19/07/2008
NEWS STORY
Racing Engineering - Giorgio Pantano (Winner) Javier Villa (10th)
In a race whose outcome was greatly influenced by heavy rain in the closing laps Giorgio Pantano continued his fight for the 2008 GP2 Drivers Championship with a hard fought second place in today's Feature Race at Hockenheim.
It was a clean start for all the drivers as Giorgio made the most of his pole position to lead the rest of the pack into the first corner at Hockenheim and the Italian held top spot at the end of the first lap as he was closely pursued by Grosjean. Over the next few laps the Racing Engineering driver swapped fastest laps with his French rival as they both pulled away from Buemi.
On lap 6 Giorgio set the fastest lap of the race so far, 1m 24.767s, as he extended his lead to nearly a second over Grosjean. Over the next few laps the Repsol and Telefónica supported car gradually moved further ahead and by lap 14 Giorgio was nearly 3 seconds ahead of the second-place driver with both men having a lead of over 30 seconds on the third-placed Buemi.
Lap 17 saw Giorgio make has mandatory pitstop in the Racing Engineering Dallara and, as ever, the Spanish team had their driver quickly on his way after changing both rear tyres. Giorgio resumed in first place and lap 20 he set a new fastest lap of 1m 24.713s and his lead over Grosjean was now one second as both men came up to lap Herck.
Giorgio and Grosjean now began a furious battle as they continued to pull away from Buemi at nearly a second a lap. Giorgio was able to keep the gap at around the one second mark but he couldn't afford to make any mistakes as the Frenchman was ready to capitalise on the slightest error.
With 5 laps to go the whole complexion of the race changed as it began to rain with steadily increasing force. Almost immediately the drivers were in trouble on their slick tyres with several running wide or spinning and several opted to pit to have wets fitted. With 4 laps remaining Giorgio ran wide but was able to keep his lead but only for a few seconds as another small error at the Mercedes Arena in the treacherous conditions saw him lose the lead to Grosjean. Mindful of his Championship position and the very tricky track conditions Giorgio decided not to try to regain the lead and he was so far ahead of the third-placed car he could afford to take things carefully.
It was not to be a good race for Racing Engineering team-mate Javier Villa. Starting from 8th after moving up one place on the grid as a result of a penalty applied to Kobayashi, the young Spaniard made a very good start and was up to 6th almost immediately. Javi made an early pit stop on lap 11 and resumed the track behind Chandhok who had stopped a few laps earlier. The Racing Engineering Dallara immediately began a long, hard battle for nearly 20 laps with the Indian driver until with the race nearly three quarters run Javi found a way past. Almost immediately Javi closed in on Di Grassi in 5th and lap 34 saw him pass the Brazilian.
As the rain came Javi gained two more places at the expense of a spinning Senna and Buemi and as the race entered its last lap Javi was laying in a very impressive 3rd, by far and away his best performance in a Feature Race. Sadly it was not to be and with only a few hundred metres to go Javi crashed on the very slippery track, as several others had done, and all his hard work came to nothing as he finished 10th.
For tomorrow's Sprint Race Giorgio will start from 7th on the reversed grid and will be looking to gaining as many points as possible towards the Drivers Championship. For Javier, he clearly has the speed to run with the fastest drivers and he will be trying as hard as possible to make up as many places as he can.
Alfonso de Orleans Borbón (team principal): "A fantastic race from both our drivers, especially from Javi, who under these circumstances and extreme conditions, did a great job. Giorgio did a smart race and was intelligent to accept second when maybe first would have been too risky to attempt. Once again, congratulations to the entire team. Everyone did a great job."
Javier Villa: "It was a complicated race, I did a good start moving up to 6th. Then I was behind Senna, who entered for the pit stop the same lap, I did. I lost some time at the pit stop and Chandhok overtook me on my out-lap. Then I was behind him, but I was able to overtake him and I had a very good rhythm. I passed Di Grassi and am sure without the rain, I could have passed Senna as well. However, mayhem started with 5 laps to go when heavy rain set in. I was in 3rd, when with 2 corners to go, I spun off as it started raining again in this part of the track."
Giorgio Pantano: "We did a perfect start and a perfect race with a perfect pit stop. During the last laps it started to rain. I tried to manage with the situation, but Grosjean was faster and I finished second. Tomorrow I will try to score the maximum again."
This means that Giorgio has now won four races this season and has consolidated his lead at the top of the GP2 Driver's Championship to 19 points and Racing Engineering now lead the Team Championship by 2 points. An additional effect to Giorgio's race win is that he will now start tomorrow's Sprint Race from 8th on the reversed grid.
Giorgio Pantano: "A great victory. Thanks to the entire team for giving me a perfect car for yet another weekend."
Super Nova Racing - Alvaro Parente (3rd) Andy Soucek (7th)
The Super Nova team are celebrating today after both cars finished in the top seven & collecting 8 precious championship points in the Hockenheim Feature race this afternoon.
Portuguese driver Alvaro Parente drove wisely as the weather conditions changed over the track & surrounding forests. He came through from seventh on the grid to finish on podium, in a pleasing third place.
Andy Soucek made a fantastic start, successfully passing several cars and catching up to his team mate within lap one. He drove a determined race to finish in 7th place, prepared to start on the front row for tomorrows sprint race.
Team Principal David Sears: "What an exciting race we saw today in Hockenheim, with rain falling with just 6 laps to go, cars were spinning off the track In all this commotion both Super Nova drivers kept cool heads, Alvaro, delighted with his third place and third podium of the season. Andy Soucek ended up in 7th place, collecting another 2 points for the team. He starts on the front row for the reversed grid for tomorrow. Both drivers are happy to be in the top 7 & after a last two disastrous races, the team are in a fantastic mood whatever the weather!"
