11/07/2009
NEWS STORY
Ocean Racing Technology - Alvaro Parente (6th) Karun Chandhok (11th)
Alvaro Parente secured 6th place after a brave fight in the first race of the GP2 Main Series at the Nurburgring this afternoon, earning him his first points of the 2009 Championship season. It also marks the fourth time that Ocean Racing Technology has finished in the points in its rookie season in the series.
Álvaro actually lost places at the start of the race but was able to recover them easily enough in the first turn. He then attacked for the rest of the race, even fighting with championship leader, Romain Grosjean, and Lucas di Grassi, who he ended up passing just before half distance.
This 6th place for the Portuguese driver now opens up a strong opportunity for the second race that will get underway at 10:30 am tomorrow morning. "It was an interesting race during which my car was really good. The start didn't go that well but I didn't panic and I found a way to regain a few positions on the very first lap. From then on I was always fighting for points. Coming out of the pits, I was anxious to keep my position but I was caught out by my cold tyres and I spun in the first corner. Fortunately I caught up fast and I could overtake di Grassi a few laps later, then I was able to take the fight to Grosjean. I was faster than him but I didn't want to take any risks. He then had a technical problem which allowed me to get through. It is a positive afternoon, I am satisfied and now I can look for a good result in the second race."
Starting the race from the 8th row of the grid, teammate Karun Chandhok was caught in a lot of traffic but was still able to fight his way up to eleventh place. The Indian driver was quick and was knocking on the door of the top ten but ended up conceding a place to Jerome d'Ambrosio. Chandhok regrets that his race was dictated by a race strategy that was put in place as a result of his poor qualifying result due to being severely hampered by traffic. "Because I was starting from the back of the grid I opted for a different set-up than Álvaro. It worked for him but not for me. Sometimes you have to take some risks and now my aim will be to secure some points on Sunday. The first lap will be crucial and I will need perfect concentration in order to overtake a few drivers who are slower than me but higher up on the grid."
Fat Burner Racing Engineering - Lucas Di Grassi (7th) Dani Clos (16th)
Fat Burner Racing Engineering drivers Lucas Di Grassi and Dani Clos finished today's feature race at the Nürburgring in 7th and 16th position respectively. Despite the unexpected outcome, both drivers now look forward to Sunday's feature race positively, as Lucas will start from the first row on the grid, and Dani has shown a really competitive race pace today.
Lucas had a good start from third and quickly managed to overtake Rodríguez to place himself second, just behind race leader Hülkenberg. During the first part of the race, the Brazilian was under pressure from Rodríguez, forcing him to keep a constant eye in his side mirrors, but nevertheless Lucas kept his calm and position. At the end of lap 12, Lucas entered the pit lane for his compulsory pit stop, stopping one meter further forward than where he was supposed to, which initiated a chain reaction of small problems that led to a loss of time during the stop. After having changed all four tyres, Lucas rejoined the race in eighth position. Together with Parente, Lucas found himself stuck behind Grosjean, who retired with two laps to go in the race. However, for the Portuguese and Brazilian it was much too late for them to close the gap to the drivers in front. Lucas finished the race in seventh position and will start Sunday's sprint race on the front row.
Dani's chances to score a good result in today's race were basically over after the lights went off. His car stalled on the grid, forcing him to get a restart from the pit lane. Back on track, the Spanish driver was at the back of the field and, with all the time and places lost during those first moments of the race, the only thing left for him to do was to bring the car home. However, the young Spaniard set extremely competitive lap times consistently and showed what would have been possible, if only the start went well. Dani finished the race in 16th position and posted the third fastest lap of the race.
Lucas Di Grassi: The start was good and I went from 3rd to 2nd. I was then in second position until the pit stop. The pit stop itself was bad for a series of reasons and I rejoined the race in 8th position. Then I was stuck behind Grosjean and Parente for the rest of the race. Now we will prepare tomorrow's race where I have a good chance to score some important points.
Dani Clos: When I was in the pit lane, I informed my engineer that I noticed the clutch's biting point had moved. We tried to adjust it on the grid. Although my pre-start went okay, I encountered the clutch to be too sensitive at the race start. I couldn't find the right biting point, which made it hard to get off the line. I was at the back of the field then, which makes it difficult to recuperate places. But I did very good lap times, and had constantly a good rhythm.
Andrew Ferguson, Chief Engineer Fat Burner Racing Engineering: Dani struggled with his clutch. After, his pace was very, very good and he was able to make very competitive lap times. As he was one lap down and had to respect the blue flags, this hindered him, but Dani and his car seemed very competitive today. Lucas, on the other hand, had a good start showing a good pace at the beginning of the race. Unfortunately, when in for the pit stop, multiple issues cost us a lot of time. Then he had to battle through the back and being close to other cars in front made it difficult for the balance of the car. I think everyone worked well as usual and we have confidence in our pace for tomorrows race.
Durango - Davide Valsecchi (13th) Nelson Panciatici (19th)
Nurburgring race 1 without satisfaction for Durango. Davide Valsecchi was not able to get more than a thirteenth place, while Nelson Panciatici took the nineteenth. It is obvious that today race was doomed by the problems occurred during yesterday qualifying, as stressed by Enrico Magro: "When the start is taken from the rear rows of the grid the hopes are very feeble. We recovered some places but nothing more. Anyway if Davide will take the start tomorrow morning with the right attitude we can still hope to gain some points. Finally I hope that Nelson tomorrow will be able to race without mechanical troubles".