16/07/2006
NEWS STORY
Piquet Sports - Nelson Piquet Jr 2nd
Nelson Piquet Jr finished today's GP2 sprint race in second position, behind Giorgio Pantano who scored his maiden GP2 win at the French track. Nelson has now closed up the gap to Lewis Hamilton in the championship to just 14 points after a strong and mature performance over the weekend.
Nelson got a good start to the race, moving up to fourth from his fifth place starting position. When pole-sitter Ferdinando Monfardini got it all wrong and went ploughing into the barriers, Nelson moved up to third and was quickly behind fellow Brazilian Lucas Di Grassi. He passed his compatriot on lap five and then headed off in pursuit of the race-leader Pantano. He stayed hot on his heels for the remainder of the race, but with Giorgio putting in a faultless performance, Nelson could not find a safe way past and mindful of the championship, crossed the finish line in second.
It has been a successful weekend for Nelson, making up good ground in the championship and putting in two good race performances. Nelson is now just 14 points behind Lewis in the standings. The next two races will take place at the Hockenheimring in Germany on 29 and 30 July.
Nelson Piquet Jr: "A win would have been better but I am happy for Giorgio, he deserved to win. It's funny because we had breakfast together this morning and Giorgio said to me, 'don't worry I'm going to win and you're going to be second', and I was thinking about that for the whole race! He did a really good job and didn't make a mistake. I think we were pretty evenly matched on the performance of our cars and we both did a good race. My car was really good but I couldn't risk doing anything silly. We achieved our target this weekend because we are catching up in the points so things are going better."
ART Grand Prix - Alexandre Prémat 3rd Lewis Hamilton 5th
The strong competition experienced in Magny-Cours did not allow ART Grand Prix to secure victory in front of their home fans, however the performances of Alexandre Prémat and Lewis Hamilton were once again reason to bring satisfaction to the entire team, who eventually left Nièvre with two podiums and a comfortable lead in the team championship.
With 70 points, Lewis is still a solid leader in the drivers classification, while Alex consolidated his 3rd place and edged closer to Nelsinho Piquet, thanks to one weekend that saw him collecting the most points of the 26 drivers in the championship. Between the two, Alex and Lewis overtook 41 cars between the two races, proof of their determination and competitiveness.
Qualified on the fourth row, Lewis had to make an unexpected pitstop at the end of the first lap in the opening race so that he could have the nose changed of his Dallara that was damaged in a collision with Adam Carroll at turn five. Setting out again way down the order, the championship leader of the GP2 series ended up down in 19th place with the fastest lap of the race to his credit.
As for Alex, he managed his race perfectly to end up on the second step of the podium in the opening round. For race two it was time for the ART GP drivers to put on a show for the French public. On the inside of the 4th row of the grid, Alex made an excellent start, but was unable to benefit from it for very long and Piquet pushed him into the gravel at the first turn. Getting back on track, he was down in 14th place, but the Frenchman delivered one of the best races of his career to end up on the third step of the podium. Meanwhile, Lewis worked his way up from 19th to fifth after another impressive drive.
Frédéric Vasseur: The feeling is somewhat diminished as Lewis and Alex made such a diabolic demonstration in the second race, and we leave Magny-Cours without a victory in our pocket. The positive thing from this is that our potential was of a high level, and this will only enable us to enjoy further victories very soon. Alex did well in regard to the championship and this is one of the happy results of this weekend.
Lewis Hamilton: We improved the car from the practice session and it helped for the qualifying session. I was held up during my quickest lap though, which is too bad because we would have been second. In race 1 I did not get the best start, but it was not too bad either. I then made a slight mistake and hit Adam Carroll at turn 5. My front wing was broken and I had to come back to the pits to change it. At the end of the race the tyres were dead and it was not easy to keep the car on track. As for race 2, I came a long way to get 5th place. I think this is not a bad job, but it's too bad we could not secure a win this weekend, even though Alex did a great job. So did the team.
Alexandre Prémat: It was a fantastic race weekend overall, even if we had the potential to win and we did not reach that point. I didn't get the qualifying result I wanted, but I made an excellent start which enabled me to gain 3 places very quickly. Once again the team carried out a pit perfect stop thanks to some remarkable work from the mechanics. Once I made my way into 2nd place my tyres were very worn and I made sure I managed a good result while thinking of the second race. On Sunday I made another good start, but unfortunately there was a coming together with Piquet on the outside, he touched me and sent me off track. I quickly returned at Estoril, very far down the classification. There was nothing more I could do apart from fight all the way to the end.
Durango - Lucas Di Grassi 6th Lucas Hernandez 11th
Satisfying week-end for Durango Team. Lucas Di Grassi took home few appreciated points. Race 1 saw Lucas starting from 11th position because he was touched in qualifying session, but during the race he moved up 4 positions ending in 7th after a brilliant race. Our king of starter Hernandez flow from the 25th place to the 14th, a very good result!
