26/07/2006
NEWS STORY
Alexandre Premat:
Magny-Cours is just a few days ago and it feels really great to have scored strongly and made it on the podium in both races, especially as they were my home rounds. My plan is to do the same in Hockenheim and the fact I know the track well should help me. I have a good record at Hockenheim. In my F3 days I was always on the podium here, as I was in the GP2 race last year. One thing I'm missing is a win at Hockenheim, so I'm determined to put that right this weekend.
I've been working hard on my preparations for Hockenheim including mental and physical preparation every day with my physio. The heat wave in Europe has made that very demanding but I feel good now. Before the racing begins I'll visit the German offices from my sponsor Superfund in Frankfurt. I want to show the fans how ready I am for this weekend and how much I want to do well for them.
Hockenheim usually guarantees some very hot weather. In some ways the track is quite similar to Magny Cours, and the surface is quite smooth so tyre degradation is not a serious issue, which means we can use softer tyre compounds. I like the entrance to the stadium section; it's a complicated
sequence of corners but the atmosphere is incredible. You need good brake performance and stability at Hockenheim, and good traction on corner exits.
I have good memories of racing at Hockenheim in the past and I'm well prepared and feeling optimistic for the weekend ahead.
Nelson Piquet Jr
As Nelson Piquet Jr blows out the 21 candles on his birthday cake tomorrow, his thoughts will be turning to the forthcoming GP2 weekend at the Hockenheimring in Germany, just a few miles away from the town of Heidelberg where he was born.
Looking set to be the hottest race of the year to date, the Hockenheim races will be a tricky test for the GP2 teams, with the circuit notoriously hard on tyres and brakes. The track, which dates back to the early 1930's, was remodelled in 2002 for safety reasons. It used to feature enormous straight lines through a forest and was one of the quickest circuits in the world. Today, the track is shorter and narrower, with low to medium speed corners.
With Nelson cutting the gap to championship leader Lewis Hamilton from 21 to 14 points at the last rounds in France, the Brazilian will be on a mission in Germany to further reduce the deficit. With just four race weekends remaining, every point will count in the forthcoming battles.
Nelson Piquet Jr: "I'm sure this weekend is going to be hard, but I'm looking forward to it. I like the Hockenheim track, it's quite a challenge and I really enjoy racing there. There are a few places to overtake but we're going to have to be careful with the tyres here. I couldn't think of a better birthday present than if I could win a race this weekend."
Gimmi Bruni
I did not get what I wanted from the last races, various problems kept me out of the top positions and obviously this bothered me quite a lot. So lately I had a difficult period to pass. As soon as I went back from Magny Cours I tried to relax spending some days in Viareggio at doctor Ceccareli's centre. Riccardo helped me in recovering my good mood. Now that it is time to depart for Hockenheim I surely feel serene and, maybe with the help of a bit of luck, I hope to recover the front positions as well.
Andreas Zuber
For me Magny Cours has been hard to accept, I mean to finish the race just at the first lap, not for my guilt was not that nice, but that's racing. By nature I am an optimist and I always take life in a positive way. Which means that I came to Magny Cours with plenty of enthusiasm but I did not use it, because of the bad luck. So I am going to Hockenheim taking with me a double load of enthusiasm: the load which I did not use for the last race and the load I always take for the next one.
Adam Carroll
Great Britain's Adam Carroll goes into the first of two tough weeks of back to back races starting this weekend in Germany. Already on the podium at the Nurburgring earlier in the year for the European round, the German round is at the historic Hockenheim circuit.
The 23 year old from Portadown in Northern Ireland experienced another frustrating weekend at the last round in France after being hit from behind in race 1 and forced to start from the back in race 2. Could it be that the luck travels with him this weekend?
"It certainly didn't travel with me here last year, my engine packed in before the race had even started! This weekend the heat is expected to be pretty unbearable so we also have that to contend with.
"I said before France that we made some good in-roads regarding set-up in our summer test at Paul Ricard. We didn't get an opportunity to try them out last round as I was hit on the first lap, but hopefully this will be the weekend that we see our hard work come to fruition."