21/06/2009
NEWS STORY
Fisichella Motor Sport International - Andreas Zuber (2nd) Luiz Razia (DNF)
Andreas Zuber and Luiz Razia took to the track this weekend for Fisichella Motor Sport International at the Silverstone circuit in the UK for round four of the 2009 GP2 Series. The Italian squad returned to successful ways as Zuber picked up a podium in Sunday's sprint race, finishing in second place.
Silverstone is a circuit much loved by drivers due to its high-speed, fast flowing nature. The first sector is particularly quick, with drivers finding a real challenge. Free practice and qualifying took place on Friday, with the 36-lap feature race at 3pm on Saturday and the 24-lap sprint on Sunday morning at 9.30am.
Andreas Zuber: Andreas had a strong start to the weekend, finishing second fastest in practice, with a quickest lap was 1:27.025. Unfortunately he had problems with traffic in qualifying, which made it difficult to seize his full potential and set a time of 1:27.106, to line up 16th on the grid for the feature. In Saturday's race he made an excellent start and raced strongly, eventually crossing the line in 8th, picking up a point and pole position for Sunday's race. At the start of the sprint he was jumped by Pastor Maldonado, but maintained a strong second position until the chequered flag, stepping onto the podium once again for FMSI.
Luiz Razia: Luiz finished 22nd in Friday's practice session, setting a fastest time of 1:29.218 and completed a total of 13 laps of testing. Razia also suffered from traffic on his qualifying runs, and had to settle for starting 23rd for the feature after recording a lap of 1.28.789. He had a steady feature race, moving up three positions to finish in 20th. Starting from the tenth row in the sprint, he was progressing well until he was hit on the straight by Dani Clos, putting an end to his race.
Paolo Coloni, Team Principal, FMSI: We are really pleased with today's podium result for Andi. We could say we were disappointed to lose the race as we started on pole, but Maldonado made a fantastic start. After that both drivers drove a very good race and pushed hard so we are pleased. I've been amazed at the performance of our car this weekend and am delighted with the strong form. We were unlucky with traffic in qualifying so we had to cope with that but we are getting better and stronger. I'm sad for what happened to Luiz today. It has not been a lucky weekend for him but he has shown he is progressing and I'm sure he will be there at the next race. It's all looking positive.
Ocean Racing Technology - Karun Chandhok (3rd) Alvaro Parente (11th)
The Portuguese team in the GP2 Main Series championship secured its first podium 'courtesy of Karun Chandhok this morning on the Silverstone circuit in England which hosted the 4th round of the season this weekend. The team, directed by Tiago Monteiro and Jose Guedes, could finally translate their performance level into a strong result, confirming the potential displayed since the beginning of the year. Meanwhile, Alvaro Parente fought his way gallantly up through the field to finish in eleventh place after starting on the last row of the grid.
With two points finishes and a podium, the Silverstone result shows that Ocean Racing Technology has all necessary qualities to fight regularly with the front runners.
Karun Chandhok's third place is the fruit of some excellent work carried out by the Indian racer yesterday when he finished the first race in sixth place. "It was a good race and I'm delighted to give the team its first podium. To fight for the win would have been complicated because the guys ahead of me were faster today. The team deserves this result and I hope the next step will be a victory," Karun declared.
Meanwhile, teammate Alvaro Parente knew that starting from last place on the grid, a result of his contact with Vitaly Petrov in the first race, would make a points finish virtually impossible. "I made a good start and I gradually made up several positions until I was in 11th. Once again I found Vitaly Petrov in my path but he defended himself really well. I did what I could."
For José Guedes and Tiago Monteiro, the Silverstone podium is... "A result that was well deserved and coming for a while. We always proved that we have what it takes to get good results and even fight for the win. This result is a reward for the team's hard work, from the technical team to the drivers. Every member plays an important role in the performance of our cars. We hope that this result will mark the end of our misfortunes. Congratulations to Karun for this podium and to Alvaro for a great comeback."
DAMS - Jerome d'Ambrosio (12th) Kamui Kobayashi (17th)
This weekend DAMS raced in the fourth round of the 2009 GP2 Series Championship on the Silverstone circuit in Great Britain. After a qualifying session marked by a big improvement in performance, the team tackled the first event in an optimistic frame of mind. Unfortunately, race incidents dashed their hopes.
