22/08/2009
NEWS STORY
Ocean Racing Technology - Alvaro Parente (4th) Karun Chandhok (DNF)
Alvaro Parente capitalized perfectly on his 6th place on the grid of the difficult street layout of Valencia today when he drove a brilliant race to finish at the foot of the podium in fourth place. Unfortunately teammate Karun Chandhok, who was just as competitive and seized the final point and virtual position for race two, was forced to retire with just five laps to go.
Alvaro Parente drove an intelligent race on a difficult track that claimed many victims. Being careful at the beginning while at the same time making the most of the situation, the Portuguese driver made the best use of his car and fought from start to finish. He gained one place at the start and was faster than the drivers who were in front of him before his compulsory pit stop. Although he lost a position in the pits, he then put Rodriguez and Di Grassi under pressure in order to get past them. Alvaro believes that on a circuit that was more favourable to overtaking, the podium would have been within his grasp. "Like all the street circuits, Valencia is not a best friend of overtaking even though it has some large run off areas. I had a good start and I immediately realized that I could have very good race pace. The pit stop was not perfect and although I lost a position I got it back on track. The fights were the highlights of my race, they were fierce with Rodriguez and di Grassi but I won them," Parente explained. "It is a great result which opens up further prospects for Sunday's race."
Eighth on the starting grid, teammate Karun Chandhok fought for points throughout the race but the duel with Davide Valsecchi proved to be fatal... "He knew he had the upperhand because he could brake later, but when I successfully attacked him, he slammed the door and the contact badly damaged my car," regretted Chandhok. "It was a racing incident that is hard to take because the car was competitive at the beginning of the race and I was in the same league as Alvaro. Then I lost some ground with the second set of tyres because I needed time to reach their ideal working temperature. Once it was done my race pace was the same as at the start. I know the second race will be a tough one."
Not able to take the chequered flag in race one means that Chandhok will be forced to start the second race from the back of the grid while Alvaro Parente will start from 5th place on the grid.
Thanks to today's result, Ocean Racing Technology is now 8th in the teams' championship, five points adrift of 5th place.
iSport International - Diego Nunes (11th) Giedo van der Garde (14th)
With temperatures soaring to over thirty Celsius it was going to be a tough race for iSport racers Diego Nunes and Giedo van der Garde at the fast and tricky Valencia Street Circuit.
Starting from tenth, Brazilian Diego Nunes was unlucky again in the first lap scrap into turn one and was squeezed back to twelfth. After making up ground after pitting on lap ten, Nunes was running eighth and in sight of a point and a front row start in the sprint race. But his hopes were dashed after brake problems struck Nunes' iSport car and he consequently dropped back through the field to finish a disappointing twelfth.
Giedo van der Garde, starting from the last slot on the grid after an accident in qualifying, stormed through the field at the start. Unfortunately it soon became clear it was a little too quick and the Dutchman had to serve a drive through penalty for jumping the start. After serving his penalty Van der Garde drove a solid race to finish fifteenth, an impressive showing on a new circuit for the GP2 rookie.
Diego Nunes: "I was running eighth when I lost my brakes. I lost four or five places and I just managed until the end of the race without retiring. The car felt good before that and I was on for eighth and a front row start tomorrow so I was disappointed. The car was good till then but I had bad luck again".
Giedo van der Garde: "Well I started a little bit earlier than I was allowed so I had a drive through because of that so I finished fifteenth and that was it. It was not too bad today but because of the start it was crap as I had the drive through so it was a shame. It's a nice circuit but it's hard to overtake".
Trident Racing - Davide Rigon (12th) Ricardo Teixeira (DNF)
Trident Racing's Davide Rigon took 12th place at the end of today's GP2 Series Race 1 at Valencia Street Circuit, while team-mate Ricardo Teixeira was forced to retire by a contact. At the start, both Rigon and Teixeira made up several spots. Unfortunately, the Italian made a mistake while pitting, as he broke the speed limit before getting back on-track and received a Drive Through penalty. The raceday of Teixeira was put to an end when he was hit from behind by another car just three laps into the race, while driving in the last corner. He'll be starting tomorrow's race from 24th, while Rigon is set to take off from 12. Race 2, starting tomorrow at 10:30, will be televised live by RAI and SKY Sport.
