09/05/2009
NEWS STORY
DAMS - Jerome d'Ambrosio (3rd) Kamui Kobayashi (8th)
Today, DAMS raced in the first event of the 2009 GP2 Series Championship on the Catalonian circuit and kicked off its season with a rostrum finish. Starting from sixth on the grid Jerome d'Ambrosio made a blinding getaway in the Long Race, and was up into third after only a few hundred metres. The Belgian drove a perfect, consistent race controlling the gap to the fourth-placed car. A good pit stop enabled him to hold onto his position, and he finished his first GP2 Series race of the season on the rostrum.
Kamui Kobayashi pushed right from the start and was rewarded by the point for eighth place. His was the fight back of the day, as he started from twenty-second spot on the grid! The Japanese driver changed tyres very early on, which he then nursed to saw the chequered flag in the best conditions. Tomorrow, he will start the short race from pole!
Eric Boullier: "Given our positions at the start, today's result is an excellent one. Bravo to our two drivers who showed that they've got the skills to fight at the front for the rest of the season. Congratulations too to the team for its efficient strategy and good pit stops. Today's race gives our motivation a huge boost in view of those to come. Given Kamui's position on the grid, we can look forward to a victory, and another rostrum finish for Jerome. Those will be our aims tomorrow."
Jerome d'Ambrosio: "When the lights went out I got a hell of a fright as the car just in front of me was very slow getting away. I managed to avoid it, and in the confusion that followed I was able to move up to third very quickly. The car was well balanced; I felt very much at ease and I was able to keep up the pace right to the flag. Today's result is a reward for all the effort I've made over these past few months - and I'm not going to leave it at that!"
Kamui Kobayashi: "I really didn't think I'd score points in normal conditions but we did it! It was difficult to keep the car on the track towards the end as my tyres were shot, but our gamble paid off. I'm starting from pole tomorrow and I'll be gunning for victory. Finally, what started out as a bit of a nightmarish weekend has turned in our favour."
iSport International - Giedo van der Garde (7th) Diego Nunes (11th)
As is tradition for the first race of the season it was an action packed feature race at the Circuit de Catalunya this afternoon.
Rookie iSport driver Giedo van der Garde scored points in his first race after benefitting from the misfortune of his teammate Diego Nunes. Both Nunes and van der Garde had good starts with the later up to P11 from starting P18 by the first lap. With many held up for most of the race by the struggling Lucas Di Grassi a big accident between Alvaro Parente and Di Grassi unfortunately caught out an innocent Nunes damaging the front wing, barge board and steering of his iSport GP2 car. In the ensuing chaos the other iSport car of rookie Giedo van der Garde had better luck as he picked his way through into a fantastic P7 and a front row start in tomorrow's sprint race.
Giedo van der Garde: "We did a great race. I had a really good speed and the race a we had a really great start. Of course we were a little bit lucky in the end but that's racing and we finished 7th so from 18th to 7th is great. Tomorrow I'm on the front row and we hope to make a great race and we can finish somewhere on the podium and I'm very pleased about the weekend".
Diego Nunes: "I did a quite good start and after that I got stuck behind Di Grassi and had a good fight with him. In the middle of this fight I lost two positions and my race started to go worse after that. I also lost one position in the pit stop to Mortara. After that was not too bad, I was still in the top eight then Parente had a crash with Di Grassi just in front of me and I couldn't miss them. I tried to avoid the accident but I couldn't and I lost my front wing and my steering wheel wasn't straight and I just tried to finish the race. Now tomorrow I have to work to be in the points".
Durango - Nelson Panciatici (12th) Davide Valsecchi (DNF)
Barcelona race 1 with a double meaning for Durango. Davide Valsecchi immediately lost a lap because he stalled at the start and then, while he was twentythird he was forced to retirement. Back to the pit Davide showed to be more sorry that angry, willing to receive and to give consolation from and to the team at the same time. If we know him well this could mean a race 2 driven with pride tomorrow morning.
Nelson Panciatici, on the contrary, did very well his debut race finishing twelfth. The young French, who drove a compliment deserving race demonstrating a very good speed and a full control of the situation, said: "Considering that for me this was the debut I believe I did a good job. In term of competitiveness and difficult drive GP2 stands without any doubt at the maximum level, so I am happy to have demonstrated that I deserve it".
