Site logo

Hockenheim - Race 2 Quotes

NEWS STORY
20/07/2008

iSport International - Karun Chandhok (Winner) Bruno Senna (3rd)

Karun Chandhok ended a run of miserable Sunday luck to win this morning's GP2 Series sprint race at Hockenheim. The Indian was beaten away from pole position, but he had to wait only until the third lap to assume the lead after passing Lucas di Grassi (Campos) as they exited the hairpin. From then on he controlled the pace and resisted an extended period of pressure from Andreas Zuber (Piquet Sports) to score the second win of his GP2 career.

By the end of the race the top two had to keep a wary eye on the second iSport Dallara of Bruno Senna, who put in a stirring recovery drive after a slow start left him down in eighth place at the end of the opening lap. He eventually finished third, just 1.274s behind his team-mate.

Karun Chandhok: "That's the first time I have scored points on a Sunday this year - and there couldn't have been a better way to do it. I didn't get a great start. The team fitted a new clutch overnight and I just didn't manage to find the sweet spot. I got far too much wheelspin off the line, but I wasn't too worried because I saw yesterday that Lucas di Grassi wears his tyres harder than we do - he was already starting to get sideways on the second lap. I sold him a nice dummy at the hairpin next time around and that was that.

"It was a tough race, because I had a lot of pressure from Zuber, and in the later stages Bruno was catching both of us. I just focused on my own race, though, and it feels fantastic to win again. I'd also like to thank iSport - it's a great team and I really enjoy working with everyone here."

Bruno Senna: "I made a slow start and things were tough for the first few laps, because I had to fight my way past quite a few cars. I was pushing hard, trying to force others into errors, and that took its toll on my tyres. Once I had worked my way up to third I backed off for a couple of laps, to stabilise tyre pressures, and then I attacked again in an effort to catch the first two. If the race had lasted another couple of laps I think I could probably have taken second, but I'll settle for another good, solid result that keeps me in the thick of the championship battle."

Racing Engineering - Javier Villa (5th) Giorgio Pantano (DNF)

It was mixed fortunes for the Racing Engineering drivers in the GP2 Series Sprint Race run on Sunday morning at Hockenheim: whilst Javier Villa scored his best result of the season so far, finishing fifth and scoring two points for the Spanish team, Giorgio Pantano had to retire at the beginning of the race when fighting for third position.

After the rain that made things so difficult at the end of yesterday’s race, Sunday’s sprint was held on a dry track and under mostly sunny skies. The start was quite messy, with a crash in the middle of the grid and some quite aggressive moves in the front rows making for several position changes. The two Racing Engineering cars where amongst those who went through all the confusion without incident, and exiting the opening corners both had gained positions: Giorgio was sixth after starting 8th, while Javi was 9th, recovering a place from his 10th spot on the grid.

Midway through the first lap, Pantano was still moving up gaining another two places to be fourth at the end of the first lap, and quickly closing on third-placed Soucek. The Racing Engineering driver soon caught the SuperNova car and tried to overtake him at the tight Spitzkehre hairpin, but the two cars made contact and that was it for both drivers: Soucek was out on the spot while Pantano couldn't go much further as he soon noticed that the steering on his Dallara has been damaged and he was forced to retire from the race.

With Giorgio out all of the responsibility for scoring points for Racing Engineering was on Javier's shoulders and he was up to the job. After the incident involving his team-mate, the young Spaniard was seventh and despite losing a place next time round when passed by a recovering Grosjean, Javi kept up a good pace that kept him always among the faster drivers on track. The Repsol and Telefónica backed Dallara driven by the Spaniard was closing on a tight group of six cars fighting for third position, two cars were soon out of the fight when Maldonado and Di Grassi came together, which meant Javi moved up to a point scoring position now being sixth. However Javi was looking for more and kept on pushing hard, overtaking Parente on the eleventh lap after a spectacular dive to the inside of the hairpin that put him 5th and staying close to 4th placed Grosjean.

A slight off road moment in the fast last corner on the 13th lap meant Javi lost contact with the French-Swiss driver while Parente was back on his tail, followed closely by Tung. But the Racing Engineering had the situation perfectly under control and from there on his laptimes were as fast or even faster than the leading group, which allowed him to pull away from his contenders, settling down in 5th place and crossing the finish line in that position and gaining the second fastest lap and scoring two points, being again the best classified Spaniard.

With this weekend's results, Giorgio Pantano keeps a clear lead for Racing Engineering in the Drivers Championship, with an advantage of 15 points over Bruno Senna. The Spanish team continues in the fight for the Team Championship, laying second in the overall standings right behind ISport.

Alfonso de Orleans Borbón (team principal): "You win some, you lose some. I think we have definitely proven that we are heading into the right direction. We are very happy that Javi finally is able to show what he's really capable of and I am convinced he will show us more great racing in Hungary, where our goal definitely has to be to have both cars in the points."

LATEST NEWS

more news >

RELATED ARTICLES

LATEST IMAGES

galleries >

  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images

POST A COMMENT

or Register for a Pitpass ID to have your say

Please note that all posts are reactively moderated and must adhere to the site's posting rules and etiquette.

Post your comment

READERS COMMENTS

 

No comments posted as yet, would you like to be the first to have your say?

Share this page

X

Copyright © Pitpass 2002 - 2024. All rights reserved.

about us  |  advertise  |  contact  |  privacy & security  |  rss  |  terms