Fat Burner Racing Engineering - Lucas Di Grassi (2nd) Dani Clos (11th)
Bittersweet results for both Fat Burner Racing Engineering drivers in today's GP2 feature race at the Hungaroring, where Lucas Di Grassi finished in second place and Dani Clos crossed the line in eleventh.
The first race of the sixth round of the 2009 GP2 Series Championship started well for Lucas and Dani. The Brazilian driver had a great start from pole position and managed to keep his place when entering the first corner, while his team mate was able to gain three places and avoid a major collision in front on him at the second corner. However, somebody hit Dani between the first two corners, damaging his Fat Burner Racing Engineering car.
Lucas led the field during the first half of the race keeping Villa and Hülkenberg behind him under control. When Lucas entered the pits for the compulsory pit stop at the end of lap 11, he was able to rejoin the race as leader, but shortly after Hülkenberg saw an opportunity to overtake the pole sitter at turn 2. Lucas tried by all means to keep up with the German, but to no avail, and when crossing the finish line, he had to settle for second.
Spanish rookie Dani, saw his race affected by an early collision, but tried to get the best out of a damaged car around the twisty Hungaroring circuit. Lack of stability under braking forced him into making mistakes during the race. He lost time and positions which dropped him back from 9th to 11th. Dani finished in eleventh position and although once again he was not being able to show his real potential, he continues to aim for his first points in the championship.
Lucas Di Grassi: We had a good start, a good race and a good pit stop. The team did a great job. We were at the maximum and more was not possible. We just didn't have the pace of the ART cars. We have gotten closer to the front in the championship, which was our aim before this weekend. So far we scored 10 points this weekend, and maybe some more tomorrow. I would also like to mention that I am very sorry about the accident of my friend Felipe (Massa). I hope he gets well as soon as possible and will go to visit him as soon as it is allowed.
Dani Clos: I had a good start, but between corner one and two, someone touched me. There was also a big accident ahead of me with several cars involved, but I managed to avoid it. My car suffered some damages on the side and that affected the aerodynamics; as a consequence I dropped back some places. I lost stability under braking and this forced me into making some errors. Our pit stop was good, but the result is a bit of a shame, as I think we could have done much better. However, I am still aiming for points, which is fundamental.
Alfonso de Orleans-Borbon, Team President: Great second position from Lucas. Nice handfull of points for the championship. Pity about Dani, but he was lucky to avoid the big pile up at the second corner. So all in all with a damaged car he did very well. As usual I want to thank all the boys for the great teamwork they've done and the fantastic pit stops.
Durango - Davide Valsecchi (5th) Nelson Panciatici (14th)
Good race in Budapest for Durango this afternoon. Davide Valsecchi claimed a worthy fifth place, and four points in the championship, and Nelson Panciatici took the fourteenth. It must be said that Davide took a very good start but he had to lift his right foot because of the bad start taken by the driver in front. Nelson drove with nice determination gaining some positions and strongly defending himself from the attempts of a couple of competitors. So today Durango result can be deemed as very positive. "Davide started very well - Ivone Pinton said - but he had to leave it before the first corner to avoid problems. With a little more luck he could be in the top three at the beginning, which means we could celebrate a podium now. But we are happy the same because we demonstrated to be very fast thanks to the very good job we did. A compliment to Nelson because he showed determination keeping behind much more experienced drivers. Well done. Tomorrow we will start from the second row one more time, which means another chance to do something very good".
iSport International - Giedo van der Garde (7th) Diego Nunes (18th)
Giedo van der Garde was on form to end iSport's points drought in today's feature race at the Hungaroring. Starting from sixteenth Van der Garde picked his way through an accident at the second corner to run eighth before the mandatory pit stops. After a slick tyre change by the iSport team Van der Garde took the flag and two points to finish seventh and will start tomorrow's sprint race from the front row. Diego Nunes had less luck fater he was caught up in the first lap accident dropping several places. After an early first pit stop Nunes had good pace in the car but was forced to retire on lap thirty-eight after a mechanical problem with the throttle.
Giedo van der Garde: "It was a hard race today but the car felt really good. I had a good start and missed the accident at turn two. After that I kept pushing and had some strong lap times and finished seventh. The car felt good and I will start from the front row tomorrow so I have a great chance of a podium and some more points".
Diego Nunes: "I got caught in the accident at turn two on the first lap and had to run really wide to avoid it. I lost a lot of places. The car was really good and balanced but I lost too much time on the first lap. I was fighting with Herck and we touched and I spun but the car felt ok. Then I just lost the throttle, there was nothing there so I had to retire from the race. It was disappointing as the car was really balanced and I think we could have scored points today".
Trident Racing - Davide Rigon (8th) Ricardo Teixeira (19th)
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