07/06/2009
NEWS STORY
Fat Burner Racing Engineering - Lucas Di Grassi (1st) Dani Clos (7th)
Fat Burner Racing Engineering's Lucas Di Grassi claimed his first victory of the season today at Istanbul Park after leading the GP2 sprint race from start to finish. His teammate Dani Clos came close to get his first points of the season, but had to settle for 7th.
Both Fat Burner Racing Engineering drivers had great races at Istanbul Park this morning. Lucas, starting from pole position, kept his place at the start and led the field into turn 1. He then proceeded to keep out of reach the others for the rest of the race. Dani, on the other hand, once again, convinced with a superb start from 12th which saw him gaining five positions.
During the 23 lap race, Lucas kept a steady pace and was soon setting the best lap times, opening a gap that none of the other drivers were able to reduce. With no one in front, the Brazilian driver cruised home to get his first win of the 2009 season. After a couple of intense opening laps, Dani completed a trouble free race showing a steady and competitive rhythm, making the best out of a weekend which starting off on the wrong foot. The Spanish driver was able to finish Sunday's race in 7th position, just one place from scoring his first points in GP2.
Lucas Di Grassi: I am very happy! For the first time since the season started everything went fine. After yesterday's race with a lot of action, everything was really perfect today. The team did a brilliant job and the car was very good. Now I am looking forward to more wins this season!
Dani Clos: I made a really good start and had a great position to approach the first corner. The opening laps of the race were quite intense and afterwards nobody made a mistake. We were all running at more or less the same speed, so there was no possibility to overtake, but I could maintain my position as well. Overall this was a tough weekend for me with what happened on Friday, but we were able to make the best out of it. I am happy with the performance in both races. Although we weren't able to start the weekend as expected, everything went fine on Saturday and Sunday. I am really happy with the team and already looking forward to the next races at Silverstone.
Alfonso de Orleans-Borbon, Team's President: Well done! This was a fantastic race from Lucas and the first of many wins of the season. I would also like to congratulate Dani for finishing 7th after starting Saturday's race from last position. He raced brilliantly and I hope to see more from him during the season. Thanks also to all the boys for having made these results possible, for their great work, which was once more impeccable.
Trident Racing - Davide Rigon (8th) Ricardo Texeira (18th)
Trident Racing brought both cars to the finish also in the second race of the Turkish GP2 Main Series weekend at Istanbul Park. Davide Rigon came once again close to a points spot, as he confirmed his progress with a positive 8th place. Ricardo Teixeira showed real progress too, as he ended up in 18th without big mistakes or technical issues. As the Turkey round got completed without an hitch, Trident Racing is really looking forward to the next round of the 2009 season, at Silverstone, in a two-week time.
Ricardo Texeira: "After the good race I had yesterday, I wasn't able to get the same feeling with the racecar. The start was fine though, I climbed up a little bit and I even came close to Alvaro Parente, who was sitting in 12th. Then I made a small error at turn 8 and lost 3 spots, but aside that I struggled with the car in the first half of the race. When tires started to wear off, the balance began to improve, as my laptimes did. I'm waiting with impatience the next round at Silverstone. I raced there in Formula 3, though it was the shorter configuration. I'll still have to learn some corners, but it'll all be more familiar"
Davide Rigon: "I made a quite good start, even though I had to brake hard at the first corner due to a contact between Filippi, Valsecchi and Zuber. I lost a spot to Clos, and despite my effort to get back in his slipstream, I couldn't find the right conditions to attack him. It's been a pretty regular race, with several less incidents than happened yesterday. I'm looking forward to the Silverstone race with a lot of confidence. I know the track well, despite having not raced there on an open-wheel car yet. I entered the 2008 FIA GT race there, running under the rain, but I'll still count on a bigger experience margin than here at Istanbul."
Ocean Racing Technology - Alvaro Parente (10th) Karun Chandhok (14th)
Alvaro Parente and Karun Chandhok once again showed that Ocean Racing Technology is one of the fastest teams in the GP2 Main Series during race two at Istanbul park in turkey on Sunday, but alas, their positions on the starting grid were too far down the field to enable them to secure any points.
Parente crossed the finish line in 10th place after starting the race down in 20th and during his fight through the field, the Portuguese driver won the fight against a strong opponent, one of the leaders of the championship, Romain Grosjean. "I did all I could but I knew it was always going to be very difficult to score any points. The car was very efficient, especially in the fast corners. To have a fast car at this stage of the championship shows that we are on the right track, now I have to work hard to be sure everything goes well in the first race because the entire weekend depends on it. I think we'll have a good result in Silverstone" he assured.
Meanwhile, teammate Karun Chandhok was forced to start from pitlane after being betrayed by his engine and stalling on the grid prior to the installation lap. The Indian driver fought hard throughout the race and eventually climbed up into 14th place, a result which tends to show that without his mechanical problem, Karun would have been able to fight for points for the second consecutive race.
"My car had the same mechanical problem as the day before and the team was powerless to do anything about it. With two races compromised by two bad starts it was impossible to secure a good result. We've been very fast, in particular during the first race where we clocked the fastest lap. I should have been on the podium and the final result is all the more frustrating! But I'm already thinking of the next race..." assured Karun.
iSport International - Diego Nunes (11th) Giedo van der Garde (13th)
iSport will leave Istanbul Park today with no points but it is clear both Diego Nunes and Giedo van der Garde had real pace in a weekend marred by penalties. After yesterday's feature race penalty Dutch iSport racer van der Garde started from twenty-fourth instead of second but stormed through the field to finish thirteenth in the short sprint race. Brazilian Diego Nunes, starting from eleventh battled hard through most of the race with championship front runner Romain Grosjean with the iSport racer winning the battle and finishing where he started in eleventh. With both drivers proving they have the pace the team will be left wandering what could have been but will take the positives from this weekend on to our home race at Silverstone in two weeks time.