DPR - Michael Herck (13th) Giacomo Ricci (DNF)
DPR recorded one finish and one non-finish in the 2009 GP2 series today. Michael Herck completed the distance in his first GP2 event at Barcelona, finishing in 13th place. Team mate Giacomo Ricci was a first lap retirement following an incident at the start. The Formula One supporting GP2 Series began its 2009 season at Circuit Catalunya, Barcelona with the first of twenty races. Herck and Ricci, racing with DPR this season have both prepared with a winter of GP2 Asia. Herck also ran in the two pre-season tests earlier this year.
After the first practice session on Friday morning the GP2 field had a 30 minutes qualifying session in the afternoon to set the grid for today’s one and a quarter hour main race, which included one mandatory tyre change pitstop. An engine problem for Herck in qualifying resulted in the young Romanian driver not being able to complete any flying laps and left him starting from the back of the grid for the start of today’s main race. The highly competitive qualifying session finished with Ricci in 23rd place for the first of the two races.
The start of the race was predictably fast and furious, with an unfortunate Ricci being caught up with one of the Durango cars which left him needing to pit with damage to the car. The damage proved extensive and the Italian driver was forced to retire from the race with less than a lap completed.
Herck was off the line well, but in avoiding the predictable first lap incidents dropped a couple of places. The DPR driver pitted from 22nd place, with the team bringing him in early for his tyre change stop.
Unfortunately an errant wheel nut lengthened the stop, losing Herck valuable time. However he was quickly back up to speed and had a good pace as the race progressed. The race settled down in the mid section, with Herck making his way forwards until a safety car period which slowed the field. At the restart Herck held station, finally crossing the finishing line in 13th, a creditable effort from his last row start. The DPR driver will line up in this position for the start of tomorrow’s sprint race, while Ricci will unfortunately have to start from the back.
Leon Price, Team Manager: "Giacomo was unfortunate not to have been able to get into the race today. He improved throughout the two sessions yesterday, but it’s always more difficult to get a clean start when you’re near the back. I’m sure he’ll bounce back tomorrow with renewed efforts to progress from his starting position.
"Michael drove well today, making up considerable ground over the course of the race, especially as he only had a handful of laps in qualifying and had not raced here last year. Despite us delaying him in the pitstop he got back into the race and acquitted himself well. Starting 13th tomorrow will give him a shot at a top ten finish."
Trident Racing - Davide Rigon (17th) Ricardo Teixeira (DNF)
Trident Racing had no good luck at all in the first race of the 2009 GP2 Main Series, held today at Barcelona. Davide Rigon lost any chance to fight for a top spot when he stalled his engine and failed to take off. The driver from Vicenza ended up in 17th, one lap down. Team-mate Ricardo Teixeira didn't make it to the flag after an off-track exit happened at lap 12. Due to today's results, the two will start tomorrow's Race 2 from 17th and 24th place.
Davide Rigon: "Unfortunately, I lost all my chances to end today's race in a second.I stalled my engine at the start and then lost a lap in the attempt to refirethe car. The clutch setting is different from the one I used in the Asia Series, and that definitely played a part in my mistake. When I managed to restart, I was one lap down , and forced to give way to all my rivals due to blue flags".
Ricardo Teixeira: "I had a good start, but I was forced to lift in order to avoid the stalled car of Davide, putting two wheels on the grass and losing positions. After that I started to run consistently but, while approaching Michael Herck, I lost control and spun into the runoff area. It's so unfortunate, because I lost the chance to build more experience and I'll be starting from the back on Race 2".
Fat Burner Racing Engineering - Lucas Di Grassi (DNF) Dani Clos (DNF)
The first race of the 2009 GP2 Series was not as expected for Fat Burner Racing Engineering's drivers. Both Lucas Di Grassi and Dani Clos were unable to cross the finish line in Barcelona after suffering very different misfortunes.
After showing a very good and competitive pace during the free practice and qualifying session on Friday, Lucas and Dani started the race from 2nd and 17th place respectively. Both had a clean start, but after the first corner Lucas had lost one place to Petrov, while in the second corner d'Ambrosio overtook him for third. Dani, on the other hand, was able to gain various positions and by the end of the second lap was already in 11th place.
