10/07/2009
NEWS STORY
Fat Burner Racing Engineering - Lucas Di Grassi (3rd) Dani Clos (17th)
A cloudy sky, wind and temperatures more usual for the German winter than July, welcomed the GP2 Series for its fifth round of the 2009 championship at the Nurburgring. Nevertheless, these unpleasant conditions did not put the Fat Burner Racing Engineering drivers off and they were able to show their competitive pace in both, free practice and qualifying. Lucas will start Saturday's feature race from 3rd place on the grid, whereas his team mate Dani, will start 17th.
After a productive free practice session, where Lucas finished in sixth, setting his fastest lap time at 1'39.347, and Dani finishing in 21st, both Fat Burner Racing Engineering drivers headed into qualifying determined to build on their pace and set times that would give them the best possible starting positions for Saturday's feature race.
In qualifying, Lucas was the first man to be out on the track and from the start, managed to set very competitive times, leaving no doubt in how eager he is to win in Germany. He quickly found himself at the top of the time sheet with a comfortable gap to the rest of the field. Bringing the tyres up to temperature was a major issue today, and Lucas, once he had his second set of tyres warmed up, was hampered by several yellow flags during the final minutes of the session. Rodriguez and Hulkenberg were one of the few who were able to improve their lap times and set times faster than those of the Brazilian in the Fat Burner Racing Engineering car. However, Lucas finished the session in an excellent 3rd position and as a consequence is one of the main contenders for Saturday's race win.
Spanish rookie Dani Clos on the other hand will start tomorrow's race from 17th. While he was setting very good lap times during the first part of qualifying, which allowed him to position himself in the top 10, the young Spaniard wasn't able to put his fastest sectors together into one proper lap during the second part and dropped back. But given the fact that Dani is really feeling confident for this weekend and is very comfortable with his car, Fat Burner Racing Engineering is convinced that with another one of his excellent race starts, Dani can finish the feature race in an very good position.
Lucas Di Grassi: Everything went fine. There was a bit of rain at the beginning of the session, we immediately went out on new tyres. The car was good and everything felt really fine. I was first with a quite big time gap to the rest. However, on my second set I couldn't really use the tyres correctly because of the yellow flags. I lost pole during the last minutes, but I think 3rd is a good position and from there we can win tomorrow's race.
Dani Clos: The car went really well and we have the set up part really well controlled. With my first set of tyres I was within the top 10. I felt really comfortable with the car and was confident. When the new set of tyres was mounted, the car still felt really well, but I wasn't able to put all fast sectors together. I also noticed some suspicious vibration from the back of the car, which we have to look into now. The team did a great job and now we have to see what can be done tomorrow.
Alfonso de Orleáns-Borbón, Team President: Both drivers did very well today, although with very different outcome. While Lucas was setting a very good time at the beginning, which placed him at the top of the time sheets, he dropped back to third during the last minutes of qualifying. However, knowing his driving skills, I am very optimistic for tomorrow's race. Dani was also very competitive during the first part of the session and it looked as if he could finally obtain the grid position he deserves. But it wasn't meant to be and on his second set of tyres he couldn't set a fast lap. We know we are on the right path as both drivers are happy with their cars. The boys have once more done a fantastic job by giving the drivers not only a fast, but also reliable car.
iSport International - Diego Nunes (8th) Giedo van der Garde (21st)
iSport is back in action today after a three week break at the Nurburgring in Germany for round 5 of the GP2 Series. At a cold and windy circuit iSport racer Diego Nunes qualified eight for tomorrow's feature race despite the young Brazilian abandoning his best lap after Luca Filippi spun at the chicane four minutes from the end. His iSport team mate Giedo van der Garde had less luck as he struggled to find grip. Van der Garde was unfortunate as his best lap also fell during the yellow flag period so the Dutch rookie was unable to improve from a disappointing twenty-first.
Diego Nunes: "It was good, it could have been better as I lost my best lap because of the yellow flag and some traffic, I would have been two or maybe three tenths quicker so maybe fifth or sixth but still it's alright. We are going to work on the car for the race and we are going to try and go forward in the race tomorrow".
Giedo van der Garde: "It did not go too well today. On the first set of tyres I made a mistake in the last sector and I got some traffic all through the session. On the last set of tyres I was quicker but there was a yellow flag so I had to back off, after that the tyres were finished which was disappointing. It's quite cold so there was not much grip but I hope to make up places in the race".
Ocean Racing Technology - Álvaro Parente (9th) Karun Chandhok (16th)
Álvaro Parente was the fastest Ocean Racing Technology driver on the Nurburgring circuit today where qualifying for the fifth round of the GP2 Main Series Championship took place. The Portuguese driver was often impeded by traffic, however he was still able to secure the ninth fastest time and as such will start from the fifth row of the grid for race one here tomorrow. "I know we could have been much higher up on the grid but I constantly found cars ahead of me and they made me lose a tenth here and there. Having said that, the overall result is positive and it opens up a good perspective for the race. The car is fast, just like it has been in previous rounds, and I hope I will secure my first points at the Nurburgring," Parente said.