On the first lap Kamui Kobayashi (10th on the grid) had to retire after a collision while Jerome d'Ambrosio in 4th place stalled. He restarted at the back of the field and his hopes of a podium finish that had looked on the cards, were dashed.
These disappointing performances in the first round prevented the DAMS' drivers from starting race 2 from high up on the grid. Jerome and Kamui set off in 19th and 25th positions respectively and were unable to perform miracles in the short event. The Belgian driver showed that he had the pace to fight at the front this weekend.
Eric Boullier, Team manager: "We thought we'd solved the problems we had in Istanbul, and the weekend got off to a good start as our setups paid off in qualifying. Unfortunately, the first lap of the first race ruined our chances. We now have to put this disappointment behind us and draw only positive conclusions. We've pulled back part of our performance deficit and that's encouraging for the rest of the season."
Jerome d'Ambrosio: "I'm disappointed with this weekend which I was expecting a lot from after qualifying. The clutch didn't feel the same at the start of race one and I stalled. This effectively ruined my weekend. It's very frustrating as some of my direct rivals scored a lot of points at Silverstone. But there's no sense in brooding over it. I'm now concentrating on the Nürburgring."
Kamui Kobayashi: "We could have scored points this weekend but a race incident deprived me of a result. It's a pity as starting from tenth I should have been able to finish in the first eight and then get a good starting position for race two. My championship situation is now a bit problematic but I'm not throwing in the towel."
iSport International - Giedo van der Garde (13th) Diego Nunes (DNF)
Starting from P11 today, iSport racer Diego Nunes got away to a great start making up several places to be within striking distance of the points. A wheel to wheel battle with Roland Rodriguez in the first few corners pushed Nunes wide onto the grass causing the Brazilian iSport racer to spin into retirement. Dutch rookie Giedo van der Garde had a difficult task from P22 on the grid but stormed through the field up to P16 by the first lap. After sustained pressure from Jerome d'Ambrosio throughout the race iSport's Van der Garde took the chequered flag in P13.
The GP2 Series now moves onto Germany in three weeks time. After a year's absence from the calendar the team will be looking to make progress and get back to point scoring form at the Nuburgring.
Giedo van der Garde: "I was OK. We went forward and tried something on the car which we thought was good in the beginning but in the end it was a bit negative. We still have some work to do which we will work hard on for the next race".
Diego Nunes: "I made a good start and I think I was up to maybe ninth. I was fighting with Rodriguez and he pushed me really wide on the exit of Becketts. I touched the grass which put me into a spin. I tried to get control the spin but the rear of the car hit the barrier and I had to retire".
Durango - Davide Valsecchi (14th) Nelson Panciatici (DNF)
Davide Valsecchi finished Silverstone Race 2 at the fourteenth place. Nelson Panciatici was forced to retire, with just few laps to go, because of a mechanical problem. Even today the final result does not represent the good thing showe by the Durango duo during the race. Davide today drove his best race of the season so far, but he had to start from the pit lane because he stalled at the beginning of the formation lap. Ivone Pinton commented: formation lap stall apart, Davide today drove even better than in Turkey. He managed at least three great overtakes showing a really fast race pace. He drove very well indeed. Even Nelson did well, he was deserving a better final result".
Super Nova Racing - Javier Villa (15th) Luca Filippi (16th)
Javier Villa: "Its not been the best weekend for us. Starting from 21st today was always going to be difficult especially at this track. We starting losing a bit of time during the race compared to guys in front of me, and points were out of reach. We ran really well in Turkey a couple weeks ago, and I ran quick in Nurburgring in 2007, so I hope to get back to that form in a few weeks time!"
Luca Filippi: "We have had engine problems all weekend, as well as an issue with the exhaust on Friday. In the end we felt the engine needed to be changed before the race, but we will get a new one of Nurburgring. All I could do was try & get the best out of the car."
David Sears - Team Principal: "This is probably the worst Silverstone race weekend in the history of Super Nova. Luca Filippi's engine got progressively worse over the whole weekend, & in race two today it was not performing at all & Luca slipped from 10th to 16th through no fault of his driving. Javier Villa ended up one place ahead of him in 15th, but really didn't recover from starting at the back after his car stopped yesterday with electrical problems.
As a result Super Nova has slipped down in the Team and Drivers championship order, but we are determined to bounce back in Nurburgring in three weeks time."
