23/05/2009
NEWS STORY
DAMS - Jerome d'Ambrosio (2nd) Kamui Kobayashi (12th)
DAMS brought its Monaco weekend to a close with Jerome d'Ambrosio's second place in today's short race. The Belgian driver, who started from third on the grid after his sixth place yesterday, did not make any mistakes on this very selective, tricky circuit. He scored 8 points this weekend bringing his total to 18, and is now in 3rd place in the drivers' championship.
Kamui Kobayashi had a more difficult weekend. After a problematic qualifying session he did not finish the first race due to a collision. Today, he managed to make up 9 places but did not score points.
After this weekend, DAMS is lying second in the teams' classification with 21 points. Next event in Turkey in two weeks.
Eric Boullier, team manager: " We're delighted to be on the podium in Monaco, which is a very special circuit. Jerome yet again showed the progress he's made since the end of last season. The whole team would like to offer him their warm congratulations for another almost perfect weekend. Kamui was handicapped by being badly placed on the grid for the first race. It's always difficult to pass here, and we couldn't perform any miracles! "
Jerome d'Ambrosio: "It's been a great weekend and a podium finish in Monaco has a special flavour for any driver. I won't be 100% satisfied until I win but I think I did everything I could here. To win the title, you just have to score points on a regular basis and that's what I'm doing at present. Our level of competitiveness is good; we're bagging loads of points and it bodes well for the rest of the championship.
Kamui Kobayashi: "My aim is to go for the title this year and the start of the championship hasn't exactly lived up to my expectations! I have to react quickly and not let the current leaders get too far in front. Qualifying is of crucial importance each weekend, and I'm going to concentrate on this sector. The team's doing a great job; the car's reliable and all the elements are there to turn things round at the next race."
Fat Burner Racing Engineering - Lucas Di Grassi (4th) Dani Clos (DNF)
The second round of the GP2 Main Series Championship in Monaco finished today with very different results for the Fat Burner Racing Engineering drivers as Lucas Di Grassi crossed the line in fourth place while Dani Clos had to retire after being hit by another car.
After the disappointment of having lost his third position in Friday's feature race due to cutting the chicane at the start, although he let Zuber pass again just after and did not gain any places as result, Lucas started today's sprint race in Monaco focusing on scoring the maximum points possible.
The Brazilian driver had a good start from fifth place and kept his rivals at bay. However, racing in Monaco has the peculiarity of overtaking being almost impossible and therefore there was little the Fat Burner Racing Engineering driver could do to improve his position as he was stuck behind Hulkenberg. When race leader Chandhok retired with 10 laps to go, Lucas moved into fourth place and for the remaining of the event he kept a steady pace, stayed away from the barriers and did not take any risks that would jeopardize his position. Lucas finished the race, which was red flagged after a heavy accident of Grosjean, in fourth position, and now leaves Monaco with a total of eight points after having scored in both races .
Spanish Dani Clos faced a much more difficult race than his team mate. He started from 22nd place in the grid and was able to keep out of trouble at the start, running already in 19th place at the end of lap 1. During the following laps, Dani drove consistently, making up positions as drivers in front of him retired. However, on lap 24, when he was running 15th, the Fat Burner Racing Engineering driver saw his chances of crossing the line in Monaco vanished as Valerio hit his car heavily when he was coming out of the tunnel and entering the chicane. Dani, who was a sitting duck for Valerio, had no other choice than to go and retire in the pits.
Lucas Di Grassi: Everthing was OK today. The start went fine and the car was very good during the entire race. Sadly enough, here in Monaco it's impossible to overtake but we are leaving from here with 8 points, which is an average result, but positive after Barcelona. However, we are very optimistic about the next round in Turkey and will continue working hard.
Dani Clos: I had a really good start from 22nd on the grid and even managed to run in 15th, which is pretty good for Monaco. But when Valerio came out of the tunnel without braking, he hit the side of my car very hard. I hope that in Turkey I will have a normal race weekend without any incidents.
Alfonso de Orleans-Borbon, Team Principal: Fantastic job on behalf of both drivers. Pity they couldn't overtake. Dani's accident was unexpected since there was no reason to have an accident there where it happened. All boys did a good job during this weekend, thank you very much.
FMSI - Andreas Zuber (5th) Luiz Razia (10th)
The second round of the 2009 GP2 Series took place this weekend on the unique street circuit in the glamorous principality of Monaco. Fisichella Motor Sport International was in action with usual drivers Andreas Zuber and Luiz Razia. As a change to previous years, two GP2 races were held over the weekend rather than the traditional one.
The weekend began on Thursday with a 30-minute free practice session before drivers embarked on the allimportant qualifying. With overtaking tricky on such a tight street track, grid position was crucial. The 45-lap feature race took place on Friday with the shorter 30-lap sprint race on Saturday.
