06/09/2008
NEWS STORY
Super Nova Racing - Alvaro Parente (2nd) Andy Soucek (6th)
Super Nova happily walk away with two top seven finishes this afternoon in today's exciting Spa feature race, collecting 10 valuable points.
The only thing predictable here in Belgium was the unpredictable weather, and as expected rain fell just before the race, prompting everyone to start on wets. Andy Soucek lost several places at the green light but kept focused and as the track dried and mistakes were made, the Spaniard did a great job finishing 7th, placing him on the front row for Sunday mornings' Sprint race.
Alvaro Parente consolidated the teams great job by driving a convincing and sound 26 laps, to finished on the podium in an impressive second place. He confidently led the race for some time after Senna was penalised for an incident in the pit lane. However Romain Grosjean managed to pass taking a win and fastest lap for ART Grand Prix, Alvaro finishing in the same worthy position as he had started. Andreas Zuber completed the podium today coming in third for Piquet Sports.
Team Principal David Sears "It started to rain just before the race today, as it had done yesterday before practise, and so everyone switched to wet tyres. Alvaro Parente chased Bruno Senna from the start, and looked very strong indeed, while the track was damp. After pitting for dry tyres, Senna got a drive through penalty, which allowed Alvaro to lead the race until he was overtaken by Romain Grosjean, but ended in a strong 2nd position. Andy Soucek drove extremely well, ending up 7th overall. The team believe if he'd been called in earlier he could have finished higher. However both drivers finished in the top seven, and Andy will start tomorrow on the front row, and perhaps a win is in sight!"
Alvaro Parente: "It's good to be back on the podium! We've been struggling a little in qualifying, but yesterday was good and the pace was there today. The changeable weather is always going to make thing interesting, but I was able to put pressure on Bruno, & lead the race for while. It was a good result, we just need to have the best possible result tomorrow and again in Monza next weekend."
Andy Soucek: "It was quite a crazy race today! I am really pleased to be starting on the front row for tomorrow, however a little disappointed that I lost places to Petrov and Maldonado at the start. As it dried up and people made mistakes, my pace was not bad after all. I have lots of hope to win my first race tomorrow, so we'll see!"
Trident Racing - Mike Conway (7th) Ho Pin Tung (15th)
Mike Conway made his way to 8th place today at Spa-Francorchamps, in the first race of the GP2 Main Series weekend, and will start Race 2 from the pole spot. Ho Pin Tung crossed the line in 16th place, enough to let him take off from row 8 tomorrow. Today's race started under thick rain, though the racetrack started to dry out after the early stages, and all the drivers eased to the pits, profiting from the mandatory stop to move to slick tires. Unfortunately, during Mike's pit-stop, a the left front lug nut got stuck, forcing the British driver to lose 14 seconds and get stuck in the 2nd half of the charts. He was able to recover though, clinching the top spot for tomorrow's reversed grid.
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Managing Director: "Bad luck used to hit us in the past races, but we can say we were somehow helped today, also thanks to the great pace kept by Mike over the whole 26 laps. Unfortunately, during the pit-stop made at lap 8, we lost 14 additional seconds than the ideal time due to a lug nut problem. Mike eventually found himself relegated from 6th to 11th place. In the final laps, thanks to the issues happened and to the mistakes made by the rivals in front of him, he was able to climb up to 8th place, enough to take 1 point and tomorrow's pole spot. Ho Pin was penalized by the decision to postpone the move from rain to slick tires, though he told by the radio that he preferred to wait for a better track condition. Today's balance leaves us with a bitter taste in our mouth, due to a pit problem that deprived us of a possible podium finish".
Mike Conway: "The first part of the race has been pretty linear, though the track's condition wasn't optimal, and changed quickly. We decided to pit at the right time, but a problem made us lose valuable time. When I retook the track, I found the first laps difficult due to the damp track and the slick tires, and it was easy to make a mistake. In the end I managed to keep a good pace, climbing back to 8th place. It's a good result for tomorrow's Race 2: I hope to make a good start and try pull away from the rest of the pack."
Ho Pin Tung: "I was unable to improve my position t the start because it was given behind the safety-car, but I took some spots back during the first laps. A bad timing choice for the pit-stop cost us a lot of time, since it happened too late compared to the track's conditions, and I found myself at the back".
