27/06/2010
NEWS STORY
Super Nova - Marcus Ericsson (1st) Josef Kral (DNF)
The teams' Swedish star Marcus Ericsson powered from the lights to win his first ever GP2 race today, in convincing style.
He outpaced poleman Michael Herck at the start to take a lead that would not be relinquished. Marcus dominated the entire race, setting a string of fastest laps on the way to his maiden victory.
Unfortunately team mate Josef Kral had a disastrous race. This concluded a difficult weekend for the young Czech driver, who's car ended up in the wall today following a big accident with a team Arden car. Josef was taken to hospital for an x-ray, but luckily no bones were broken.
The team wish Josef a speedy recovery and are hopeful the next round in Silverstone, can be a success story for both their cars.
Marcus Ericsson: "It was amazing to be standing on top of the podium after this weekend, I mean after Friday I could only dream of winning a race, starting from absolutely last! It shows that you should never give up in the category: anything can happen, and if you have a good car and the team's doing a good job then you can do anything! The two races were amazing: yesterday was a perfect race and the team did a perfect job in the pits. This morning I was really focused at the start, and I said 'I'm going to take this!' And I did a good start, I managed to overtake Michael into turn one, and then obviously there was a big crash after the start with Josef involved, and the most important thing is that Josef is okay, no matter what the result was. But to take the first points for Super Nova was super great. It's been a steep learning curve, but I hope this will be the turning point for the season, and we can now fight for more podiums and victories. That's what we're here for."
David Sears Team Principal: "Marcus Ericsson made a fantastic start and went on to lead the race today from start to finish. It's his first GP2 win and the whole team are ecstatic! Hopefully this win will give Marcus the confidence to run at the front from now on.
In contrast Josef Kral had a massive accident where he ended up flying over Rodolfo Gonzalez's car at the end of the pit straight and ended up in the pit wall. There were fears he had broken his back, but an x-ray at the hospital shows just bruising. We of course wish him a quick recovery. In the meantime the team will have to rebuild a whole new car ready for Silverstone"
Racing Engineering - Dani Clos (7th) Christian Vietoris: (DNF)
Racing Engineering had a difficult day at the Valencia Street Circuit today, where despite all the efforts made by the whole team, no points were scored. Dani Clos, who started in fourth position, finished in seventh place, whilst Christian Vietoris had to retire after colliding during the first lap of the race.
Sunday's sprint race at the Valencia Street Circuit started with Herck on pole position, Dani Clos in fourth and Christian Vietoris in twelfth. At the start, Ericsson overtook Herck for the lead, and Dani was running in third, about to overtake van der Garde, who forced the Spaniard to go off track in order to avoid contact between the two cars. Having lost some ground, Pic also took advantage and passed Dani. Further behind Christian Vietoris was late on the brakes with cold tyres and collided with Bianchi in turn 2, ending their race at that point.
On the third lap, there was a massive accident in which Kral's car became airborne, causing the safety car to be deployed and neutralize the race.
The race was restarted at the end of the eighth lap and Dani Clos lost a position to Maldonado, who took his chance when the Spaniard was held up by Pic, who was on his brakes very early. On the following lap, Valsecchi overtook the Spanish driver at the end of the main straight and Razia sneaked through as well, when Dani opened the gap.
During the closing stages of the race d'Ambrosio tried an overeager move on Dani, which the Spaniard from Racing Engineering was able to dodge. The Belgian took Razia out of the race and Dani passed both, climbing back into seventh position. Dani then immediately saw his chance to score a point and set his fastest lap times and closed in on Valsecchi, who was running in sixth. But the race finished after 45 minutes, leaving the Spaniard less than six tenths of a second from finishing in the points.
Even though no points were achieved today, Dani will enter the next round of the 2010 GP2 Series, which will take place in Silverstone from the 9th to the 11th of July, still in second place of the drivers' championship.
Dani Clos: "I had a good start, moved up to third and was parallel to van der Garde. But then he made a strange move and I needed to cut the chicane to avoid a collision. I got back on track running slower than the rest, so Pic overtook me as well. After the safety car period, Pic was braking very early in front of me, slowing me down and pushing me to the outside, something Maldonado immediately took advantage of. I then made some decisions in order to avoid contact with other cars and finished in 7th position which doesn't really help with the championship. But we brought our car home in one piece and we are aiming for good results at Silverstone now."
Christian Vietoris: "The formation lap was quite slow today and I wasn't able to get my tyres up to temperature. With tyres too cool, I was braking too late into the second corner and crashed into Bianchi. I am sorry for both of us for not being able to continue. It's a pity. This was not a good weekend for me."
Thomas Couyotopoulo, Sporting Director of Racing Engineering: "We missed a great opportunity to score points today. It's a shame. Now we all have to sit down and work for the next event and fight to keep our chances in the championship."