While the Spanish rookie kept his cool and place despite the continuous attacks from the experienced Chandhok, Lucas was holding off Filippi's attempts to overtake him. When at the end of lap 14 Lucas did his compulsory pit stop, the Italian took over the Fat Burner Racing Engineering driver's position. Dani pitted just one lap after his teammate, as did Chandhok, and the Spaniard rejoined the race maintaining his position in front of his rival.
The Spanish rookie showed a very competitive form and managed to move up to 9th, until in lap 25 Maldonado overtook him, after various laps of intense battling for the position. However, Dani didn't give up so easily and tried to regain 9th place, until in lap 31 he slowed down dramatically due to a mechanical failure, which forced him to retire in the pits.
The disappointment of Dani's retirement had not yet settled in completely, when the Fat Burner Racing Engineering team had to witness the sudden end of Lucas' race the following lap. This was due to an unfortunate accident, where Parente's car landed on top of the Fat Burner Racing Engineering driver's Dallara GP2. Luckily, both drivers could walk away from the accident scene unharmed.
Fat Burner Racing Engineering will now analyze the reasons for the mechanical problem on Dani's car and prepare both cars for tomorrow's race. However, the Sunday race won't be an easy one for the Fat Burner Racing Engineering drivers with Lucas starting from 18th and Dani from 20th position on the grid.
Lucas Di Grassi: This was a difficult race and things definitely didn't work out as planned. We need to improve the car for tomorrow's race and what see what we can do to get back to the pace we had before.
Dani Clos: I think my first laps were really good. I was able to overtake various drivers and like this make up positions. I am very happy with the car and feel comfortable. I think we have found a really good set up. I am also happy with the pit stop, which went really well. We were able to make it up to 9th position when Maldonado, who was very fast today, overtook me. It's a real shame about the failure on the engine safety system which happened without any previous warning. I think we could have finished in a very good position.
Alfonso de Orleans-Borbon, team's Principal: Now this was definitely not the start of the season we expected. Both our drivers were doing a great job and I was especially impressed by Dani's performance. This was his first race in this championship and he looked as if he never drove in any different category. It's a real shame a technical problem ended his race as he was on the way to finish in the points. While Dani felt great with his car, Lucas struggled much more and we have to look into this now in order to make the best out of tomorrow's sprint race.
Ocen Racing Technology - Alvaro Parente (DNF) Karun Chandhok (DNF)
Ocean Racing Technology won several of the many duels in the first race of the GP2 Series at the Catalunya circuit on Saturday afternoon. Alvaro Parente made an excellent start from his fourteenth place on the grid and was soon knocking on the door of a points scoring finish, in 9th position. Maintaining a consistent race pace the Portuguese driver was up into seventh place and was in a fight for fifth with just eight laps to go. When Edoardo Mortara passed Lucas di Grassi, Alvaro tried to benefit from the manoeuvre but instead he hit the back of the Racing Engineering contender knocking them both out of the race.
Therefore the conclusion of Ocean Racing Technology's debut race in the F1 feeder series, the GP2 Main Series, was particularly frustrating for Alvaro, who definitely had the potential to secure some good points. "It was an unfortunate race incident. We were fighting each other but at the same time I had to defend my positions from several drivers who were threatening me. When Mortara overtook di Grassi, he broke earlier than usually entering turn 4 and I lost the rear when I hit the brakes. It is really a shame because we had fixed all the problems we suffered in qualifying and the car was much more competitive today. The sprint race will be difficult because we will start from the bottom of the grid but at least we can keep a positive aspect of this race which is we have what it takes to secure some good points and that will be our aim in Monaco."
As for his teammate Karun Chandhok, he will not have fond memories of the season opener. After qualifying down in thirteenth place, the Indian racer was constantly fighting to get up into the top ten but with 12 laps to go he ended his race when he left the track due to hard contact with a kerb. "I was trying to gain a position when I lost the rear. Until then, my race have been difficult because I was having a hard time getting passed several drivers who where slower than me. On Sunday, my aim will be to see the chequered flag and to get the best result I can. After that we will start to prepare Monaco."