Giedo van der Garde: "It was OK. I started twenty-fourth, I had an unfortunate start because two guys in front of me stalled I had to back off and I was completely last. I managed to do a bit on the first lap and overtook some people in the race and in the end I finished thirteenth so it was not too bad I guess".
Diego Nunes: "It went OK today. The car felt good and I had a good fight with Grosjean for most of the race. He overtook me and then I took the place back and we touched a little bit but it was a good fight. We found something in the car this weekend so I hope to qualify better at Silverstone and have a good race."
DAMS - Jerome d'Ambrosio (15th) Kamui Kobayashi (DNF)
This weekend DAMS raced in the third round of the 2009 GP2 Series Championship on the Istanbul Park circuit. After a disappointing qualifying session, Kamui Kobayashi and Jerome d'Ambrosio knew that they had a difficult couple of races ahead of them.
On lap 1 of the first event, Kamui collided with another car and retired. A few laps later, Jerome ground to a halt out on the track with engine failure.
Today, the DAMS' drivers' positions on the grid did not hold out much hope of scoring points, which go to the first six. In these conditions, the team treated the race as a live test session to evaluate new set-ups.
Eric Boullier, team manager: "It's been a very disappointing weekend for DAMS as we haven't scored any points for the first time this season. This result was dictated by a poor qualifying session on Friday. Our priority was to find more power and start higher up the grid, so we decided to use new setups for the second race. We knew that scoring points was out of the question so we decided to use this race as a test session. We hope to be back in the points at the next event on the Silverstone circuit."
Jerome d'Ambrosio: "To aim for the title in GP2 means scoring points in each race, and I'm disappointed leaving Istanbul without adding to my tally. Engine failure dashed my chances yesterday, and as I was far down the field today, I knew that even by pushing very hard I had little hope of finishing in the first six."
Kamui Kobayashi: "I'm disappointed like the whole team by our performance in Istanbul. We were slowed by yellow flags in qualifying and that screwed up our whole weekend. A collision on Saturday and a difficult race today mean that I'm leaving Istanbul without any points. I hope to turn the situation round at Silverstone."
Fisichella Motor Sport International - Andreas Zuber (19th) Luiz Razia (20th)
The third round of the 2009 GP2 Series took place this weekend, with races five and six of the season playing out at the Istanbul Park Circuit in Turkey. Andreas Zuber and Luiz Razia were in action for Fisichella Motor Sport International as the team aimed to continue its upturn in form, following Zuber's podium last time out in Monaco.
The 5.338km Istanbul Circuit is the only track of the season that runs in an anti-clockwise direction and this has traditionally proved tough on the drivers physically, as well as being an important factor in tyre wear. Free practice and qualifying took place on Friday, with the 34-lap feature race on Saturday and the 23-lap sprint on Sunday.
Andreas Zuber: Started the weekend well, finishing sixth fastest in Friday practice, setting a best lap of 1:36.255 during his 17 laps of testing. This was 0.9s behind session leader Alvaro Parente. Nico Hulkenberg took pole in qualifying with a time of 1:34.404. Andreas began the feature on the third row from sixth position after setting a lap of 1:34.922. He started well, avoiding trouble at the start and powering into a provisional podium position. He completed most of the race in third position but, after suffering a problem with his front right tyre 13 laps from the end, he fell down the order to cross the line in 9th, just missing the points. Sunday's sprint race was hugely disappointing for Andreas after he was forced into the pits on the first lap after
Davide Valsecchi ran into him. He lost a substantial amount of time and crossed the line in 19th.
Luiz Razia: Completed 13 laps of practice on Friday morning and set the 14th fastest time with a lap of 1:36.581. In qualifying Luiz set a time of 1:35.806, recording the 20th fastest time. However, he began the feature from 19th after Diego Nunes was handed a grid penalty, moving him one position further forward. In the race, he was progressing steadily until an alternator problem caused his retirement on lap 13. In Sunday's shorter race, he began from 20th, and crossed the line in the same position after the 23 laps.
Round four, comprising races seven and eight of this year's championship, will take place in two weeks time from 19-21 June at Silverstone in the UK.
Paolo Coloni, Team Principal, FMSI: "We have taken positives from the weekend in our qualifying performance and race pace, but it has been very frustrating in terms of results and I hope that we have had all our bad luck for the season now. Yesterday Zuber had a fantastic first part of the race and then we had a very unusual and unexpected problem after the tyre change, which finished the front right tyre. Razia had an alternator problem so it wasn't really our day. Today Zuber was hit through no fault of his own and Razia did not have much chance from starting at the back. This championship is very tough and competitive and so I'm really happy with our pace but we have to get back on the hunt for points in Silverstone later this month."
Durango - Nelson Panciatici (DNF) Davide Valsecchi (DNF)
Istanbul race 2 immediately compromised for both Durango drivers. Davide Valsecchi finished his race just few seconds after the start because of a couple of contacts. Nelson Panciatici has been involved in a contact at the start as well, he was able to continue but he had to stop twenty laps after. Ivone Pinton commented: "Our drivers have been forced to a stop because of normal race accidents, but yesterday we claimed the podium which demonstrates we are working well".