DAMS - Jerome d'Ambrosio (8th) Ho-Pin Tung (13th)
This weekend in Spain DAMS raced in the fourth round of the 2010 GP2 Series Championship. Unfortunately, the scenario was very similar to the one in Turkey a month ago. After a poor qualifying session the team was unable to fight among the front-runners in the two races on Saturday and Sunday.
The Valencia layout, a combination of an ordinary and a city circuit, is often the theatre of collisions in the first corners. Jerome d'Ambrosio and Ho-Pin Tung, who both started from the latter half of the grid, were potential victims and they were both taken out by unruly drivers. The Belgian was hit in the tight corner that follows the start, and a few hundred meters further on, the Chinese got caught up in an accident involving several cars and he too had to throw in the towel.
As both drivers went out early, they were badly-placed on the grid for Sunday's event. The second race is shorter then the feature event so they knew that their chances of appearing in top 5 were fairly limited. They both drove fighting races and tried to take advantage of the slightest opening. But on a circuit with no fewer than 20 corners, making up places is not easy and the two drivers did not make it into the points.
DAMS is now concentrating on the next round, which will take place on the Silverstone circuit in Great Britain, in two weeks' time.
Loic David, general manager: "There's not really much to be said after a weekend like this one in Valencia. Yet again we had a difficult qualifying session even though we were quick in free practice in the morning, so it's all very frustrating. We have to find out why and we're going to sift through the data we've collected this weekend when we get back to the factory. Perhaps we still lack something in terms of setup and the brakes also caused us a few problems. Neither of our drivers was able to string together his best sector times over a single lap. Our priority is to concentrate on Friday afternoon, which conditions the results of the rest of the weekend."
Jerome d'Ambrosio: "When you start from eighteenth place on the grid on the Valencia circuit you risk getting caught up in a collision, and that's what happened to me yesterday. Today, I made a great start and I was in seventh place on lap one. Unfortunately, I lost two places when the race restarted after the neutralization behind the safety car. I managed to pull back one but the chequered flag fell before I could move up further. It's been a frustrating weekend, but I'm hoping to glean useful information from it for the rest of the season. I also hope that Joseph Kral is okay after his spectacular accident."
Ho-Pin Tung: "During the weekend I suffered from a lack of grip and my car was understeering a lot. The Valencia circuit is a very technical one and you can't relax on it. We've only got thirty minutes to get to grips with it in free practice and we thought we'd done so. Unfortunately, the track conditions and the temperature changed before qualifying, and that's maybe why our performance suffered. We're going to try and understand the reasons for this poor performance to be quicker at Silverstone."
ART Grand Prix - Sam Bird (10th) Jules Bianchi (DNF)
ART Grand Prix secured two podium finishes in Valencia Spain this weekend, bringing their 2010 GP2 series tally to four overall. As a result the French based squad is third in the teams. championship while their drivers sit on the sixth and seventh rungs of the drivers ladder.
Jules Bianchi qualified on the second row of the grid in Valencia and led the way for the ART Grand Prix team to secure a double podium finish. Teammate Sam Bird, who started tenth, had a brilliant race to finish third, right behind the Frenchman. Unfortunately race two didn't yield the same results with Bird suffering a clutch problem at the start and Bianchi becoming an innocent victim of another driver's error.
The focus now turns to the next round that will take place at the newly redeveloped Silverstone circuit in two weeks time.
Jules Bianchi: It's the first time this season that everything's gone well from qualifying to the end of the first race and that's a great satisfaction because it helps build confidence and to work on the future. I had a good start and when the safety car came back to the pits I dove up the inside of Maldonado to overtake him because I knew we had the right to do so after the safety car line and that we didn't have to wait to get past the start/finish line. Shortly after that I got past Perez but then I had a problem with the brake distribution and Maldonado caught me up. I was able to push hard after my pit stop but my tyres started to suffer when Maldonado's tyres were in better shape and I decided to back off and secure 2nd position. The next day, Vietoris brutally hit me from behind and most likely prevented me getting some points. This kind of behaviour is disappointing and penalizes other drivers, it's a shame.
Sam Bird: We have to take some satisfaction from the podium on Saturday and for being very competitive once again. I want to thank my team for a good job throughout the weekend and in particular for an excellent pit stop. On Sunday, I was unable to select first gear for the start of the formation lap. I tried to shift up repeatedly but I just had a box full of neutrals. I got pushed into pit lane and still had the same problem, but after the team push-started me I was finally able to select a gear and I rejoined at the back of the pack. After that, it was just a case of keeping my head down and fighting my way up the order.
Frederic Vasseur: Jules and Sam were extremely competitive all weekend long and that's the main thing. They made some brilliant overtaking manoeuvres, the pit stops were neat thanks to the good job done by the crew and it was a well deserved double podium. Unfortunately, Sam had a clutch issue on the formation lap of the second race but his drive was superb and he fought back swiftly and cleverly. We can't say the same for some other drivers and Jules was the innocent victim of one of them at the start of the second race. The first half of the season is not over yet and I'm confident with our quality, both at on an individual and collective level, which we can aim for wins on a regular basis.