08/05/2010
NEWS STORY
Racing Engineering - Dani Clos (3rd) Christian Vietoris (DNF)
Spanish team Racing Engineering had a tremendous start to the 2010 GP2 season in Barcelona today. Local driver Dani Clos, who started from 7th position on the grid, took third place in the feature race. German rookie Christian Vietoris, who started fourth and had high hopes for the race, had to retire after an incident at the first corner.
The first race of the 2010 GP2 season started under an overcast sky and with a temperature of 18?C at the Circuit of Cataluña. Once the red lights went off, Jules Bianchi, Sergio Perez and Christian Vietoris tangled at the first corner, causing the French and German rookies to abandon the race. The field was then led by Sergio Perez, with Dani Clos settling into fifth place. On the 8th lap, the only Spanish driver in the pack, was visibly faster than the cars ahead of him. He then managed to pass Pastor Maldonado into fourth position. At this point, light rain made an appearance over Montmeló, just as some drivers started to come into the pits for their obligatory tyre changes.
Dani Clos, now running behind Ricci, entered the pits on the same lap as the Italian for his pit stop, coming out in the same order and without any further problems, but having reduced the gap between the two. On lap 16, the then leaders Perez and Turvey, had their pit stops, with the Addax driver dropping behind Racing Engineering's Spaniard. Once all the pack had pitted, Charles Pic was in the lead, with Giacomo Ricci second and Dani Clos a close third.
The Spaniard tried to challenge Ricci and close in and his efforts were matched by his predecessor trying to close in on the leader. In the final stages of the race and with Ricci fighting for the lead, Dani focused on defending his position from Perez. In the end Dani Clos finished in third position, managing to start the season with a podium, the second of his career in GP2 and only four seconds behind the race winner.
For tomorrow's sprint race, Racing Engineering's drivers will face different challenges, with Dani Clos starting from the sixth position on the grid, whilst Christian Vietoris will begin the race from the last row.
Dani Clos: "I had a good start, but at the first corner there was an accident, which I was lucky to escape from. I had to cut the chicane, which bent my steering a bit. I was then behind Maldonado and studied him for a while as I didn't want to take too much of a risk. I was able to pass him, and I was then behind Ricci. The pit stop helped me to close in on him, but I wasn't able to pass. Then Perez was doing strong lap times behind me, but I had this under control. I hope we will continue like this. Now we will work on tomorrow's race."
Christian Vietoris: "I had a really good start and was in Perez' slipstream. I wanted to out-brake him, but I think he hadn't seen me and was only focused on Bianchi. We were at the same height in corner one and he stuck to the normal race line, so I had to back off. We slightly touched, which made me spin. It's a pity my race stopped there as I think it could have been a great race."
Alfonso de Orleans - Borbón, President of Racing Engineering: "Dani did an amazing job and I couldn't be any happier. Podium at the first race of the season, so I think we are starting well. It's a pity about Christian, as he had tremendous potential for this race, but it was over in the first corner. Everyone in the team did a fantastic job, and I congratulate all of them for the great work."
Ocean Racing Technology - Fabio Leimer (8th) Max Chilton (18th)
Ocean Racing Technology's 2010 GP2 Main Series campaign got off to a good start at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona (Spain) today. After starting 11th on the grid for the feature race, which includes a mandatory pit stop, Fabio Leimer had a strong start that saw him up in to 7th place before chaos in the second turn caused him to drop back to 15th. After this, the Swiss driver performed some brilliant overtaking manoeuvres that saw him eventually cross the line in 8th place, securing his first point of the season and pole position for Sunday's 'sprint' race.
Fabio Leimer's final result was also aided by a remarkable strategy from the Portuguese team, who asked their driver to come in for an early pit stop. "It was an excellent race and my aim was to cross the finish line in 8th position because it gives you the opportunity to take the lead of the second race," Fabio Leimer explained. "The start went well but things got complicated in the second turn where I lost a lot of positions, but then I gained a lot of those back before finding myself stuck behind Pastor Maldonado. The team decided to call me into the pits and this was the best strategy possible because it allowed me to resume the race with a clear track and clock a series of fast laps and gain time. On Sunday it will be crucial to make a good start because there is often a lot of overtaking in the second race but until then, we will keep working on the car in order to make it even more competitive for the sprint race."
After qualifying in 19th place teammate Max Chilton endured a difficult race, however the English driver gained valuable experience for the rest of the season as he battled it out to eventually cross the line in 18th place. Speaking after the event he explained that the chaos at the start helped to determine the final outcome. "The car was fast but I was trapped behind slower cars and I could not get past them as I had to brake really hard to avoid the chaos. Then the car's behaviour was sometimes really good, but at other times it wasn't. Having said that however, the overall balance was satisfying. Tomorrow I will have to get a good start and make up as many positions as I can. To finish inside the top 10 would be a nice result," Max Chilton said.
Today's result now allows Tiago Monteiro and Jose Guedes' team to have hope for a strong result in tomorrow's sprint race... "It was a good start," confirmed Tiago, who was happy that Ocean Racing Technology had started the season at the front. "Fabio's fight back was excellent and this result has pleased us. We will do our best to defend our position on Sunday because securing a good result in the first race weekend is always very important. Max Chilton's race was a little more difficult but it was good experience for him and I think he can deliver and have a good race on Sunday."
