptions. I am looking forward to better times in Malaysia and will be glad to fly there as soon as possible."
Hiroki Yoshimoto: "I went through an unexpected problem on the grid. I released the clutch and nothing happened and then I stalled. So I had to start from the back. After the safety car was out for a long period again, I came back to the pits because I felt that there was a problem with the gear. I used the stop to take a gamble with slick tires in case the weather would clear and the track would dry. It did not work this way. In any case, I had to stop three laps before the end with a gearbox problem.
Peter Thompson, president and team founder, Qi-Meritus.Mahara: "The team came in with a lot of hopes. It was not a good week-end despite a podium and a strong race by Luca Filippi. Hopefully we can do better at our home track in Malaysia for the third event of the season. We are looking forward to some more development and improvement for the third event."
To check out our Sentul Race 2 gallery, click here