25/04/2008
NEWS STORY
Super Nova - Parente 2nd Bakkerud 19th
The 2008 International GP2 Main Series began today at the Circuit de Catalunya, Spain. Although practice was successful, the qualifying race got off to a slow start with the session being stopped just short of 10 minutes into qualifying after an incident involving another car.
However, Alvaro Parente continued to show the great form he had displayed during the practice session where he set the third fastest lap. He went on to further improve this time and finish 2nd during qualifying giving him an excellent start for tomorrow's 180km main race.
Christian Bakkerud put in a solid performance for the team from beginning to end and knocked over five tenths of a second off his time this morning. Unfortunately, due to the initial crash and further yellow flags, his time out on track to work his way up the rankings was shortened and he will start 19th tomorrow afternoon.
The team is confident of a good result from each driver tomorrow during the first race of the season at this high profile circuit.
Team Principle David Sears: "The whole Super Nova team were incredibly impressed with Alvaro Parente who qualified 2nd this afternoon, only one tenth of a second from pole position and the highest placed rookie driver by a long way. In fact Alvaro had overall fastest 1st and 2nd sectors and unfortunately made a little mistake towards the end. Otherwise he would have been in pole. Let's wait and see what happens tomorrow.
Christian Bakkerud was looking good for a top half position but unluckily got caught up in traffic and yellow flags on his last set of new tyres. However, in the GP2 Asia Series, Christian has managed to move from the back to 9th position before and so the team will now be practicing their speedy pit stops".
Alvaro Parente: "Our testing had gone well and so I was confident as soon as I got to the track today. I knew that if I could get up front I could stay there. Once I had set a lap time after the red flag I knew I was in a good position and I could go from there. I have adapted to the car very well, but now I have to work hard to stay in this position. Being the fastest rookie is one thing, but I want to be the fastest of all. I am looking forward to tomorrow".
Christian Bakkerud: "I expected to do better today as the car is quick and Alvaro's position shows that. I could have got up to 12th place but a driver came out on the last lap which slowed me down and I lost a bit of time, but by then it was too late. Tomorrow is 39 laps and a long race. I will obviously be aiming for 8th place to get pole for Sunday's race. That is what I am always going to go for".
iSport International - Senna 4th Chandhok 7th
Bruno Senna: "I'm pleased with my qualifying position, although things could have been even better but for a technical problem. The team changed my gearshift paddles after this morning's free practice session, because the original ones were a bit too big, and the replacement was sticking a little. I had already completed one quick run on my first set of tyres and was just starting a second when the paddle jammed again. I was stuck in fourth gear and looking at the steering wheel, trying to sort things out, when I came into Turn Two. With all that going on I lost concentration for a second and spun off.
"I would obviously have improved my lap time if I'd been able to use my second set of tyres, but by how much? I don't know. It will be a tough race tomorrow, because this circuit is incredibly hard on rear tyres, but at least I still have one fresh set available after today's problems. I think we have a very well balanced car in race trim, too, so overall I'm pleased with the way things have gone."
Racing Engineering - Pantano 5th Villa 9th
It was a promising start for Racing Engineering in today's qualifying for the first round of the 2008 GP2 Series with both drivers qualifying in the top 10.
This morning's first practice session showed that the Racing Engineering team had developed a good set-up for the Montmeló track when the team's new driver, Italian Giorgio Pantano, was immediately on the pace setting the fifth fastest time of 1m 28.808s less than seven-tenths of a second slower than the fastest time.
Javier Villa completed the session with a time of 1m 30.094s to finish in eighteenth place but he was confident that he would be able to run with the pace of the fastest for qualifying.
With both drivers certain that they had a good setup for their new 2008-design Dallara they were both looking forward to being up at the front for qualifying.
As the afternoon's 30 minute qualifying session began Giorgio was immediately on the pace and setting some very quick times and he was soon at the top of the timesheets. Following a red flag incident Giorgio pitted to have a new set of tyres fitted but as he returned to the track Bruno Senna had an accident resulting in yellow flags being deployed. Sadly for Giorgio the yellow flag lasted for four laps and in that time his new tyres lost their edge, nevertheless the experienced Italian was still able to set a 1m 28.290s to take the fifth fastest time. Afterwards Giorgio was confident he could have been on the front row had he not made a small mistake in one corner as a result of his tyres being past their best.
Javier found his car was now much better than it had been earlier in the day and he was able to lap with much greater confidence. Javi also opted to fit new tyres following the red flag incident but he was to find that it would have been better to delay the change a little longer as the fastest times were being set in the later stages of the session. Despite this Javi still set a time of 1m 28.562s, only a quarter of a second away from his team mate, and he will start tomorrow's race from ninth place.
Both drivers are looking forward to Saturday's race as the sure that they will have a good race set up for the two Repsol-Telefónica liveried racing Engineering cars.