Super Nova - Marcus Ericsson (11th) Josef Kral (12th)
Marcus Ericsson and Josef Kral finished in 11th and 12th positions respectively at the end of a dramatic first race in the 2010 GP2 Series Championship. A chaotic opening lap saw three of cars battling for the lead make contact at the first corner, with the rest of the field having to take evasive action. Marcus in particular needed great reactions not to get involved, although it did cost him a couple of positions in the process after making a strong start. Josef also got off the line well and had moved up six places after the first couple of corners.
Both Super Nova drivers showed strong pace in the first part of the race and whilst other cars behind pitted early, Josef and then Marcus made their mandatory pit stops a third of the way into the race, in order to optimise their tyre strategy. There was also rain forecasted during the race, which also suggested it was better not to take an early pit stop. This allowed Razia, Leimer and Valsecchi to leap frog the Super Nova pair, leaving them in 10th and 11th after all the cars had pitted. Unfortunately both drivers struggled for pace and lost ground to the leading pack. In the last few laps both drivers succumbed to Sam Bird who charged from the back of the field after being caught up in the first corner incident.
Marcus Ericsson: "After a good start I had to lift off because Turvey pushed me more and more towards the grass. Then going into turn one I saw cars spinning in front of me and had to avoid them by going over the kerb, which damaged the floor of my car. After that I had big issues with hesitations on the throttle, which hurt us a lot. Anyway, we did all of the laps and I got good experience. Tomorrow is a new day!"
Josef Kral: "I had quite a good start but with a bit too much wheelspin. In the first corner I chose the right way through and gained some positions. After a decent pitstop I was behind Marcus but due to understeer I couldn't stay with him through the fast corners when I got close. Overall I have to say that I am satisfied because I moved up from 18th on the grid to 12th position at the finish. The most important part of tomorrow's race is the start because there are no pit stops, so hopefully I can score some points."
David Sears - Team Principal: "Both Super Nova drivers had problems during their first race in GP2 Main Series but still managed to bring the cars back in 11th and 12th places. They will have learned a lot more from today's experience and hopefully tomorrow we may be able to score some points and build on our results from today.
Scuderia Coloni - Alberto Valerio (14th) Vladimir Arabadzhiev (19th)
It was a bittersweet first race in Barcelona for Scuderia Coloni. After Friday's qualifying the Italian outfit was prepared to have a tough race, but what happened in the first laps made it even harder.
Despite this, Alberto Valerio managed to clinch a 14th place, an unexpected result after the unlucky start, and Vladimir Arabadzhiev showed a very promising pace looking to tomorrow's second race.
The first start of the 2010 season was an eventful one, with Sam Bird nearly stalling his car and Christian Vietoris spinning in the first corner, being then collected by Jules Bianchi. With the group spreading on the track to avoid the still cars, the two Scuderia Coloni went through unscathed; Arabadzhiev chose the right way to go and gained six positions in a row. Anyway, bad news were approaching quickly. At turn 7, Valerio's car was hit in the back and while the bump did send the brazilian wide, forcing him to fall in P19, it also damaged his exhaust, seriously hampering his car's performance.
From then on, Valerio had to drive the whole race with a 15 kph handicap compared to his rivals, but he faced the odds using all his talent, pushing as much as he could in the corners to make up for the ground that he was losing on the straight. The only driver who managed to overtake him was a charging Bird, and thanks to this masterly drive Valerio could take advantage of some retirements to finish the race 14th, behind Ho-Pin Tung and with a six second advantage on Rodolfo Gonzalez.
Meanwhile, Arabadzhiev compromised his race stalling his engine in the pitstop and falling in 19th place. Despite this, the Bulgarian driver kept driving as quick as he could and lapping on the same laptimes as Ricci was able to keep behind a very aggressive Van der Garde.
Alberto Valerio: What happened is really disappointing because I had the speed for a good race. Then somebody bumped in my back, and my exhaust was completely closed. From then on my race was ruined because the main straight is really long in Barcelona and I could clearly feel the lack of power. Anyway, the good part of this is that we had performance, so for tomorrow our target is getting in the points.
Vladimir Arabadzhiev: My start wasn't the best possible, but I found the right path in the first corner chaos and things started to look good. Unfortunately I stalled the car in the pits, I'm very sorry but maybe the problems in qualifying and starting from last row did put too much pressure on me. Anyway there's another race, I will give my best to climb the standings.
Trident Racing - Adrian Zaugg (16th) Johnny Cecotto (DNF)
Adrian Zaugg ended up the first race of the 2010 GP2 Main Series in 16th for Trident Racing. The South African's run was conditioned by the bad starting spot, but in a tough race due to the lack of grip, he made it to the checkered flag without mistakes. He'll be starting tomorrow's Race 2 from the 8th row.
Johnny Cecotto experienced a short and even more disappointing race The Venezuelan climbed out two spots in the first corner, but was then hit by another car, and ended up spinning. Cecotto, who lost any chance to score points, will start Race 2 from the back of the pack. The race is set for tomorrow at 10:30 with live coverage from Italy's National TV on RAI2.
Johnny Cecotto Jr. "I feel really disappointed. The race started in a really promising way, and at the first corner I didn't want to take any risk, due to the huge crash out front. In the following turns I realized I had some potential, and I passed two cars. Then, on Turn 10, I heard a bump from behind. It was Razia, and at that point there was nothing much to do. The car spun, and the engine stalled. It feels really bad especially because of the final results, as many drivers I had behind me ended up in a podium spot."
Adrian Zaugg. "It's been a really tough race. The start wasn't the best, but at the first corner I recovered the lost ground thanks to a good line amid the whole traffic chaos. Unfortunately, I couldnt get more spots back, as my race pace wasn't at the top. I look forward to work with the team on a better set-up"