26/06/2010
NEWS STORY
Racing Engineering - Dani Clos (5th) Christian Vietoris (12th)
Racing Engineering's Dani Clos, starting from 11th position on the grid, had a great recovery in an action-packed race at the Valencia Street Circuit today. Quick overtaking maneuvers during the opening laps, a very fast pit stop and intelligent driving were the ingredients necessary for the Spaniard to finish the race in 5th position. Team mate Christian Vietoris was having a good race, heading towards a points finish as well, but ended the race in twelfth position after being handed a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
As it's usual for the Mediterranean summer, sunny conditions and temperatures close to 30ºC welcomed the GP2 field today in Valencia where, due to concerns about fuel consumption, the race distance was shortened by two laps, leaving it with a total of 30.
The start of today's feature race saw a major accident involving seven cars, which caused the Safety Car to neutralize the first two laps of the race. At this point, Racing Engineering's drivers had managed to stay out of trouble, and Christian Vietoris was in ninth place, with team mate Dani Clos right behind him in tenth. At the restart of the race, leader Perez spun off, dropping to the back of the pack, and Dani quickly overtook Vietoris and Herck to climb up to seventh position. Shortly after, the German in the Racing Engineering car passed Herck as well and ran in 6th when Dani, who was in front of him, pitted.
The Spanish driver made his compulsory pit stop on lap seven and Racing Engineering's swift pit stop llowed Dani to pass Pic, who came into the pits on the same lap. Christian came in for his new tyres a lap later, but unfortunately, the German rookie was too fast in the pit lane. Two laps later Christian was handed a drive through penalty, which saw him relegated to 13th position. After the pit stop round, the positions settled with Dani Clos choosing to look after his tyres and maintaining his fifth position, scoring important points for the overall championship standings. On the last lap, Christian Vietoris overtook Arabadzhiev, to finish the race in twelfth position.
For tomorrow's sprint race, the reverse grid rule means that Herck will be on pole position, with Dani Clos starting from the second row of the grid in fourth and Christian Vietoris starting from twelfth. The race is programmed for 14 laps and is scheduled at 10:35 CET.
Dani Clos: "I had a normal start of the race, keeping my position. I saw that there were several cars stopped on the track and was able to avoid them and had some crucial overtakings once the safety car retired. It was a quite good recovery and the pit stop was really great. My team did a fantastic job and I was able to pass Pic in the pits. I am happy with 5th position as it looked quite difficult yesterday, but now we need to work for tomorrow's race, where hopefully will score points again."
Christian Vietoris: "I had a good start today, but there was no space to really pass other cars, so I stayed in 8th position. This was also the position when I drove into the pits for my tyre change, but when exiting the pit lane, I releases the speed limiter too early, which resulted in a drive through penalty. I dropped back to 13th and my race was pretty much over at that point."
Thomas Couyotopoulo, Sporting Director of Racing Engineering: "This was a great recovery for Dani in today's race, starting from 11th place. Christian, on the other hand, was starting well and should have easily finished in the top 8 today as well, but the drive through penalty ruined his chances to score points and secure a good starting position for the sprint race tomorrow. Nevertheless, the overall pace is not as we wanted and we have to work now to prepare the cars for tomorrow."
Super Nova - Marcus Ericsson (7th) Josef Kral (DNF)
There are celebrations in the Super Nova camp this evening, following a superb drive from Marcus Ericsson who started from 24th to finish 7th, collecting some long awaited, well-deserved championship points at the chequered flag.
The team certainly took the bull by the horns in Valencia today, after a disappointing qualifying session yesterday, both cars got a strong start today. Unfortunately Josef Krals' luck was short lived, getting pushed out amongst the jostle through turn three on the first lap. The 19 year old Czech broke late and with nowhere to escape, collided into the two cars in front, launching himself up onto top of them, and sadly retiring on the spot.
With just one car left in the running, the team then executed a near perfect stop, Ericsson squeezing out of the pit lane two places up, to slot into ninth place ahead of DPR. From there on the Swedish driver managed to close in on the Arden's Charles Pic, but not wanting to take any unnecessary risks, comfortably finished the race in 7th, happy to scoop two points, and a front row grid position for tomorrows morning race.
Marcus Ericsson: "I thought it was going to be a difficult day starting from last, but I was really fired up to do a good start for the team. I passed a couple on the straight and took the outside line. A few cars were crashing, so I took the escape route, and had to make a U-turn, but I caught up and I managed to pass two guys on the track before the stop. We did a late stop, and the team did an excellent job. The team is very good in the these. It was very close, but we gained a couple of places there too. In the middle of the race Herck was close but I kept him off whilst I put pressure on Pic, in front of me. But I didn't want to risk it making any mistakes, and I'm very happy to finish where we did. It's a very good result, it's about time! We deserve it and I look forward to tomorrow."
Josef Kral: "My start was not so bad. There was a bit of mess in first and second corner. And then in the third I was side by side with a Trident car, and he was pushing me. I got pushed once, and I was very close to the wall. I tried to avoid it and we touched again, and by this point we were close to the braking point, and I missed it, braked too late, and unfortunately caused the crash that ended things for me today."
David Sears Team Principal: "Marcus Ericsson drove a storming race from the back of the grid, following his practice problems from yesterday, to end the race in seventh place and score his first points of the year. With the reverse grid for the start of the race on Sunday, he will start on the front row and hopefully Marcus has now gained the confidence to run at the front on a regular basis. The team also helped him with probably the fastest pit stop in the pit lane, jumping him two places.
Josef Kral was sadly involved in a multiply accident on the first lap of the race. So the team have a long night a head preparing his car for the race on Sunday morning. Hopefully Josef's season will turn around soon, so that he can demonstrate his real pace and ability."
Trident Racing - Adrian Zaugg (14th) Johnny Cecotto Jr (DNF)
Trident Racing was once again deprived of some greatly deserved results because of some external incidents, not due to the any team's fault. Race 1 of the fourth round of the 2010 GP2 Main Series virtually ended before the first lap was complete for Adrian Zaugg and Johnny Cecotto.
Right after the start, Zaugg was hit from behind by two cars at T1. The South African made his way back to the pits slowly, before rejoining one lap down. In terms of pure performance, he drove a really positive race, clocking the third fastest lap of the pack. Once again, his good pace didn't evolve in something capable of bringing good results to the team.
Cecotto also suffered from first-lap woes, but unlike his team-mate he was forced to retire when, after avoiding the backup at T1, he caught a stuck field at Turn 5. Cecotto managed not to hit anyone else, but once off-line he couldn't slow down, and hit the barriers.
The weekend at Valencia will be ending tomorrow with Race 2. Action is set to start at 10:35, with live coverage provided in Italy by RAI2.
Adrian Zaugg: "While braking for the first corner, I was hit by two cars. I can't even count how many times I've been hit this season, and I'm really disappointed not to be able to score some results we definitely deserve. After making my way back to the track, one lap down, I clocked some really good laptimes despite the bent steering. I think we could have easily ended up into the points zone, maybe in the upper part of it. Once again, we ended up with nothing for something that isn't really our fault."
Johnny Cecotto Jr: "I started pretty bad, losing some spots, and I was forced to cut the chicane on the inside to avoid a crash. Then, at the following corner I found a wall of cars stuck in front, all of a sudden! I managed to dive on the left, but at that point the braking zone became dirty on the runoff area, and I ended up into the barriers. I'm even more disappointed after looking at the good results scored by some of my potential rivals.