Andreas Zuber: After swapping fastest laps with Alberto Valerio for the early part of practice, he eventually finished sixth fastest with a time of 1:22.258 after completing 18 laps. In the afternoon qualifying he set a fantastic lap to record the fourth fastest time, lining up on the second row of the grid for the feature race. In the feature race he scored FMSI’s first podium of the season with a third place after a very competitive 45 laps. He began the sprint race from sixth due to the reverse grid system and crossed the line in fifth, to collect two further points in a very strong weekend.
Luiz Razia: Completed 18 laps in Thursday practice, finishing with a fastest lap of 1:24.344. He qualified in 22nd position, lining up on the 11th row for Friday’s feature race. In the race itself he performed well, eventually crossing the line in 13th, an improvement of nine places on his starting position. After beginning in 13th for the sprint, he finished in a strong tenth position.
After the Monaco round Zuber is now seventh in the drivers’ championship with eight points and FMSI is fifth in the teams’ championship. Round three of the championship will take place in two weeks time in Istanbul, Turkey.
Paolo Coloni, Team Principal, FMSI: In two very competitive and tough races, FMSI has done really well and we achieved a fantastic podium position yesterday. It has been a strong weekend for the team and I’m happy to open our points account with a podium in Monaco. Everything has worked very well and I’m delighted with the upturn in results. Andreas has been very good all weekend and Luiz has also put in a very good performance. It won’t be long before he is qualifying in the top ten and scoring points for the team. Everything is going in the right direction and our championship is now underway.
iSport International - Giedo van der Garde (11th) Diego Nunes (14th)
After a relatively calm feature race yesterday today's sprint race was as action packed as they come. Starting from P17 and P23 iSport drivers Giedo van der Garde and Diego Nunes did well to escape today's incidents to finish a solid P11 and P14 but unfortunately short of the points. With two safety cars, one after a huge accident between yesterday's race winner Romain Grosjean and Andy Zuber, both iSport drivers kept their cool and stayed out of trouble to finish an otherwise exciting race.
The GP2 Series now moves onto Turkey in two weeks time where both iSport drivers will be looking to get back into the points.
Giedo van der Garde: "Well I had a boring race, that's it really. I was stuck behind other cars and stayed there for the whole race because you can't overtake. There were a few accidents so I made up some places but nothing else really happened for me".
Diego Nunes: "There was nothing special at the start, I didn't crash. In the middle of the race a lot of people crashed and the clutch was ok for this race. It was ok I didn't take too many risks because obviously I want the car to be ok for Turkey so I just managed to finish the race".
Durango - Nelson Panciatici (15th) Davide Valsecchi (18th)
Durango finished the GP2 Main Series Monaco event with the fifteenth place taken by Nelson Panciatici. Davide Valsecchi, because of a contact happened just after the first corner, had to stop just a couple of laps after the start. It is a real pity because the driver from Eupilio was very concentrated and willing to deliver a nice drive. Nelson, on the contrary, succeeded in finishing the race thanks to a clever and mistake free drive. The young French driver probably needs to put under his belt another two or three GP2 events, then he will surely be able to deliver very good performances.
DPR - Michael Herck (16th) Giacomo Ricci (DNF)
DPR were unable to capitalise on the mid pack starts for today's Monaco sprint race at the second round of the 2009 GP2 series. Michael Herck finished in 16th place with Giacomo Ricci retiring from 12th position with a suspected mechanical failure.
Ricci started from 14th position with team mate Herck two places behind in 16th place. The grid filed off the grid cleanly in the opening lap, with all the drivers jostling for position. Unfortunately Herck was caught up with Edoardo Mortara at the Lowes hairpin, with Herck sustaining front wing damage. The Romanian driver, who now lives in Monaco, continued on, but had to pit on the second lap for a new nose, dropping him to the back of the field.
Ricci had a better start, gaining a position by the end of the first lap. He then inherited a position when Roldan Rodriguez dropped out after brushing the barriers to lie in 12th position. He maintained this as the race settled down, but sadly he was unable to prove his capabilities on the narrow, demanding track, as he suffered a technical failure which caused him to cruise to a halt without any power, prematurely ending his race.
Herck, lying in 23rd position after pitting for the new nose, used the race to gain experience of this unique circuit. The planned 30 lap race was temporarily slowed by a safety car period with eight laps remaining and the DPR driver lying in 20th position. The field were soon released to return to full speed racing, until a few laps later when a huge accident for championship leader, Romain Grosjean, brought out the safety car for a second time. Herck was lying in 16th place and hoping to make up further ground at the restart, however the race was red flagged with two laps remaining and Herck taking 16th place.
Leon Price, Team Manager: It's all too easy for a minor knock at this track to have major repercussions, which is what happened with Michael today. Having been forced to pit for a new front wing and with the severe lack of overtaking opportunities, there was no route back for him. Giacomo was also unfortunate today. He could have had a top ten finish if he'd held position until the end, but motor racing often throws up the unexpected. The harsh realities of street racing were evident this afternoon with nine of the 25 cars failing to complete the race distance.
DPR will now return to their Surrey base to prepare for the next round of this season's GP2 Series, which will be held at Istanbul in Turkey from 6-7 June.