Good result for both the drivers also on Sunday Race 2. Lucas who started 2nd on the grid ended his race 6th. It was not the position he was expected for, but he gained 3 important points anyway.
Sergio made a regular race. He was a little bit in trouble in the first part of the race cause of the oversteer, but fortunately the situation improved in the second half of the race. His position in grid was 14th and he ended 11th.
Ivone Pinton: "Five important points that make more self-confident both the driver, Di Grassi, and the Team. Lucas and Sergio managed to drive two good races during this week-end and this make me understand we are on the right way".
Arden International - Neel Jani 7th Michael Ammermueller 8th
There was no joy for the Arden boys at Magny-Cours as neither driver came away with any points.
On Saturday, from 13th on the grid, Michael Ammermueller got away well and made his stop right away. With a clear track he was set to make good progress, but he was given a drive through penalty for speeding in the pits after misjudging where to let the speed limiter off. After that he had to settle for 12th.
Meanwhile, supersub Neel Jani made a good start and passed a lot of cars, having stopped on the third lap. However, as his tyres became more worn the handling deteriorated and he struggled to keep up his pace, which ended any chance of getting into the top 8. He finished 11th, just ahead of Michael.
Getting into the top six on Sunday was always going to be difficult, but in fact both Neel and Michael got away well and made good progress in the early laps. They were soon up to sixth and seventh, which looked promising. However, the ART cars of Alex Premat and Lewis Hamilton were racing through the pack, and they squeezed past both the Arden cars under braking for the hairpin. A retirement ahead gave them back a place, but they eventually finished in seventh and eighth, Neel missing out on the last point by less than half a second.
The next race is at Hockenheim, and the team is hoping to welcome Nicolas Lapierre back from his recovery period following his Monaco accident.
Neel Jani - Saturday: 'In the beginning I was going well, and then the handling fell apart, because of the tyres. I had so much understeer and oversteer, I just couldn't drive any more. It was massive. That's why we didn't get in the top eight, because for sure we would have been there.' Sunday: 'It was a lot better than yesterday. We improved the car a lot, but we need one more step, and then I think we can fight for podium positions. We are constant, but we miss the peak point of grip. But anyway, I think this was my last race in GP2, so no further developments for me! The problem is that I didn't do any tests with the team and I have a car which I never drove, more or less, and there's not enough time to get the car the way I would like it.'
Michael Ammermueller - Saturday: 'It was very difficult because I got a drive through penalty. I gained one position on the first lap, and then we made an early pit stop. It would have been OK, but I released the speed limiter button a few metres early. I thought that maybe they couldn't check it, but they did! It was very close. After that I couldn't get any points. After the penalty there was a gap between me and the others, and the people in front had the same speed.' Sunday: 'The start was not too bad. I almost overtook Glock at the start, but he had to go on the gravel, and he overtook me back. In the first lap I overtook two or three people, which was quite good, and then I overtook another one on the next lap. Then it was quite difficult. The ART cars were a lot quicker than me in the hairpin under braking, so they gained a lot of time. We have to work to be a little quicker. But this weekend we could have had a better result if we didn't get the drive through penalty on Saturday. Hockenheim is my home race, and to race in Germany is always something special for me. But I've only raced there once!'
DPR Direxiv - Olivier Pla 9th Clivio Piccione DNF
After some strong race performances and finishes prior to the summer break, and a good, positive test at Paul Ricard just a few weeks ago, it seemed to be a return to the dark days of the early part of the GP2 season as neither DPR driver managed to shine brightly over the French Grand Prix weekend.
Encouraged by 4th place in free practice on his return to racing after a broken wrist, Olivier Pla was unfortunately unable to capitalise on this in qualifying. Both he and Clivio Piccione made mistakes which saw them have off-track excursions and leave them with challenging grid positions.
Starting from 24th on the grid, Clivio finished the first, longer race relatively unscathed in 13th place, despite a knock from Filippi in the opening stages of the race which put him off the track. Olivier, starting from 17th , climbed as high as 3rd before the pit stops, but finished a disappointing 18th . His only highlight in the latter stages was passing Lewis Hamilton!
In today's sprint race, Piccione made a great start and climbed as high as 5th in the early laps before a broken front suspension component which affected his car's steering put paid to his hopes of a finish, let alone one in the points. Pla climbed from 18th to 9th , but was unable to challenge for a higher finish in the final classification.
As Monégasque driver Piccione noted, "It's hard to recover when you have a bad start [talking of yesterday], and I'm disappointed not to bring any points back from this weekend. Nothing has really changed to make me like Magny Cours any more than I did before, but we learned a lot again and will use that knowledge towards improving further at the next races."
A disappointed David Price commented after the races. "While we had a difficult weekend, I suppose we shouldn't despair too much as there are others who had a far worse one. From Clivio's point of view, he got better all weekend which was encouraging, especially as this is a circuit he admits he doesn't like. We now have to look forward to Hockenheim where, of course, Olivier scored our second win of the 2005 season. Let's hope we can repeat DPR's success there this year."
