25/01/2008
NEWS STORY
iSport - Senna 2nd Chandhok 7th
After four days of testing, qualifying was a very close fight between the top contenders and in the dying moments, Bruno was just beaten to pole by the ART car of Grosjean. Karun brought his car into a very competitive fourth place despite suffering from a fever and feeling below par. So a pretty good start to 2008 for the iSport team.
The start light sequence was very confusing and seemed to catch a lot of drivers out. Bruno maintained second into the first corner but Karun lost a place in the confusion, however they both made it safely through the first couple of corners. During that first lap, Soucek managed to pass Bruno, which started a battle that would last for most of the race. The pit stops failed to change the order so Bruno had to keep up the pressure until an opportunity opened up. Meanwhile, Karun was keeping pace with the leading bunch until his pit stop, when he spun on his out lap on cold tyres, this and a further spin when attempting an overtaking manoeuvre dropped him from contention for a podium.
Bruno continued to apply pressure to Soucek and eventually made it past him for second place. By now, Grosjean was too far away to mount a challenge but Bruno demonstrated the potential by setting fastest lap near the end of the race. Karun settled in to a good pace in the end and was vying for the fastest lap point as well, so both drivers have good potential. In a last minute twist Karun moved up to 7th as a result of a technical infringement on Buemi's car. Overall, a good start to the series with both cars on the pace and in the points.
Bruno Senna: "I started on the dirty side which gave Grosjean and Soucek the advantage but once the race got going my pace was there. I was faster than Soucek but he was quick on the straights so I just took it easy, knowing I could take advantage when his tyres wore off, which they did a few laps before the end. I'm a bit disappointed not to get the victory but it's still a good start to the season. The track is improving as the weekend goes on and as it's becoming more of a challenge I'm enjoying it more. I'll start seventh for the race tomorrow, so there will be the usual problems of the reverse grid but I hope to have an even better result than today."
Karun Chandhok: After a tough race, Karun retired early to the hotel to try to shake off the heavy cold that has afflicted him all day and hopes to be in better shape tomorrow so that he can fight for a podium finish.
DPR - Soucek 3rd Ebrahim 22nd
David Price Racing (DPR) returned to racing today in the inaugural round of the GP2 Asia Championship and took a superb third place at the Dubai Autodrome. Driver Andy Soucek fought hard to bring home DPR's first podium of the new series, whilst rookie team mate Armaan Ebrahim showed his ability to keep a cool head under pressure by completing his first full GP2 race.
Soucek started the day on a good footing being quickest during the morning warm up, setting a time of 1:21.870. As qualifying got underway, DPR again set the early pace with Soucek holding the top spot during the session with a time of 1:21.859 seconds. During the dying moments, Grosjean (ART Grand Prix) and iSport's Bruno Senna just piped Soucek by 0.099 seconds, leaving him a respectable third on the grid.
In only his first ever GP2 qualifying, newcomer Armaan Ebrahim (19) worked hard on set-up for the car and finished the session with a time of 1:24.764 seconds placing him 24th on grid ahead of the afternoons race.
As the lights went out in the first ever GP2 Asia Feature Race, Soucek made a strong start off the line, maintaining his third place into the first corner, Soucek then made an impressive manoeuvre down the inside of Senna into the third corner and took second place. Further back Ebrahim also made the best of his grid position, maintaining his position off the start line.
Soucek battled hard to keep Senna at bay, then on lap 17 he pitted coming in a few laps after Senna, putting the pressure on the DPR pit crew to get Soucek out in front. A faultless stop gave the DPR driver the edge and he re joined in second place and pulled out his lead to over three seconds. One lap later Ebrahim also made his stop, rejoining in 22nd place after another problem free tyre change from the DPR crew.
As the race progressed both drivers worked hard, coping well with the traffic and holding off challenges from behind. Senna caught up to the back of Soucek and they reignited their battle, but after nearly 38 laps of being chased down by Senna, Soucek's tyres went off causing a slight error into turn one. Senna then got a run on Soucek into the next few corners and the inevitable happened as Senna took the position. Soucek nursing his rear tyres came under threat from Adrian Valles in the dying laps, but he held off the challenge and bought the car home in a well deserved third place. Ebrahim drove maturely to bring home the car in 22nd position as the chequered flag fell.
