19/06/2009
NEWS STORY
DAMS - Jerome d'Ambrosio (4th) Kamui Kobayashi (10th)
Today, DAMS team drivers Jerome d'Ambrosio and Kamui Kobayashi took part in free practice and qualifying for the fourth round of the 2009 GP2 Series Championship on the Silverstone circuit.
After using the second race on the Istanbul track as a live test two weeks ago, this morning the team reckoned it had solved part of the setup problems that have handicapped its cars since the start of the season.
They were right, as after a qualifying session in strong winds, d'Ambrosio and Kobayashi will start from fourth and tenth places on tomorrow's grid.
These performances show that DAMS is back among the front-runners in the tricky challenge of qualifying, and bodes well for a competitive weekend.
Eric Boullier, team manager: "We decided to sacrifice the second race in Istanbul to validate different setup options for Silverstone. Today, we can say it's paid off. Jerome and Kamui will start on the first half of the grid, and if they hadn't come upon slower cars they would have finished even higher up the classification. These positions transform the approach to a weekend, as we have every hope of scoring a podium finish tomorrow, giving us good places on the grid for the second race on Sunday. Bravo to the whole team for the progress they've made today."
Jerome d'Ambrosio: "Silverstone is a real man's circuit and I'm very happy with the car's performance today on this super quick track. We've made real progress since Turkey: the balance is good and I feel confident in the rapid succession of curves in the early part of the lap. Starting from fourth place with a well-calculated strategy, we can aim for a podium finish tomorrow."
Kamui Kobayashi: "I've finally managed to out an end to the lack of success that's dogged me in qualifying this year. I set a good time on my first attempt but I didn't manage to improve in the second, as I fell upon a slower car. It's a pity as I'd certainly have been higher up the grid. Tomorrow, my aim's to finish and score points. It's very important in the championship context."
Fat Burner Racing Engineering - Lucas Di Grassi (5th) Dani Clos (13th)
Both Fat Burner Racing Engineering drivers tried to make the most of their time on the British track during this morning's free practice session to find the best set up for their cars under the cold conditions that welcomed GP2 Series. The session was red flagged a few minutes before the end after Sergio Perez spun to a halt. By then Lucas has managed to clock the fourth fastest lap whilst Dani was in 12th position.
Lucas and Dani started the qualifying session with high hopes and the objective to qualify in the best possible positions in order to have a competitive place on the grid for tomorrow's feature race. The performance for the Brazilian driver was hampered by the traffic on track. Nevertheless, he was pleased with his final result and will start from the third row on the grid tomorrow.
Dani had a very good first day at the British track, where he had never raced before. The Fat Burner Racing Engineering driver quickly adapted to the challenges of the circuit and managed to be within the top 10 during the first half of the qualifying session. After changing tyres, Dani tried to improve his best lap time, but unfortunately this time was not meant to be. Although the young Spaniard set very competitive sector times, improving the split times in sector 1 and 3, traffic also hampered him and he ended up in 13th position.
Lucas Di Grassi: Qualifying was ok, though I had a lot of traffic during the session. On my first set of tyres I had no clear lap at all. But with the second set I got two laps. The car was performing well and so we were able to finish in 5th position. I had no more possibility to improve my time as the tyres were wearing off very quickly. Nevertheless, everything is looking good for tomorrow's race.
Dani Clos: Today was the first time I ran in Silverstone and I have to say that the overall balance for free practice and qualifying was positive. At the beginning of the free practice it took me some laps to become familiar with the track and then we tried some things on the car for qualifying. Qualifying looked quite positive, especially with the first set of tyres where I managed to be in the top 10. When we mounted the second set, I improved my sector times, but I wasn't able to put them all together in one lap. In the end I finished in 13th position, but have to say that overall this was a positive day.
Thomas Couyotopoulo, sporting director: Both drivers were fine with their cars today and we only applied some minor changes to the cars during their pit stops in qualifying. Traffic was an issue today, especially during the first stint of Lucas. We expected a bit more when he went out with his second set of tyres. We are happy with Dani's performance as it's his first time at the Silverstone circuit. The team did, once more, a great job, putting two reliable and fast cars on track. Now we have to prepare tomorrow's race. While Dani is in a great position to score his first points, Lucas' goal has to be a podium finish, or maybe even a win.
iSport International - Diego Nunes (11th) Giedo van der Garde (17th)
iSport were frustrated today in qualifying for tomorrow's feature race at Silverstone. Brazilian Diego Nunes signed the 11th fastest time, however after qualifying had finished the iSport racer was called to the stewards and handed a 5 place grid penalty after he was deemed to have held up Karun Chandhok during the first phase of qualifying. Giedo van der Garde will start from P15 after struggling to find that elusive quick lap in a frantic session where the top 10 was covered by less than a second.
Giedo van der Garde: "It's not great. We didn't have any problems with traffic, a little but it was not major like the last few races. The speed wasn't there, I don't know why. I think our race pace should be fairly good like it has been all year. Last few races we had the pace but we have had bad luck but now I have to say the pace was just not there".
Diego Nunes: "I held up Karun Chandhok in the last few corners trying to get space for another clear lap. He was upset and went to the stewards to talk about the incident. They gave me 5 places penalty. Everyone had the same problem in qualifying with traffic and no-one complains about it, so I am disappointed he felt the need to complain to the stewards as it was early on in the session.
Durango - Davide Valsechi (15th) Nelson Panciatici (21st)
Davide Valsechi fifteenth, Nelson Panciatici twentieth. This is the verdict of today Silverstone qualyfing for the Durango drivers. Compared to this morning free practice Davide, who was ninth, slipped behind but Nelson improved his performance gaining three positions. Once more the qualyfing session is not reflecting the Durango true potential, as stressed by Ivone Pinton: "With Davide we have not been able to exploit the second tyre set maybe for some minor traffic problem. Nelson on the contrary is doing a progression on a track where he never raced. Tomorrow we will try to exploit as much as possible the strategy even considering the variable weather conditions".