Maurizio Salvadori, Team Owner: "The potential showed by our cars today confirmed that, in several key moment during the race, the overall performance level was definitely top-5. We've been conditioned by the lack of experience at the venue of Davide and Ricardo, and the sole, short 30-minute practice session ran against them. For that reason, laptimes in Practice and Qualifying were high. On the performance point of view, the race has been really positive. Rigon got stuck behind jump-starting Coletti, and was forced to slow down dramatically, but once the Monaco driver was called to the pits, he ran good. Unfortunately, the mistake during the pit-stop penalized him badly. Tomorrow's race will be an hard fight for us, but we hope for better results at Spa-Francorchamps, where both our drivers raced in the past."
Davide Rigon: "My car felt really good today, I had fun in driving it, and I clocked some interesting laptimes. Unfortunately, while I was running in the pit-lane, I pulled one of my visor's tir-off and accidentally hit the pit limiter button. As that caused me to be caught speeding by a limited margin, I didn't have the chance to end up in a top-10 spot."
Ricardo Teixeira: "After the really eventful first part of the race I was running in 16th. Just before entering the frontstretch I noticed that Panciatici, who was running in front of me, missed his braking point. I had to brake earlier and took the inside line, before hearing a big bump from behind and realizing that he had hit me. At that point, the car was too damaged to continue and I had to retire."
Fat Burner Racing Engineering - Lucas Di Grassi (19th) Dani Clos (DNF)
Today's feature race at the Valencia Street Circuit left a very disappointing feeling within the ranks of the Fat Burner Racing Engineering Team. After their good performance during Friday's qualifying session, neither Lucas Di Grassi, nor Dani Clos, were able to finish the race.
Things did not go according to plan today for the Spanish team. After an aborted start and two formation laps, the red lights finally went off in Valencia and both Fat Burner Racing Engineering drivers had clean starts. However, Dani's race came to a quick end in the second corner after he was hit from behind by another driver. Having started from 7th position, everyone hoped the rookie would finally score his first points in GP2, but luck was once more not on his side.
Lucas' race wasn't a walk in the clouds either. After loosing one place to Pérez during the first lap, the Brazilian driver had to fend off Parente's attacks from behind, while at the same time trying not to loose the men at the front. On lap 10, he did his compulsory pit stop and returned to the race in 7th place, but soon moved up to fourth again. During the last laps, the Fat Burner Racing Engineering had to keep an eye on Parente who once again was behind him, but a problem with his car's hydraulic pump meant that he had to retire within three laps of the chequered flag.
With Dani's early exit and Lucas' retirement from the race, their starting positions for Sunday's sprint race, where only the top 6 drivers score points, are making their tasks rather difficult. Dani will start the race last and Lucas from 20th position.
Lucas Di Grassi: I think we have to say that we were very unlucky today. We had a problem with the hydraulic pump, which is no ones fault, so there is no one to blame for this part breaking three laps from the end of the race. Our car was maybe not perfect for today, but we could have scored good points over the weekend. It's a shame what happened. We will obviously fix the problem on the car, but my starting position tomorrow will make things difficult.
Dani Clos: I was really happy about my grid position, but in the first corner a driver behind me passed his breaking point and crashed into me. As a consequence I was pushed into the car in front of me and my race was over. I will start last tomorrow, which is not good at all and we will see what we can do from there.
Alfonso de Orleáns-Borbón, Team President: After yesterday's great work by the team it's a pity to have such results today. In Dani's case, it's a real shame he was pushed from all sides and was not able take advantage of his good position on the grid. In Lucas' case, his hydraulic pump gave up working. It's a part you can check a thousand times, if you want, but it either works or it doesn't. The results from today won't make it easy tomorrow and points will be difficult to reach. But I would like to say thanks to all the boys in the team, as they did a great job, but the results were not there.
Durango - Stefano Coletti (DNF) Nelson Panciatici (DNF)
Despite the determination featured by the two drivers, Valencia race 1 for Durango came to a premature end with a double retirement. Nelson Panciatici drove only three laps, because of a contact, so tomorrow he will take the start from P24. Stefano Coletti raced for twentyone laps, driven in a rather spectacular way, but he had to stop because of a clutch problem, so he has been classified twentysecond.
Diego Miotti, Durango team manager: "Both Nelson and Stefano had been forced to retire but, despite this, they have been very good. Especially Stefano, who fought strongly demonstrating that, without the clutch failure, he could have claimed a top ten finish. Very well done for a rookie".