DAMS - Jérôme d'Ambrosio (8th) Kamui Kobayashi (9th)
Today, the first race of the 9th round of the 2008 GP2 Series Championship, part of the Belgian F1 Grand Prix meeting, took place on the magnificent Spa-Francorchamps circuit in the Ardennes. Both DAMS drivers Kamui Kobayashi and Jérôme d'Ambrosio took on a big challenge in the 26-lap race marked by tricky weather conditions, collisions, penalties and accidents as well as neutralisation periods due to the crashes.
The Belgian started from 21st place, and took advantage of the above-mentioned racing incidents to fight his way back up to 9th place when crossing the final line. Finally, he classified eight after the exclusion of a competitor. He will start from pole position tomorrow. Kamui drove a superb race and moved up from 25th to 9th place at the finish.
Eric Boullier, team manager: "Once again our weekend was conditioned by our poor grid places. In free practice in the dry we were very competitive, but it all went south in the wet qualifying session as we respected the yellow flags to the letter of the regs. Our only solution was a very aggressive race. Jerome pole position tomorrow brings our expectation up for scoring points. I'd like to congratulate our drivers and the whole team for the spectacular comebacks they made."
Jerome d'Ambrosio: "I really wanted to continue in the same vein as in Valencia for my home race. Unfortunately, the difficult conditions in qualifying ruined any hopes I had of a good finish. Today, taking the rain into account the main thing was not to make any mistakes and take advantage of race incidents. I did this successfully as I pulled back 13th places. I'm really happy starting from pole tomorrow in front of my fans."
Kamui Kobayashi: "We knew that the conditions would be difficult and that anything was p ossible today despite our poor grid positions; we were right but it's frustrating to make a good comeback without scoring any points. You never know, though, if the weather is unsettled tomorrow, maybe we'll be able to get into the top six."
DPR - Diego Nunes (12th) Michael Herck (14th)
Tricky conditions at the Spa Francorchamps circuit, the venue for the penultimate round of the 2008 GP2 Series for David Price Racing (DPR), created a chaotic Feature race today. With three safety car periods, and numerous drivers running off track, both DPR drivers had their fair share of drama, but both stayed the distance. Nunes finally passed the chequered flag in 13th place, with team mate Herck taking his best Feature result in 15th position.
Both drivers posted their best qualifying session times of the season so far, with Nunes scoring 14th quickest lap and Herck lapping 18th fastest. A penalty for Chandhok, the quickest driver in the session, put him further back down the grid, promoting Nunes to 13th place for the start of the Feature race.
The Feature race grid formed, but with bad weather conditions, the race started behind the safety car. After two laps touring at low speed the safety car peeled off the track to release the GP2 field for full speed running. With the spray flying behind the cars, visibility was poor for every car aside from the leader, but both Nunes and Herck coped well and maintained position in the opening laps.
Nunes moved up to 11th place before making his mandatory stop and Herck was further down the field. After ten laps of the race the safety car was deployed for the second time after an accident for Davide Valsecchi. Nunes was lying in 11th place with Herck in 19th as the field returned to racing again. A small mistake for Nunes on the restart lap ended with him bouncing across the track, which dropped him back down the order.
Nunes recovered from his off track excursion to continue and the young DPR driver was keen to make up further positions. With 10 laps remaining he was lying in 14th position, with team mate Herck in 17th place. He soon moved up to 13th position, while Herck locked up his brakes and lost position, dropping him to 19th on track. A clash with Georgio Pantano with four laps remaining put Nunes back to 17th place, and with the safety car reappearing for a third time, the young Brazilian driver had little opportunity to make up ground.
After a lap behind the safety car the GP2 field returned to race for the final two laps and with others making mistakes both DPR drivers improved on their positions, with Nunes finally crossing the finish line in 13th place and Herck in 15th position, the best Feature race finish for Herck so far.
David Price, Team Principal, concluded, "We had a better start to the race weekend in Spa, with both drivers putting in good qualifying performances and showing improvement. The race today was always going to be tough, particularly with the difficult weather conditions, and with neither having experienced racing a GP2 car here, it was a learning curve for them. Two solid finishes was a positive, although I think it was a shame that Diego didn't finish in the top ten; he made a small error, but it was fairly costly. Now we'll see what the drivers can do tomorrow in the Sprint race."
