20/07/2008
NEWS STORY
iSport International - Karun Chandhok (Winner) Bruno Senna (3rd)
Karun Chandhok ended a run of miserable Sunday luck to win this morning's GP2 Series sprint race at Hockenheim. The Indian was beaten away from pole position, but he had to wait only until the third lap to assume the lead after passing Lucas di Grassi (Campos) as they exited the hairpin. From then on he controlled the pace and resisted an extended period of pressure from Andreas Zuber (Piquet Sports) to score the second win of his GP2 career.
By the end of the race the top two had to keep a wary eye on the second iSport Dallara of Bruno Senna, who put in a stirring recovery drive after a slow start left him down in eighth place at the end of the opening lap. He eventually finished third, just 1.274s behind his team-mate.
Karun Chandhok: "That's the first time I have scored points on a Sunday this year - and there couldn't have been a better way to do it. I didn't get a great start. The team fitted a new clutch overnight and I just didn't manage to find the sweet spot. I got far too much wheelspin off the line, but I wasn't too worried because I saw yesterday that Lucas di Grassi wears his tyres harder than we do - he was already starting to get sideways on the second lap. I sold him a nice dummy at the hairpin next time around and that was that.
"It was a tough race, because I had a lot of pressure from Zuber, and in the later stages Bruno was catching both of us. I just focused on my own race, though, and it feels fantastic to win again. I'd also like to thank iSport - it's a great team and I really enjoy working with everyone here."
Bruno Senna: "I made a slow start and things were tough for the first few laps, because I had to fight my way past quite a few cars. I was pushing hard, trying to force others into errors, and that took its toll on my tyres. Once I had worked my way up to third I backed off for a couple of laps, to stabilise tyre pressures, and then I attacked again in an effort to catch the first two. If the race had lasted another couple of laps I think I could probably have taken second, but I'll settle for another good, solid result that keeps me in the thick of the championship battle."
Racing Engineering - Javier Villa (5th) Giorgio Pantano (DNF)
It was mixed fortunes for the Racing Engineering drivers in the GP2 Series Sprint Race run on Sunday morning at Hockenheim: whilst Javier Villa scored his best result of the season so far, finishing fifth and scoring two points for the Spanish team, Giorgio Pantano had to retire at the beginning of the race when fighting for third position.
After the rain that made things so difficult at the end of yesterday’s race, Sunday’s sprint was held on a dry track and under mostly sunny skies. The start was quite messy, with a crash in the middle of the grid and some quite aggressive moves in the front rows making for several position changes. The two Racing Engineering cars where amongst those who went through all the confusion without incident, and exiting the opening corners both had gained positions: Giorgio was sixth after starting 8th, while Javi was 9th, recovering a place from his 10th spot on the grid.
Midway through the first lap, Pantano was still moving up gaining another two places to be fourth at the end of the first lap, and quickly closing on third-placed Soucek. The Racing Engineering driver soon caught the SuperNova car and tried to overtake him at the tight Spitzkehre hairpin, but the two cars made contact and that was it for both drivers: Soucek was out on the spot while Pantano couldn't go much further as he soon noticed that the steering on his Dallara has been damaged and he was forced to retire from the race.
With Giorgio out all of the responsibility for scoring points for Racing Engineering was on Javier's shoulders and he was up to the job. After the incident involving his team-mate, the young Spaniard was seventh and despite losing a place next time round when passed by a recovering Grosjean, Javi kept up a good pace that kept him always among the faster drivers on track. The Repsol and Telefónica backed Dallara driven by the Spaniard was closing on a tight group of six cars fighting for third position, two cars were soon out of the fight when Maldonado and Di Grassi came together, which meant Javi moved up to a point scoring position now being sixth. However Javi was looking for more and kept on pushing hard, overtaking Parente on the eleventh lap after a spectacular dive to the inside of the hairpin that put him 5th and staying close to 4th placed Grosjean.