Plagued with engine and electrical troubles, Super Nova's Luca Filippi and Javier Villa began from 14th & 21st on the grid, further back than anticipated. Sadly no points were accumulated this morning for the team as Javier and Luca finished 15th & 16th respectively, seemingly the odds already stacked up against them.
As all twenty-six cars took to the Silverstone circuit for the second GP2 race of the weekend, both drivers made a convincing start drawing some hope as they cleared several places each. Unfortunately this was short lived, as Luca unable to find power out of the corners, could not defend his new 10th place position. In the final laps of the race the team mates ran consecutively, Javier completing the 24 laps 1½ seconds ahead of his fellow Super Nova driver, to round off a luckless home race for the team.
Pastor Maldonado took the lead ahead of Andreas Zuber early on to take another win for ART Grand Prix, ahead of the FMSI car. Karun Chadhok completed this mornings top three celebrating Ocean Racing Technology's first podium.
Fat Burner Racing Engineering - Lucas Di Grassi (19th) Dani Clos (DNF)
After yesterday's fantastic race by Lucas Di Grassi where he was able to secure a second place for his Spanish team, Sunday's sprint race at Silverstone was very disappointing for the Fat Burner Racing Engineering team.
While Lucas Di Grassi started from a promising seventh position on the grid, with valuable points within reach, his team mate, Dani Clos, started the race from 13th. All cars were ready for the lights to go off and the race to start when the start was canceled as Ricci stopped during the formation lap. The field went onto another formation lap and Dani gained one position on the grid as Valsecchi stalled. At the second start however, it was Lucas Di Grassi who stalled and lost precious time until he could rejoin the race.
At the back of the field, Lucas was determined to show the potential of his Fat Burner Racing Engineering car and set the fastest lap time. Driving in a position which doesn't leave any space for expectations, the Brazilian simply tried to push as much as possible. Although he spun off the track at one point, Lucas was able to get back on track and continue to race, although his race was already finished before the start. Lucas finished in 19th position.
Dani Clos, on the other hand, once more found himself stuck behind Filippi, after the start. But the decisive moment for Dani's race was Razia, who crashed into the Spaniards car from behind. Razia's front wing cut Dani's rear left tyre, and the Fat Burner Racing Engineering driver had to come into the pits to pick up a new tyre. Rejoining the race just in front of the leaders, Dani let them pass and showed a good pace during the following laps. However, after having dropped back to 22nd position, Dani also suffered from Mortara's engine failure. Mortara's engine blew up in a corner Dani approached shortly after, making him spin and his race was over.
Although Fat Burner Racing Engineering faced a disappointing Sunday at Silverstone, Saturday's second position and the pace of both cars in Sunday's sprint race allow the team to look forward to the next round at the Nürburgring positively. The Spanish team's pace, together with the reliability of their cars, should allow the team to score good points at the next round of the 2009 GP2 Series.
Lucas Di Grassi: The start was a disaster. I stalled, but I am not yet sure, if it was my mistake, or if there was a problem with the clutch. We will look into it. But then the car was really great and I set the fastest lap. But it was too late and I was too far back. The car went really well this weekend and we have a very fast car. We will improve it a bit more for Nürburgring and I am confident. We scored 8 points this weekend, which is not perfect, but it's ok.
Dani Clos: I had a quite normal start. Then I found myself behind Filippi again, who was slower and I was stuck behind him. I kept pushing, but then Razia crashed into me on the straight. He cut my rear tyre with his front wing and I had to come to the pits to pick up a new tyre. I rejoined the race just in front of the leading drivers of the race and had to let them pass. However, I was able to keep their rhythm and did some good lap times. But when Mortara's engine blew up in a corner just in front of me, I spun on the oil and my race as over. But we will keep on fighting.
Thomas Couyotolpoulo, sporting director: This was a disappointing day. Lucas stalled at the start and then wanted to show his pace, although he drove at the back of the field. He set the fastest lap time in the race, but due to not finishing within the top 10, he will not be able to score this point. Dani had a regular start to the race and had to come in for a pit stop when another driver cut his rear tyre. He then showed a good pace, but spun on the oil from Mortara's engine, which blew up just in front of him. The results are really not what we expected as both our drivers showed that the cars are fast and we were right with our set ups. I hope we will be back on top at the next round in Germany, as we have the speed and reliability for it.