David Price, Team Principal: "It was a good podium, with Andy having been on the pace all week and qualifying up front was a step forward as that's where we were struggling last season. All the work over the winter has paid off with the result today and we're anticipating maintaining this level of performance.
"Armaan didn't qualify as well as he ran in the relative ease of the free practice sessions, but it was his first GP2 qualifying and it's a tough session, as we're running on hard compounds and they take time to come up to peak performance. I think Armaan was as disappointed as we were with his qualifying position as this made it difficult for him in the race. It's a steep learning curve and a big step up for him, compounded by an engine problem on the first day which lost him valuable running time. We'll work with him and make gains as the season progresses."
The teams will now prepare for the second race of the weekend, which will take place tomorrow at the Dubai Autodrome. The grid positions for the Sprint race are decided from today's finishing result, meaning Soucek will start 8th on the grid and Ebrahim 22nd.
Qi-Meritus.Mahara Filippi 5th Yoshimoto 6th
The first inaugural round of the newly born GP2 Asia series started well for team Qi-Meritus.Mahara. After qualifying in the top eight, the team finished first race with seven points sanctioning a strong finish in fifth and sixth place today at Dubai Autodrome for the first of the two races on the program at Dubai circuit for the GP2 Asia cars launching the new Asian series. The team will start in second row for the main feature race as the grid will be reversed.
The newly appointed Qi-Meritus.Mahara – drivers, Luca Filippi and Hiroki Yoshimoto both finished race 1 in the points, in 5th and 6th.position scoring the first ever points for their team in the new GP2 Asia series.
Both drivers had a busy morning, with Luca Filippi off the track in the twentieth minute of the short thirty minute morning practice session while his team-mate Hiroki Yoshimoto was sixteenth fastest with a time of 1.23.894 after ten laps of a short twenty minute session. In qualifying, Luca Filippi clocked a sixth fastest time – 1.22.187 that brought him in sixth place on the grid. Meanwhile Hiroki Yoshimoto finished qualifying in eighth place 1.22.469 for the start of race 1.
A good start for the race for both drivers and Filippi ran in third position at the end of the first lap, before stabilizing in 4th. Hiroki Yoshimoto opted for an early pitstop refuel and stopped on lap 5 to rejoin the race on lap 14. On lap 17, Filippi was in the lead of the race laping in 1.24.720 before stopping for a later pitstop that went very smooth on lap 20.
Luca Filippi: "I had a good start and was fourth right away. I pushed strongly in the first laps. My pace was good. The car was working well and I was laping in 1.23.770. I went for a late pitstop on lap 20. But I had a small problem with the rear wheel that got stuck. Also lost time with a back-marker who was already lapped. Overall, with the team, we have done a good job to prepare the races. I qualified 6th this morning. Main thing is that we established that the car is quick for the races. Four points is fantastic for our start. Because of the reversed grid we will leave in second row. I'll try to do a good start".
Hiroki Yoshimoto: "After a good start, I had a strong race and I am proud to have a two team-finish in the points for our first ever race. This made me forget the first morning trouble. Honestly the potential is there. My pitstop was quite fast. Later I had an incident with a Super Nova that hit me from the back. But luckily nothing happened and I kept my position. Towards the end of the race, there was almost no more grip. But we made it and the team is getting better. Our young team needed this good start and points for our first race. Tomorrow I will leave in second line because of the reverse grid. I am very happy."
