28/08/2009
NEWS STORY
Ocean Racing Technology - Alvaro Parente (Pole) Karun Chandhok (6th)
Ocean Racing Technology secured pole position for the first race of the Belgian round of the GP2 Main Series on the circuit of Spa-Francorchamps today courtesy of Alvaro Parente. The Portuguese driver, who had been fast in the morning practice session that took place on a wet track, knew how to take advantage of every bit of potential from his single-seater and translated it into pole position on the now dry circuit in the Ardennes.
Karun Chandhok fought for some time to secure first place on the starting grid for himself and actually held provisional pole position for a little while. However, he was hindered by Lucas di Grassi on his last flying lap, and as such finished the qualifying session in sixth place.
This afternoon's pole position secured by Alvaro Parente on the mythical Belgian circuit is the first for Ocean Racing Technology in their debut season in the GP2 Main Series. The achievement by the Portuguese racer underlines the extent of progress made by the team directed by Tiago Monteiro and Jose Guedes.
Alvaro Parente is the only driver to have lapped below 1:55 and now approaches the first race with confidence and determination. "This result is excellent and opens up some prospects for Saturday's race. I started the session with two good laps but a mistake at the chicane prevented me from fighting for pole. Then I had a clean lap and the lap time came naturally. The car is really fast and even though we are in the same rhythm as most, I think we should be able to fight for the win," Alvaro Parente explained. "My aim is to have a good start and then have very good race pace during the entire race. I am optimistic and very happy with this result."
Lucas di Grassi was penalized three places on the grid for obstructing Karun Chandhok on his fast lap and despite this missed opportunity, the Indian driver remains positive. "Qualifying was interesting. The car has great handling and balance and is very fast. It is a pity to have been hampered by another driver and to be forced to start in 6th but I think we have what it takes for a solid race. Spa is a track where overtaking is possible without taking silly risks and I am confident of bringing the car home with a good result."
Fat Burner Racing Engineering - Lucas Di Grassi (2nd) Dani Clos (11th)
Lucas Di Grassi's and Dani Clos' second and eleventh qualifying positions respectively for Saturday's GP2 feature race at the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit gave a big boost to the entire Fat Burner Racing Engineering Team this afternoon, following last weekend's disappointment in Valencia.
Like usual in Spa, the weather had a shower in store before this morning's free practice session, which forced both Fat Burner Racing Engineering drivers to work on their respective programs with wet tyres. For Lucas, it was a question of adapting and finding the best set up for his car, while for Dani, the morning was a time to get familiar to his GP2 car on this track. At the end of the 30 minutes free practice session, the Spaniard had set the 12th best time and Lucas was 15th.
With their minds set on improving their free practice results and their overall performance, Lucas was the first man on track to clock a reference time of 1:59.728, which quickly was improved by other drivers as the track become faster. Dani was proving to be, once again, a determined young driver, set out to battle for a good place on the grid. But seven minutes after the start, qualifying was red flagged, with the Brazilian in second place and Dani fifth.
After seven minutes of waiting in the pit lane for the track to be cleared, both Fat Burner Racing Engineering drivers went back into action, but Dani had an unexpected surprise when his best time was disallowed for having missed the apex at turn 19. That did not bother the Spanish driver, who fought until the very end trying to improve on his best lap. And so he did, although he was hampered in setting an even faster lap time. The clock stopped at 1:55.600 for Dani's fastest lap, which puts him in 11th position on the grid.
Lucas, on the other hand, was on a mission to get on pole position. And he managed to put himself at the top of the timing sheets after completing his best lap with a 1:55.050. With seconds until the end of the session, however, Parente took Lucas' pole position by setting a lap 0.080 of a second faster than the Brazilian, pushing the Fat Burner Racing Engineering driver to second place on the grid for Saturday's feature race.
Once the session was finished, Lucas was called by the stewards. They decided that the Fat Burner Racing Engineering driver is to face a three position grid penalty for race 1 due to impeding another driver during the qualifying session. Lucas will therefore start the race from 5th position.
Lucas Di Grassi: I think we did a good job today. We led qualifying most of the time, but I had a problem with the exhaust towards the end of the session, which kept me from being able to improve my lap time further. I dropped to second, but we are very, very close. For tomorrow we will improve the car even more and will go for the win. It's a special track and I am looking forward to tomorrow's race.