A slight off road moment in the fast last corner on the 13th lap meant Javi lost contact with the French-Swiss driver while Parente was back on his tail, followed closely by Tung. But the Racing Engineering had the situation perfectly under control and from there on his laptimes were as fast or even faster than the leading group, which allowed him to pull away from his contenders, settling down in 5th place and crossing the finish line in that position and gaining the second fastest lap and scoring two points, being again the best classified Spaniard.
With this weekend's results, Giorgio Pantano keeps a clear lead for Racing Engineering in the Drivers Championship, with an advantage of 15 points over Bruno Senna. The Spanish team continues in the fight for the Team Championship, laying second in the overall standings right behind ISport.
Alfonso de Orleans Borbón (team principal): "You win some, you lose some. I think we have definitely proven that we are heading into the right direction. We are very happy that Javi finally is able to show what he's really capable of and I am convinced he will show us more great racing in Hungary, where our goal definitely has to be to have both cars in the points."
Javier Villa: I had a very good start, approaching corner one, I was next to Giorgio, but some cars ahead of us touched slightly, so I had to lift the accelerator a bit in order to avoid a crash. Then the race was going well, I had a very good race pace, but during the first laps, I lost quite a lot of time with overtaking.
Thanks to the entire team as last night was tough for them and they barely got any sleep. If it wasn't for them, I could not have brought home these precious points today."
Giorgio Pantano: "I had a great start. After two laps I was 4th. Shortly after, I had this light contact with Soucek and my steering column was damaged, therefore I had to retire. It's a pity as I was out for a really good race. Now we are looking forward to the next races in Hungary."
Trident Racing - Ho Pin Tung (7th) Mike Conway (9th)
A points finish was the only thing missing for Trident Racing at the end of the second race of the weekend at Hockenheim: the team had a great feeling all-day long, regardless of the low starting positions. Due to an unfortunate Race 1, Ho Pin Tung took off from 13th, while Mike Conway was relegated back in 24th. The two started an awesome comeback since the first lap, clocking some great laptimes and coming to the checkered flag respectively in 7th and 9th place. The double top-10 finish brought some good momentum to the whole team, in sight of the next seasonal round, starting at Budapest in a couple of weeks.
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Managing Director: "Today's race was an additional proof that all we need is a better performance in qualifying, since on race conditions our drivers are always able to recover easily, and clock some great laptimes. Ho Pin had one of his best races of the season, coming close to a points finish and running on the same laptimes of rivals like Alvaro Parente and Javier Villa. Mike Conway put on a great show, as he climbed up to 9th place despite starting in 24th and losing a lot of time behind Marko Asmer. It's a pity he lost 8th place in the closing stages to Buemi".
Ho Pin Tung: "In the first laps after the start the car felt really good, then tire wear conditioned our performance, but it was something we expected. I'm really satisfied with how the race developed today for me: I tried to pass Alvaro Parente, staying in his slipstream with less than a one-second gap, but I didn't really have a concrete chance to move through. The high pace I kept today is definitely a good sign for Budapest though; I really had a good feeling there last season".
Mike Conway: "The first lap was really heated out there. I opted to take some risks that eventually paid off, helping me to overtake a number of cars and move up the order. I almost made contact with Yamamoto, but nothing happened in the end. In the final laps I tried to control a battling Buemi, but I wasn't in the right condition to block his move and I was forced to settle for 9th. I'm really happy with my pace, especially during the second half of the race".
Fisichella Motorsport - Marko Asmer (13th) Roldan Rodriguez (16th)
Teams headed to the Hockenheimring this weekend for the GP2 Series and Formula BMW Europe, as both championships supported the Formula One Germany Grand Prix. It was Formula One's return to the circuit after a one-year break from the track in 2007.