DAMS - Franck Perera 12th Ferdinando Monfardini DNF
From pole position, Ferdinando Monfardini had a perfect start this morning and came in Estoril corner with the lead. He was quite unlucky as the car hit something in that corner, Ferdinando lost the rear of the car which slowed it down before the straight, he could not avoid Di Grassi to take the lead before Adelaide corner. In the entry of the esses he was fighting with Pantano for 2nd place when both cars touched, the steering broke and Ferdinando finished his race in the tyre barrier.
Franck Perera had another challenging race, starting from 21st place he finished 12th.
Racing Engineering - Adam Carroll 14th Javier Villa 16th
With Adam being knocked out of a podium finish yesterday there was little expectation at Racing Engineering of a points paying finish in race two at Magny Cours, and so it proved - with no ability to improve their positions through strategy Adam Carroll and Javier Villa were unable to move up enough to bring home any reward for the team's hard work in the scorching heat in the heart of France.
Adam started from twentieth on the grid, with Javi four places further up the grid, and the team gambled on some changes to the set up overnight to try and give their drivers something to work with. Their starts were different to each other - Adam had some problems, while Javi got away well - but their races took a similar turn after everyone had got away.
Adam was able to push for a number of laps but was eventually stuck in traffic, just unable to force his way through a train of drivers who were running nose to tail in front of him. After a long race Adam came home fourteenth. Javi was also unable to make the car come to him, struggling with it throughout the race. He finished the race in sixteenth, well behind race winner Giorgio Pantano.
A disappointed team principal Alfonso de Orleans Borbon reflected thus after the race: To be honest I'm not too happy with the result today - we started a long way back, but I was hoping for a bit more at the end of the race. Both drivers did a good job under the circumstances, and the mechanics have worked very hard all weekend in the heat, but I was disappointed that we didn't have the car to compete more today, especially after we should have been on the podium yesterday. I guess racing is like that sometimes, but I hope we have a much better performance next time."
Adam Carroll shared his boss's opinions, noting: It wasn't a very good race. I didn't get a good start because it went with the clutch still in, so that was a bit strange, and then I lost a few places because I couldn't go properly. We tried something different today and it didn't really work out. I think qualifying was positive and we could have been even further up, but then race one we unfortunately got a smack up the back, so starting twentieth today was a bit of a lottery anyway. On to the next one."
Javier Villa had little more to add, stating: It was really difficult today - the start was good and I went to the right side but there were a lot of people there, and the car was good but we had the same problems as yesterday. The car is close, but we need to work a bit more and push a bit more. I passed a few drivers but I couldn't push so much, so it was a tough race."
Super Nova International - Fairuz Fauzy 15th Jose Maria Lopez DNF
Super Nova drivers started at either end of the grid today, Jose Maria Lopez in third row & Fairuz Fauzy 23rd. Several cars exited on the opening lap, while Jose Maria Lopez gained two positions putting him in 4th place. Unfortunately though his race would end shortly after when his engine failed and was he forced to retire, but collected fastest lap of the race.
Fairuz Fauzy initially got held up in traffic but the Malaysian driver completed a strong race in 15th position happy with how the car felt.
Italian driver Giorgio Pantano successfully worked his way from third to first place, with lively battles behind him for the remaining two podium places. Nelson Piquet Jnr. took 2nd with Alexandre Premat (ART) storming through after an eventful race to finish 3rd.
Team Principal - David Sears: "In the race this morning Jose Maria Lopez was clearly fastest man on the track again. Having already set fastest lap with 1:26.5, Jose was catching the leaders in front of him by half a second a lap. But his engine pressures dives and Jose switched his engine off before it blew. He's frustrated but demonstrated he is capable to winning races and team are really looking forward to the next race.
Fairuz Fauzy again ran strongly & followed Adam Carroll round for most of the race finishing 15th. If Fairuz can improve his qualifying form he will be capable of some race results. The team are looking to do some testing in order to this."
Jose Maria Lopez: "I'm really frustrated as it looked like it was going to be a great race. I got off to a good start, made fastest lap and was closing in on Piquet, when my engine stopped working! I have faith the team will be able to solve the problem before the next race in Germany."
Fairuz Fauzy: "I could not have the start that I wanted as there was a lot of cars trying to avoid each out in front of me. Afterwards however it was a good race, but in terms of the result I would have hoped for better. The team did a great job in fixing the problems we've had, giving me one of the strongest cars out there. It's a good platform for the next race in Hockenheim."
Trident Racing - Andreas Zuber 18th Gianmaria Bruni DNF
Stefano Alessi - race engineer car No. 27: "With Andreas on P19 and Gimmi not classified, this morning race has been a classic example of what often happens in the motorsport. I mean that when a weekend starts in the wrong way normally it ends even in the worst way. But the team did a great effort and I think that our boys deserve a compliment for the job they did. Today we got no result but this will be one more motivation to give the 110% at Hockenheim".