Dani Clos: It looked quite good. After free practice in the wet, we had a dry qualifying session. During the first stint I tried to get comfortable with the car. I was able to improve my time with the second set of tyres, but on my fastest lap I had a problem in turn 10, when I stayed on the limiter for too long. I lost some tenths there. And towards the end, with my next set of tyres, I was improving my time in sector one and two, but a Durango car, which was shown the blue flag several times already, was in my way. So this lap was spoilt as well.
Alfonso de Orleans-Borbon, Team President: Very good job from the team and the drivers. Pity that Dani was blocked on his fastest lap by another competitor, and Lucas was handed a three place penalty. All in all, I am quite satisfied, now let's see how the race goes tomorrow.
iSport International - Diego Nunes (4th) Giedo van der Garde (12th)
Both iSport racers Diego Nunes and Giedo van der Garde were on form today in iSport's best qualifying session of the season so far. Diego Nunes, after a good weekend in Valencia last week, started as he left off today at the Spa Francorchamps Circuit to place his iSport car a season's best fourth just 0.180 tenths shy of pole. His teammate Giedo van der Garde also showed speed today after signing the third quickest time in practice. Running consistently in the top ten for most of the session Van der Garde qualified twelfth in a very tight field in which the top seventeen was separated by less than a second.
Diego Nunes: "I qualified P4 and the car was good. From the first set of tyres to the second we changed a little bit on the car to improve the front a little bit and it seems that worked very well. I managed to be only one and a half tenths behind pole which is good, we are there fighting for the pole and we have definitely improved a lot at this race".
Giedo van der Garde: "The first set (of tyres) it was very good, I was seventh. Then after we changed something on the wing and I couldn't improve anymore on the second set which was a bit strange. It was a shame because I think we could have been top seven for sure but I was twelfth so it was a bit of shame for the second set but anyway the race is tomorrow and it's a long race so I think we can do well".
Trident Racing - Davide Rigon (14th) Ricardo Texeira (22nd)
The GP2 Main Series was back running today at Spa-Francorchamps, just 5 days after the round held at Valencia Street Circuit, in one of the most anticipater rounds of the 2009 season. The Belgian event started today with the venue's trademark unpredictable weather entering into frame, as the first practice session was disputed with with wet, and Qualifying was run with dry asphalt setting a tough environment for the series' teams and drivers. Trident Racing's Davide Rigon ended up with a spot on row 7 at the end of a troubled qualification. He spun at the exit of the bus stop chicane and got stuck over a kerb. His car was brought back to the pits, where he refired his car and went back on-track. He clocked his best lap shortly after, in the last available lap. Ricardo Teixeira improved lap-by-lap, but didn't manage to put together in one shot all his best intermediate times. He'll start from 22nd. The first race of the weekend will be televised live in Italy by Sky Sport, while Race 2 will benefit from the regular double live coverage by Sky Sport and terrestrial channel RAI.
Davide Rigon: "We started on a really aggressive strategy since the very beginning, thanks to the additional set of new tires we didn't use in practice. I pushed hard and I ended up spinning at the bus stop corner, and got stuck on the edge of the kerb. Luckily enough, race control stopped the session, allowing me to be back at Trident Racing's pits. Considering this bad break, row 7 is not bad since we're just 0.8s off the pole with times running over 2 minutes per lap. I hope for rain on Race 1, because I clearly felt that we can be really fast on wet".
Ricardo Texeira: "I committed several mistakes today, especially in the first part of Qualifying. In the first sector everything went on good, while in the second and third one I couldn't put together a clean lap, staying more than a second off my ideal time. I really liked the Eau Rouge section, when you go through it flat-out you come out breathless. I hope tomorrow's race will be wet, because I think the rear tire's management could be really tough with a dry racetrack".
Durango - Stefano Coletti (21st) Nelson Panciatici (23rd)
On the most beautiful track of the world, today Durango did not gain a result as worth as the commitment lavished. At the end of Spa qualifying, in fact, Stefano Coletti claimed P21 and Nelson Panciatici P23. At the end of the day Stefano's performance can be deemed as sufficient, which is good, while Nelson made a mistake during his flyer, which is a pity.
This is the final comment of Durango team principal Enrico Magro: "Our boys showed without any doubt a great commitment and this is positive. We were not very fast because Stefano is paying the sensible improvements he is doing lap after lap while Nelson paid his mistake with four or five positions. But it's alright because they are both trying at their best".