Peter Thompson, President and team founder, Qi-Meritus. Mahara: "I have been looking forward to our first ever race. The team went beyond the set goal and finished with both cars in the points. These seven points are a great achievement knowing we did not have such a great qualifying, and lost a few precious minutes as both cars had gone off in the third turn at the same place during the practice session and in qualifying. In the race, Luca Filippi had a problem with a back-marker and with a stuck rear wheel during the pitstop. Nevertheless, this morning in qualifying, Qi-Meritus.Mahara finished the second highest team in the placing on the time-sheets and this is a good sign of the team's preparation. These seven points are fantastic. Congratulations to the entire team for this achievement.I dedicate our points to our sponsor QI."
DAMS - d'Ambrosio 12th Kobayashi 14th
Today, the DAMS team raced in the first round of the GP2 Asia Championship on the Dubai circuit. Its two drivers met with mixed fortunes, as Jérôme d'Ambrosio and Kamui Kobayashi finished in 11th and 13th positions respectively. The Japanese driver, who set the eleventh-quickest time in practice, stalled at the start of the formation lap and then drove an attacking race to fight his way back up through the field. His Belgian team-mate ran into a problem in qualifying, which dropped him to twenty-first spot on the grid. He then had an error-free race and put on one of the best performances of the afternoon.
Eric Boullier, team manager: "At the end of qualifying we were a bit disappointed, and we knew that it would be difficult to play a leading role in the race. Kamui paid a heavy price for his small mistake, but the GP2 car's clutch is very tricky and it often catches out rookie drivers. The positive aspect of the day is that both our drivers had steady races o n their first outing in GP2. Their consistency helped them to overtake almost half the field and that shows just how competitive they are. If we manage to start higher up on the grid in the future, then we can score points on a regular basis."
Kamui Kobayashi: "I stalled at the start of the formation lap and that effectively ruined my race. It was entirely my fault and I'm really sorry for the team, but I've learned my lesson. After this incident I started from the pit road in last place. We decided to change tyres very early on to gain a few positions over the race distance. Our strategy paid off and I pulled back 11 places in relation to where I started. The car was very consistent and I didn't make any mistakes after the start, but we've still got a lot of hard work to do if we want to win."
Jérôme d'Ambrosio: "Given that qualifying d idn't go very well for me the race result is pretty positive! . Thanks to an early stop and good consistency I managed to pull back ten places, which isn't too bad. I could have done better if I hadn't been stuck behind a slower driver for twenty-five laps. I just couldn't get past. I think my car had a small problem and that penalised my top speed. We'll do everything we can to identify it for tomorrow. The ideal thing would be to score some points in the second race."
Trident Racing - Schlegelmilch 15th Tung 23rd
The GP2 Asia Series started its course today at Dubai Autodrome with a very busy day for all the competitors. After this morning's qualifications, the drivers entered the first race of the season, planned over a total of 42 laps. Both Trident Racing's drivers saw the checkered flag, as Harald Schlegelmilch ended up his maiden GP2 race in an encouraging 15th place, and Ho-Pin Tung recovered back to 23rd after stalling his engine and being forced to take off from pit-lane. Today's qualifying session brought good results and indications to the team, with the two drivers earning spots in Row 6 (Tung) and Row 8 (Schlegelmilch). Unfortunately, the Chinese driver stalled his engine at green lights, and was pushed back to the pits where he managed to re-fire and eventually start the race. He was then forced to consider the race as a test session, that ultimately allowed the team to acquire useful data information for the rest of the season. Schlegelmilch completed a flawless run, with a sensible improvement in the feeling with his car. The Latvian driver was though penalized with a drive-through pass that cost him one position, and then stayed in the slipstream of Jerome D'Ambrosio in the final part of the race. The second race of the weekend is set to start tomorrow at 13:00 local time, on 28 laps.
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Managing Director: "We completed the first race of the GP2 Asia Series with some little disappointments, but we're heading towards the second one aware of the high level of the pre-season work we made. Ho-Ping Tun's race was conditioned by the mistake made at the start, virtually ending the day started with reasonable hopes to get into the top-10, especially considering the mistakes committed by two rivals up front. The points were a realistic goal though. The maiden GP2 race of Schlegelmilch was underlined by several positive aspects, like a great start and a constant improvement in his laptimes. He proved to have the right potential to progress with further improvements".