Alvaro Parente: "I am very pleased with our result today. The team did a great job…After a couple of bad races, scoring points is even more important. We will both be towards the front of the grid tomorrow, so it should be a really good race!"
Andy Soucek: "I started very well, I was very quick, and managed to get behind Alavro on the first lap, but didn't want to risk anything by trying to pass. He pitted, & I stayed out for few laps, but I experienced some problems with the rear, & lost a little time in the pit lane. When I came out I was struggling with over steer, and then massive under steer, which we will fix tomorrow. I start from the front row, so I expect a podium tomorrow!"
iSport International - Bruno Senna (4th) Karun Chandhok (8th)
Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok finished fourth and eighth in the opening GP2 Series race at Hockenheim - despite a late-race downpour that caused a spate of accidents.
Starting sixth, Senna ran fifth in the early stages and then pulled off one of the race's best moves to wrest fourth from Lucas di Grassi. He was pushing Sébastien Buemi for third when the heavens opened… and after running wide across the grass he dived into the pits for wets. With track conditions partially wet and partially dry, and drivers circulating on both types of tyre, the race ended in a flurry of spins. Senna kept his cool, though, and crossed the line in fourth place.
Chandhok made a great start to move up from 10th to seventh - and then gained another place after the tyre stops. He, too, pitted for wet tyres when the rain came: this ultimately cost him track position, although eighth place gives him pole position for tomorrow morning's sprint race.
Bruno Senna: "The rain made things very, very difficult at the end, although I did quite enjoy the challenge. The team decided to gamble on a switch to wets and I think it was the right call, but we just needed a few more laps to gain maximum advantage.
"In the end, I'm pretty sure I'd have finished on the podium if conditions had remained dry. It was frustrating to be stuck behind di Grassi for so long, because I was potentially much faster and being bottled behind him caused my front tyres to suffer. Consequently, the car didn't feel quite as good once I'd worked my way past him, but I was still quicker than Buemi and fairly sure I'd be able to take third. But then it rained…"
Karun Chandhok: "Things went well in the first half of the race, although there wasn't a great deal happening on the track. I pushed like hell during the laps coming up to my pit stop - that and a good 'out' lap enabled me to gain a place on Javier Villa. I was able to maintain a decent pace even though I had one or two problems with my brakes - on one lap that almost caused me to run off at the Sachskurve. I'd pretty much accepted that I wasn't going to gain any more ground when it began to rain.
"Ultimately that dropped me a place or two, but it was the safest option in the conditions and I will be doing everything I can to win from pole tomorrow. I haven't scored a single point on a Sunday this season and it is high time that changed."
Durango - Alberto Valerio (9th) Davide Valsecchi (DNF)
From P19 to P9. This is what an excellent Alberto Valerio, exploiting a shower fallen five laps before the end, has been able to do. Alberto drove on slick tyres under the rain while many other drivers stopped to change their rubber, so he recovered positions on positions. Davide Valsecchi, on the contrary, had to retire because of a contact while he was overtaking a competitor.
Alberto Valerio: "Yesterday I called the rain and the rain came. With five laps to go many drivers pitted for a tyre change but I did not, I stayed out under the rain with the slicks so I think I did a good job bringing home the car at P9. It has not been easy but I did it".
Davide Valsecchi: "Today really has not been my day and tomorrow it will be even harder because I will start from the last row. I will try to relax and have a good sleep because tomorrow morning I will need my right foot but even more my brain".
Trident Racing - Ho Pin Tung (13th) Mike Conway (DNF)
The first race of the weekend at Hockeheim left Trident Racing with a bitter taste, as some good indications were conditioned by external factors. An heavy rainfall tormented the last 5 laps, worsening the track's conditions and causing several drivers to spin, including Mike Conway. The British driver lost a probable points finish when he lost control in the closing stages. Ho Pin Tung had a good day, but ended up in 13th after suffering from two contacts due to someone else's mistakes. Following to today's final positions, Ho Pin Tung will start from Row 7, while Mike Conway will line-up in 24th place.
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Managing Director: "Our global performance on Race 1 at Hockenheim must be evaluated by looking at more than the final charts. Despite losing four spots at the start, Mike recovered, thanks to a great sequence of fast laps, all the way through12th place, moving on many drivers, including some highly talented ones like Pastor Maldonado. Once he caught Andy Soucek rain started to fall, preventing him from clinching the top-8. Unfortunately, he experienced aspin later on, jeopardizing his chances to score points. Ho Pin drove a really good race, keeping himself on some very good laptimes and battling during the whole 40 laps. Unfortunately, he was touched by Valsecchi, bending one of his steering brackets, and then hit from behind by Valerio, who sent him spinning with just 3 to go. His 13th place, taken despite this two incidents, proved once again his good potential. We're a bit disappointed, because weather turned some factors in our favour and we were unable to take advantage of it".
Ho Pin Tung: "My race was heavily conditioned by the contact I received at the hairpin from Valsecchi. The hit bent my steering bracket, and made everything really difficult for me. I really don't know why he attempted such an useless manouver. In addition to that, Valerio touched me in the closing stages, when the track was really slippery, and sent me spinning. I could have easily ended up into the top-10, but I couldn't do more than coming to the end without any mistake. It feels bad, because we could have achieved a great result, and we didn't due to something that wasn't our responsibility".
Mike Conway: "Unfortunately, I was unable to complete the race due to a mistake I committed in the closing stages when, after a late shower, the track became extremely slippery. I'm sorry because, after a slow start that cost me several positions, I was recovering and there was a concrete chance to end up in the points zone. That would have been a nice reward for the many passes I completed. I'm glad for the quick pace I kept on a virtually unknown track, tasted for the first time in qualifying".