15/04/2007
NEWS STORY
Nicolas Lapierre - Winner: I made a good start to lead the race at turn 2. The car had good performance and I was able to manage the gap with Timo Glock who was in second position. Thank you to all the team for their good job this weekend".
Luca Filippi - 3rd: "We made an aggressive set up to try & get a strong positioning on the first lap, this was very important. I got a good start & was able to pass Garcia. We were very quick, but I started losing grip on rear, and I was forced to back off. I'm really pleased with how this weekend has gone, & cant wait until Barcelona."
Borja Garcia - 4th: A positive first race of the season. In race 1 I didn't take any particular risks and was able to maintain a good speed while in race 2 I had an excellent start but on the first few laps I had a small technical problem that resulted in me losing the lead. As soon as the problem was adjusted I starter to push forward and felt at ease with the car. However, while I was tailing Fillipi a small error made me drop back a few metres and I was unable to recover. As I said, it was a good start."
Mike Conway - 5th: "This is the first overtaking I've done in a GP2 race. I had some good battles with Garcia and Ammermueller, & would have liked to have passed Garcia, but I am very happy to have scored points. We need to score at every event if we want to be in with a chance at winning the Championship. I am very happy!"
Kazuki Nakajima - 6th: "I am happy. It was great to score points after having started in 17th position"
Michael Ammermuller - 7th: The whole weekend had been frustrating. My engine blew up in the qualifying session and I could not put the second set of tyres. Otherwise, the top 6 would have been a rather easy target. I had a good start on Saturday, I made some positions but I struggled a lot with oversteering. I made an early pit stop and consequently my tyres were dead at the end of the race which was kind of problem to overtake. I also had good start in race 2, but once more I could not overtake. I had hard times to follow the car in front of me in the long straights, and I could not try to pass under the braking. Nakajima had new tires and could easily get passed in the last lap. It is disappointing but I know we are better than that and hopefully we'll prove it next round.
Andy Soucek - 9th: "Earlier in the weekend we had gearbox problems which ended up with us qualifying near the back of the grid. We sorted the problem for yesterday's race to finish 12th which I was pleased with, although I struggled with my tyres as we had an early pitstop. Today, I had a great start to be fourth, but my tyres went off very quickly and I had some oversteer which left me struggling to match the pace of the front runners. A top ten finish was a good effort for us at our first weekend."
Javier Villa - 10th: "It was hard having to start from 21st on the grid and I lost time with all the cars spinning at the start. The car was good and I was setting some fast sector times but overtaking was difficult, but despite this I managed to finish 10th."
Karun Chandhok - DNF: "I consider my debut a good one. I made a mistake in the qualifiers which resulted in me losing 3 tenths and dropping back a few positions. Race 1 was very exciting, I really enjoyed myself and I felt at ease with the car. In Race 2 I lost a few positions in order to avoid the pile-up on the first bend. The car raced well but as I was trying to regain position I had contact with another driver and the race for me ended there."
Sergio Jimenez - DNF: "I had some problems at the start with my clutch but I was able to make a reasonable start, the car wasn't too bad in the opening laps but I began to suffer from a soft brake pedal in the heat and after 10 laps I had to pull off the track with overheating problems after a stone punctured a radiator."
Lucas Di Grassi - DNF: I had a good start in race 1 but our strategy was a bit of a mess and I lost some positions. Still, 5th was a reasonable result. In race 2 my aim was, at least, a podium. The car was good, I had a good feeling and it's a shame Zuber hit me behind at the first corner. I have been on pace since the beginning of the weekend and I was excepting twice as many points as we secured. But it's only the first race week-end, there is still time to catch up with the leaders, to improve the car and to improve myself. I'm pretty confident we can do great things.
Christian Bakkerud - DNF: "Qualifying was a bit of a disaster, but we recovered from this yesterday, finishing 13th, and leading at one point, so I was quite pleased. Today was a different story. We were hit from behind and the engine cut out, so my race was over before it had even started. It was a shame as I think we could have gained quite a few positions, as my team mate did. I have more experience than coming into the weekend, so all in all, it wasn't a complete disaster."
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