Racing Engineering - Javier Villa (17th) Giorgio Pantano (Excluded)
Today's Feature Race at Spa Francorchamps saw both Giorgio Pantano and Javier Villa finish well down the field as both drivers made errors in difficult conditions that cost them any chance of a good result.
Shortly before the start of the race it began to rain resulting in all the cars switching to wet tyres and many opting for a wet-weather setup. The rain was still coming down at the start of the race so the opening lap was held behind the Safety Car in order to give the drivers a chance to get used to the track before facing the daunting Belgian circuit at racing speed.
As the Safety Car pulled off the track Giorgio was holding 4th place just behind Grosjean with Zuber chasing him but almost immediately the Repsol and Telefónica supported car began to pull away from the pursuing drivers. By lap 7 the first three cars were involved in a close battle for the lead with Giorgio 2.5 seconds behind and keeping a close eye on them, ready to take advantage of any mistakes. On lap 7 Senna pulled into the pits for his mandatory pitstop and the Racing Engineering team immediately called Giorgio in, the Spanish team did their usual very efficient stop and Giorgio was quickly back on the track in 14th place and right behind Senna.
When the other cars began to stop Giorgio moved up to 5th on lap 9 which was effectively 2nd as three of the cars ahead still had to pit. Suddenly it was announced that Senna had to take a drive-through penalty due to a pit lane incident which would promote Giorgio to 1st but before the Brazilian could take the penalty both the Safety Car and the Medical car were called onto the track following a heavy accident to Valsecchi. The drivers immediately lined up behind the Safety Car but, after 3 laps at the slow pace, Giorgio was suddenly seen to have a problem as his engine switched to safety mode, fortunately Giorgio was able to restart it again but he dropped eight places as a result.
The Safety Car pulled off after 5 laps and Giorgio was immediately fighting to regain places and within two laps the he was running 8th but entering the La Source hairpin he mounted the kerb and spun on the wet surface dropping to 10th. Two laps later, as Giorgio desperately tried to get back into the points, he made another mistake when the Italian out-braked Rodríguez into La Source but he was travelling too quickly on the damp surface to avoid contact with di Grassi and the resulting damage to the front of his car saw him drop back to finish 21st.
For Javier Villa it was a race to forget, starting 21st the young Spaniard was soon involved in a battle with several cars at the back of the field but he was unable to make any significant progress up the field. Lying in 19th place when the Safety Car was on track he was adjudged to have passed another car and was given a drive-through penalty, by the end of the race he was in 18th place.
Both drivers will find it hard to score points in tomorrow's Sprint Race, starting from so far back but with the reliability that both drivers have had from the Racing Engineering team, the Spanish team consistently bringing both cars to the finish, both men will be giving their best.
Alfonso de Orleans Borbón (team principal): "This wasn't what we had expected, it's a real pity for both our drivers. Their starting positions for tomorrow are not very promising, but we will try to make the best out of it and we continue with the chance to win the championship. Our boys would definitely deserve it, as they have once more prepared the cars perfectly, a big thank you to them."
Javier Villa: "It was a very difficult race. Once again rain set in just before we started. The first few laps of the race on wet tyres were complicated as the track was very slippery. The earliest we could, we switched to dry tyres and then the rhythm was good. I received a drive-through penalty and then the gap to the front was too big to the rest of the field, so I could only finish my race."
Giorgio Pantano: "We were not lucky today. When I was behind the safety car, the safety mode of the engine set in, as I didn't pay attention to the temperatures. I dropped back and at the restart I knew I was in P8, which I was ok with. However, in turn 1 I touched the curbs on the inside and spun. At the next restart I tried to overtake Rodriguez. In the same corner I touched on the inside, where it was still wet, and I had contact with di Grassi, as I couldn't stop the car."
Durango - Alberto Valerio (DNF) Davide Valsecchi (DNF)
During the sixth lap of the Spa feature race Davide Valsecchi, being superfast in the attempt to recover the gap after a mistake, forced too much heavily hitting the barriers at the Stavelot corner. Taken to the hospital for examinations he has been dismissed a couple of hours later. So the driver is physically absolutely alright his car, on the contrary, is very damaged.
This said let's talk about Alberto Valerio. The Brazilian, today twenty-three years old, was giving himself a nice birthday present claiming the fifth position. This nice dream was broken just few laps before the end because of a spin. So once more a day that could be to remember turned into a day to forget.