The GP2 weekend got underway on Friday morning with the usual 30-minute free practice session before qualifying on Friday afternoon. Roldan set himself up on the 11th row for Saturday's feature race after qualifying in 22nd position, with Asmer one row back after setting the 24th fastest time. Saturday's 40-lap main race began under blue skies but was hit with heavy rainfall, causing mayhem on the track. Marko finished in 14th position, with Roldan crossing the line in 18th. There were no weather problems in Sunday's sprint race, with the 27-lap event held in sunny conditions. Marko improved one position on his starting slot, finishing 13th, with Roldan three positions behind in 16th.
Paolo Coloni, Team Principal: Our problem is that we are still struggling in qualifying and this weekend our drivers had a lack of knowledge of the circuit as neither of them have raced at Hockenheim before. Conditions were not easy yesterday so, considering our qualifying results, I am happy with the performance of the drivers in the races. Unfortunately, it's difficult to fight for points when the qualifying doesn't go well. We should be much better in the next race and we will aim for points in Hungary.
Durango - Davide Valsecchi (14th) Alberto Valerio (15th)
Davide Valsecchi and Alberto Valerio crossed the finish line of the second Hockenheim race just in the midfield, taking respectively P14 and P15. Both of them tried hard and maybe they deserved something more.
The Durango team principal Ivone Pinton declared: "We must work together to put again at the right places all the puzzle pieces shuffled during this weekend. It is a commitment to be taken because our driver’s potential is surely better than the result got here at Hockenheim. So from now on till Budapest we all, from the people at home in the office to the drivers, will perform an extra effort to achieve again those good results that are surely at our reach".
DPR - Diego Nunes (20th) Michael Herck (DNF)
David Price Racing (DPR) endured two tough races at the sixth of the ten events that will be contested in the 2008 GP2 Series. Michael Herck scored 17th place in the first race but was punted off the grid and unable to continue in the second, while Diego Nunes was the first to reach a wet track on dry tyres, sliding out of the first of the two races yesterday. He finished back down the order in 20th place in the second race after being spun round in the early stages.
The Feature race held yesterday afternoon began in the dry. The two DPR drivers started towards the back after neither were able to make the most of the highly competitive qualifying session. Nunes began in 21st place and Herck sat in 24th position for the start. It was the start which shaped the young Brazilian driver’s race with Nunes being punted by Davide Valsecchi and the DPR car losing a nose in the incident, which forced Nunes to pit for a replacement.
Nunes, although turning consistently strong lap times, had lost so much ground from having to pit he was unable to make inroads into the field. Herck was lapping well, and in his third GP2 event, he was continuing to gain valuable experience of this F1 feeder series. The team brought Herck in for his pitstop on lap 13 and he quickly rejoined the track, however it was later found that he had been too quick, incurring a pitlane speed limit infringement, and a return to his DPR team for a stop and go penalty. This put the young driver back down the order and a tough race ahead.
The weather came into play in the closing stages of the race. With heavy rain falling six laps from the end halfway round the lap, Nunes was the unlucky driver to be the first to reach a rain soaked section of track. With slick tyres in the wet he stood little chance of keeping it on the track and was the first of four cars to slide off. Herck benefitted from waved yellows which were then shown at this section, slowing and able to pit, returning to the track to take the chequered flag in 17th place and to start the second race in this position.
Today’s sprint race was a reversal of fortunes for the two DPR drivers. It was Herck that suffered a start line incident, with rival Luca Filippi cutting across the DPR car as the field moved off the grid, spearing into the side of Herck and punting him off the grid into the barriers. Nunes had a better start and was showing his pace, posting strong lap times as he climbed up the order, reaching 16th place before he was spun round by Kamui Kobayashi as he made a lunge on the Brazilian. While Kobayashi was able to continue on, finally finishing in 10th place, Nunes was less fortunate, resuming racing at the back of the field and finally finishing in 20th place.
David Price, Team Principal, DPR reflected on another disappointing weekend, "We know we need to be qualifying better as the incidents are so often a result of starting towards the back. However, both drivers were showing that they are learning from their GP2 experience and improving their pace, with Nunes running times comparable to the top six. We need these efforts to be reflected in results and we move on to Hungary with this goal."