Alfonso de Orleans Borbón (team principal): "A pity about qualifying, I think we could have done much better. However, knowing that our two boys are fast and our crew will once more put all its best into their work, I am positive for tomorrow. It should be another exciting weekend ahead."
Javier Villa: "We were much better now than in the free practice. I couldn't set a fast lap as there was red flag, I decided to put new tyres on thinking there might not be the time to change them later. Therefore others, who put their new tyres on later set better times towards the end of the session. I think I could well have finished in the top 5."
Giorgio Pantano: "We were a bit unlucky. When I put the new set of tyres on Senna went off and I had this yellow flag for 4 laps. For sure I could have been in the first row if not for that. I am positive for tomorrow, 5th is not bad and we are not far away. We are there."
Trident Racing - Conway 10th Tung 16th
The 2008 GP2 Main Series got officially underway today at Barcelona. The first qualifying session determined the starting line-up for tomorrow's Race 1. Mike Conway scored the 10th fastest lap, in a session slowed by many yellow flag situation and stopped by a red. The interruption fractioned the 30 minutes available, penalizing several drivers. Ho Pin Tung ended up in 16th, without a huge margin from the top-10. Trident Racing is now concentrating on the race, starting tomorrow at 16:00. The team will be trying to score the maximum amount of points in order to have a good starting position for Race 2.
Mike Conway: "We didn't have too much luck today, since we lost a handful of minutes due to an overheating issue, and then I was unable to find a clean lap with no traffic. We decided to mount a second set of fresh tires, but right after I took off from the pit-lane, race control exposed the red flag for an accident happened moments before. I'm pretty satisfied with the situation we have now, though we are not probably ready to battle for pole yet. We made huge steps forward since this winter's testing, and we're in the leading pack. Tomorrow's race will be very tricky, but I'm persuaded we'll be able to score valuable points".
Ho Pin Tung: "I'm sorry for not having managed to put together my best potential lap. Looking at my split times, it's evident that I could have reached the top-10. Unfortunately, the session itself was marred by a lot of chaos, in the final minutes a yellow flag and some oil forced me to lose three tenths of a second. I'm really satisfied with the progress we made with the car, that was very driveable today. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's race: I hope to improve my position immediately, since in the GP2 Asia I proved to be good at the start".
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Managing Director: "Today's qualifying was marred by several interruptions that eventually made our job very difficult. The drivers that were able to find themselves on-track with new tires at the right time had the chance to score good laptimes. That wasn't ultimately possible for Mike and Ho Pin. Mike had the right potential to enter the top-5, but he was penalized by a 5-minute delay due to a technical problem and heavily conditioned by a red flag. We eventually have a good starting base for tomorrow. Even in the case of Ho-Pin Tung, we had a final result that doesn't respect the team's true potential. He had a good run on the first sector, but the oil left on-track by another car prevented him from taking a top-10 position".
DAMS - Kobayashi 13th d'Ambrosio 22nd
DAMS began its 2008 GP2 Series Championship challenge on the Barcelona circuit in the context of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix. Like all its rivals the team was using the brand-new GP2 single-seater, whose overall efficiency has been improved in relation to the previous generation, for the first time. A lot of work has been done on the aerodynamics, and the tyres are still slicks. This up-date enables the car to lap within around 5 seconds of the Formula 1s.
Kamui Kobayashi and Jerome d'Ambrosio had a 30-minute free practice session this morning before tackling qualifying in which they finished 13th and 22nd after running into a few glitches. The Belgian driver did not run in the morning session, and he was only able to begin his programme in the afternoon. His team-mate was penalised by several yellow flags and was never able to show his full potential during qualifying. A points finish looks on the cards in tomorrow's long race, and that will be the team's aim.
Eric Boullier, team manager: "We've got mixed feelings about today. Kamui could have ended up eighth on the grid but he was penalised by yellow flags and the traffic. Jerome had a clutch problem this morning and could not take part in free practice. He did his best in qualifying, but paid a heavy price for his lack of running. Our aim is to finish in the points in tomorrow's long race to get a good place on the grid for Sunday."
Kamui Kobayashi: "Qualifying was a bit difficult for me. I'd just put on new tyres when a driver went off. I didn't pit again thinking that his car would be removed quickly, but it took five laps before the track was given the all clear. By then my tyres had lost their edge. I went for it again at the end of the session. I pushed too hard and I over-cooked my rear tyres, which were not all that quick in the final sector. It's a pity. However, I'll do my best to turn the tables and put on a good performance tomorrow."
Jerome d'Ambrosio: "It's very important to run in free practice in GP2, and after my technical problem this morning it was obvious that qualifying was going to be difficult for me. The track lacked grip and I could only begin to work on my programme in the afternoon. We'll try and fine-tune my set-up this evening to gain more speed for tomorrow. The race will be tough but I'm going to come out fighting!"