Meanwhile, teammate Karun Chandhok will start from the eighth row of the grid after suffering with gearbox problems that prevented him from fighting for the front few rows. "It is frustrating because I could not switch gears correctly and it made me lose half a second" the Indian driver explained. "But that wasn't all, as I found myself caught in traffic on my fastest laps. All in all it means I will start far away from where I wanted to be. I know I will find slower drivers ahead of me in the race and I will have to be really careful."
DAMS - Kamui Kobayashi (15th) Jerome d'Ambrosio (19th)
Today, DAMS took part in free practice and qualifying for the fifth round of the 2009 GP2 Series Championship on the Nurburgring in Germany.
After a couple of character-building races at Silverstone three weeks ago, the team was determined to bounce back at the 'Ring with a top-class performance. But neither Kamui Kobayashi nor Jerome d'Ambrosio shone today, as they had problems getting the best out of their tyres on an unusually cold track this morning.
In qualifying, the Japanese driver had a competitive first run. The engineers then made a few setup changes to correct the balance of his car. Unfortunately, Kamui was unable to improve when he went out again; he finished fifteenth.
Jerome was 0.8s up on his last flying lap and looked set to snatch sixth place when another driver went off in front of him. The yellow flag was hung out and the Belgian had to lift off. He failed to improve and ended the session in nineteenth place.
Eric Boullier, team manager: "The Nurburgring can be a capricious circuit and today was a perfect example. Very low temperatures, intermittent drizzle and a very slippery track made things extremely tricky for the drivers and engineers. We thought we'd managed to adapt our cars to these conditions for qualifying, but it proved not to be the case. Despite a few adjustments Kamui did not manage to move up the time sheets, and we have to find out why by analysing his data this evening. Jerome was in the process of driving an almost perfect lap until a yellow flag put paid to his chances. It's tough but we're still motivated for the rest of the weekend and we'll give it our best shot tomorrow."
Kamui Kobayashi: "We were hoping for a lot better on arriving here. The track conditions caused us a few problems this morning. My first run in qualifying was promising, but unfortunately, I was unable to improve on my second and final one. It's disappointing but it's better to forget it and concentrate on the race itself. It's not over till the chequered flag and I'll seize the slightest opportunity that comes my way."
Jerome d'Ambrosio: "You can never be happy with the nineteenth-quickest time. What enrages me is that we had the speed. Without the yellow flag at the end of the session, I could have started from one of the first three rows of the grid, and that would have transformed my weekend. But there's no use crying over split milk! We now have to get the best out of race incidents, go for an aggressive strategy, refine my car's setup and really push in the race. Maybe we'll score a few points!"
Durango - Davide Valsecchi (20th) Nelson Pancitici (24th)
Gray weather at the Nurburgring for the GP2 qualifying session and gray times for the Durango drivers. Both Davide, twentieth, and Nelson Pancitici, twentyfourth, classified in the rear rows of the starting grid. Enrico Magro commented: "This morning Nelson lost quite the entire practice session because of a spark plug failure, this heavily conditioned his afternoon qualifying, Davide suffered some handling problems, Now we immediately get back to work on the cars trying to improve their performances for tomorrow race".
Trident Racing - Rodolfo Gonzales (23rd) Ricardo Texeira (25th)
The fifth round of the 2009 Gp2 Main Series got underway today at the Nurburgring. Trident Racing approached the renowned German racetrack with Angolan driver Ricardo Teixeira and Venezuelan rookie Rodolfo Gonzalez. The 23-year-old, who's replacing for the weekend Davide Rigon, took 24th in the first practice session, two spots ahead his team mate.
The qualifying session took off in the afternoon, where cold temperatures, just above 10°C, made difficult for drivers to find the right tire temperature. In addition to that, the track went from damp to dry after the initial stages, providing additional difficulties for rookie drivers. In the end, Rodolfo Gonzalez ended up in a pretty positive 23rd position for what has been his first day aboard in the GP2 Main Series, while Teixeira ended up in 25th after struggling with the changing conditions.
Rodolfo Gonzales: "Today I touched with my own hand how competitive the GP2 Main Series is. My past experience in the Asia Series has been useful, though I found a faster car, with a lot more grip and downforce. I had a tough time in trying to analyze all the differences in the sole 30 minutes of Practice, but I'm satisfied with how things went in Qualifying. I did just one mistake at the last corner, but I improved constantly, and I could have been at least 5 tenths of a second faster. My goal is now to get to the end of tomorrow's Race 1."
Ricardo Texeira: "At the beginning of the session I had a good feeling with the car. I was in the middle pack despite the damp track. Then when I put new tires on I started to struggle in getting them warm, feeling a loss of grip and a twisty handling. I got my fastest laptime at lap 5, as a further confirmation of how difficult was to warm-up tires. Let's see what happens tomorrow, we'll have to adapt to weather quickly, as forecasts show variable conditions."