22/07/2007
NEWS STORY
Javier Villa (Racing Engineering) 1st - On the grid I was a bit nervous as we had had a few problems yesterday but I had a really fast start and built an advantage in the first laps. My pace was good and when Zaugg increased his I could still keep opening out the gap. I kept pushing until the very end and that's why I missed the chicane, I decided to go straighton and then slow down the next lap to avoid any problem and win the race.
Kohei Hirate (Trident Racing) 2nd - I'm happy, very happy. This weekend repaid both me and the team of the huge effort made to come out of a negative situation. Today's race was perfect from a result standpoint, yet really fun to drive. I made a good start, as well as a good first part of the race, and when Nakajima caught my slipstream, we started a lengthy duel I got won under the flag, as I had more troubles while braking, but I had more traction coming out of the corners. My confidence for the next races is mainly due to the greatly balanced car I drove today: we found the right direction with our set-up development.
Kazuki Nakajima (DAMS) 3rd - I'm a little bit surprised but today's race was also a little bit shame to miss second. The feeling is a little bit mixed but still it's a great race and it's great to keep scoring points and that's the most important thing for me. In this track it is a little bit difficult to overtake so I didn't expect too much for today's race.
Pastor Maldonado (Trident Racing) 4th - The start of Race 2 was not perfect, and that made me lose a position. Then, when I saw Nakajima was faster than me and catching up I elected to avoid putting good points in jeopardy for a 1-point difference. By the way, I'm still satisfied with the whole weekend picture, especially for the good balance the car shown yesterday: it means that the adjustments made before the race proved to be right.
Lucas Di Grassi (ART Grand Prix) 6th - We were fast in both dry and wet conditions and in qualifying the only mishap was traffic. Still, 2nd position was good and I overtook Glock at the start. Our pit stop was good, so were my first laps, but Timo was really fast when I came back into the pits and he took advantage of these 2 extra laps to pass me. I had another good start on Sunday, but Pantano hit me and Glock took the opportunity to get past. I was losing a lot of downforce behind Timo and couldn't get close enough to attack him and added to that, the car was a lot different after the collision with Pantano. On the positive side, I am still in a good position in the driver's championship. I am progressing, the team is progressing, we have to keep going in the right direction.
Ernesto Viso (Racing Engineering) 8th - It has been quite a monotonous race actually. We keep improving and we have to go on working in this direction. I think we have already got a really good base to work from for the next races. Today the car was better, with no brake or accelerator problems as yesterday and with just a bit of oversteer.
Andy Soucek (DPR) 13th - I had a top ten pace, so that was good, but it's also frustrating as if we had started nearer the front we might have been able to convert that into a stronger result. I had hoped for a better weekend here in Germany, but I'll keep pushing for a points finish and improvement in our overall performance.
Adam Carroll (FMS International) 14th - It was unfortunate today that we couldn't finish in a higher position. We made a slight improvement from yesterday but it was still not enough. I couldn't have done any more than I did, and I wasn't prepared to push the car any harder - I wanted to bring the car home and, because of the way the car was behaving, I would have gone off the track. Hopefully we can improve the car for the next race in Hungary, and get back to being competitive and fighting at the front.
Mike Conway (Super Nova International) 15th - I locked up the front left into the chicane, and when the rear locked up and I hit the curb, & I spun. It's a shame, because I had worked through a fair few cars. The car was good today, although I think we lost a little in the high-speed corners. Overall the pace was ok though and we were running level or better than others.
Christian Bakkerud (DPR) 18th - It was a tough race for me. I felt that the engine was losing power and we just didn't have the straight line speed to overtake, so that made it very difficult. Not having the race distance experience from yesterday also added to the challenge and put us on the back foot, but we did make it to the finish.
Jason Tahinci (FMS International) 19th - From a positive point of view, at least I finished the race, but really the rest was not good at all. It's the worst car I've driven this year, and I'm just so disappointed. Yesterday I was fighting with Glock, but today I just couldn't defend my position at all. I had a lot of problems, but now we have to work hard to improve this for the next race in a fortnight's time.
Sebastien Buemi (ART Grand Prix) 20th - Practice sessions were interrupted due to the torrential rain and therefore qualifying was a bit tough for me. I had to readapt myself to the car as I had not driven since Monaco. Qualifying was on a dry track, and I had a bit of traffic. I made a mistake, but P11 was not that bad if you consider the conditions. At the start of race one I simply braked too late and could not avoid the collision. I am really sorry for my victim as well as for the team because I think we had what it takes to score some points. We had two options for race 2: either to try to come back into the points - but from 26th on the grid this was very optimistic - or to try and clock the fastest lap in race, which is the same as P6 as we score 1 point. I'm happy I did this but now I have to avoid making any mistakes in Hungary in order to have a clear weekend and to thank the team with a good result.
Luca Filippi (Super Nova International) DNF - I got blocked at the start by Zuber stalling on the grid, so by avoiding him, I became last. It was going to be a tough race today, and in the end were we going for fastest lap, and although we were quick, we didn't quite get it. I'm frustrated about yesterday really, because in turn ruined today's chances. I believe we had a better car than the one in front, but unfortunately we lost out on the chance of any points this weekend.
Bruno Senna (Arden International) DNF - It was really bad luck today. It was the first lap and Viso just tapped me with the lightest touch, but it did a lot of damage. The car felt the best it had felt all weekend, but it was a less than rewarding weekend overall.
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