Racing Engineering - Christian Vietoris (2nd) Dani Clos (7th)
Racing Engineering had another successful day at the Hungaroring where Christian Vietoris finished GP2's sprint race in second position. After a strong race, the young German made it onto the podium for a second time this weekend and scored important points in the championship standings. Dani Clos, who started from sixteenth position, was always on the attack, and was able to finish seventh.
Sunny and with temperatures around 26 degrees welcomed the GP2 field today at the Hungaroring. Like yesterday, there were problems on the pre-grid, when Herck, who started from second, stalled his engine. At the start, Christian Vietoris, who started the race in seventh position, managed to launch his car like a rocket, reaching third place on the main straight. He chose to be cautious on the brakes heading into turn 1, and established himself in third after passing the two Addax cars in the following corner. On the second lap, Perez spun off the track and Dani Clos took advantage of the melee to climb up to eleventh place. Making up another place, Dani was behind Maldonado, who had a damaged front wing after colliding with the Mexican. The enezuelan, who is the championship leader, ignored warnings to come into the pits for repairs. Neither respecting the the black and orange flag, nor letting the other cars behind him pass, Maldonado was subsequently black flagged and Dani moved up another position.
At that point, Christian Vietoris was stuck behind d'Ambrosio, who was losing distance to Ricci. On the eleventh lap, the Belgian had a puff of white smoke coming from the rear of his Dallara at turn 1, and retired to the pits at the end of the lap. Christian Vietoris climbed into second position and maintained it until the end of the race after choosing to administer his advantage over the third placed driver. Dani Clos, always pushing, finished the race in a meritorious seventh position, having recovered nine places on the twisted Hungarian track. However, the young Spaniard was just one position short of scoring points.
Christian Vietoris, on the other hand, scored 13 precious points, making it two times onto the podium during the weekend at the Hungaroring, a circuit he never ever race on before.The GP2 field starts its summer break now and the next round will be taking place at the mythical Spa Francorchamps circuit in Belgium from the 27th to the 29th of August.
Christian Vietoris: "I had a very good start and was able to pass several cars. I was already fifth into turn one and then overtook the two Addax cars on the outside at the following turn. I was in third and had my race under control. Running behind d'Ambrosio I knew that he stressed his tyres a lot at the beginning and I waited for a mistake from him. But the problem of getting by him solved itself. I wasn't able go for fastest lap, but the car was good and consistent thoughout the race. Only during the last few laps we lost some grip at the rear, but I guess this was the same for everyone. I would also like to thank the team for this great weekend and hope we continue the same way in Spa."
Dani Clos: "I had a good start and was able to gain a couple of positions. After things settled down a bit, I tried to put the guys in front of me under some pressure as overtaking is really hard at this track. Then I found Maldonado in front of me who had a broken front wing. I lost some time to Filippi because of behind Maldonado, who didn't go into the pits or neither let us pass. Then, I tried to push for the fast lap, but it was too hot today. I would like to thank the team as I had a really good car today. Now I am looking forward to Spa."
Alfonso De Orleans-Borbon, President of Racing Engineering: "I am extremely happy with both drivers. Now that Dani had a working gearbox, he could show what he was capable of. Although he scored no points today, he proved what a talented driver he is. As for Chris, he was in front the whole weekend and I think we're going to have a great second half of the season with him. Well done to all the boys in the team. They've done a great job all weekend long."
Trident Racing - Adrian Zaugg (8th) Johnny Cecotto (13th)
Trident Racing managed to take both cars to the end in Race 2 of the 7th GP2 Main Series Round of the year, as both Adrian Zaugg and Johnny Cecotto Jr. could successfully see the checkered flag at Budapest.
No mistake came by the drivers, as they improved their positions from the start and completed a good comeback thanks to a really strong pace. Ad the GP2 Main Series approaches its summer break, three weeks are left before landing at Spa-Francorchamps. The Belgian track is set to revive action on the final weekend of August.
Adrian Zaugg: "Today's race has been pretty linear. I had a good start, and then I lapped on the same times as the cars I had in front. I did not lose time, and even had a good chance to improve my position without taking any risk. One pass stood out though, ad I moved on one of the Arden cars on the outside of turn 2. The car's performance has been better than yesterday, and that's a proof of the great job done."
Johnny Cecotto Jr: "My start has been good. At the first corner it's been a real mess, but I came out of it in one piece, like on turn 2. Once again, I had Arabadzhiev and Gonzalez in front of me. Two laps later I moved on Arabadzhiev, but Gonzalez kept closing the door as I lost a lot of time. When I finally made my way through, my laptimes improved, but with 7 laps to go I made a mistake, ending up off-line and collecting a lot of debris. At that point, the car became so twitchy that I decided to just cruise through the finish."
Ocean Racing Technology - Fabio Leimer (11th) Max Chilton (16th)
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