24/07/2009
NEWS STORY
Fat Burner Racing Engineering - Lucas Di Grassi (Pole) Dani Clos (13th)
Fat Burner Racing Engineering driver Lucas Di Grassi captured his first pole position of the 2009 GP2 season this afternoon at the Hungaroring. Team mate Dani Clos qualified 13th in an eventful session, which was red flagged shortly after its start, when two cars collided. When qualifying resumed, the Brazilian, who already topped the time sheets in free practice, stormed to pole position in Hungary.
Both Fat Burner Racing Engineering drivers had a good free practice session this morning when air temperature had already climbed to 30°C. Lucas, from the very first moments, showed his determination to do well this weekend in Budapest and covered the twisty Hungarian circuit in 1:28.261. Dani, on the other hand, took advantage of the 30 minutes session to familiarize himself with the track he never raced on before and finished free practice in 13th position.
When the afternoon qualifying session started at the Hungaroring, the race track known for its twists and turns leaving the drivers very little time to relax, both Fat Burner Racing Engineering drivers immediately showed a very promising pace. The Brazilian dominated the session and quickly placed himself on provisional pole. The team's Spanish rookie did not disappoint either and managed to set the third best time on his first fast lap.
However, an accident involving Grosjean and Perera caused the session to be stopped for a few minutes, forcing all drivers into the pits. When qualifying resumed, Lucas' current fastest lap time was improved by Petrov. But the Fat Burner Racing Engineering driver responded quickly, and with great tenacity and determination, set the fastest lap time of the day. No driver was able to beat Lucas' time of 1:27.867 and when the checkered flag fell, Lucas had his first pole position secured.
Dani's qualifying session was going well until the session was red flagged. He was in third position, when he had to return to the pits. Over the radio, Dani reported a problem with his steering and the Fat Burner Racing Engineering crew tried its best, given the limited time, to solve the issue. Once the track was cleared, the Spanish rookie rejoined the session and managed to improve his personal best time, but so did the rest of the field. A little mistake in the very last corner cost Dani a starting position within the top 10, but Fat Burner Racing Engineering is confident that its rookie has good chances to score his first points in tomorrow's feature race.
Lucas Di Grassi: I think we started the second half of the championship very well being able to get P1 in free practice and qualifying. It was a tough battle within the top 3 in qualifying, and I think there was potential to improve my lap time even more. The team did an awesome job and now we will work hard in order to prepare tomorrow's race.
Dani Clos: The car is really good and we have a very good balance. However, on the first set of tyres, I had a problem with the steering. When I came to the pits, we looked into it. With my second set of tyres we still had the problem, but we were able to make a good lap time. But in the very last corner I made a mistake, which cost me quite some time. However, I am starting tomorrow's race from a position that allows me to fight for points.
Alfonso de Orleans-Borbon, Team President: Really well done. I am very, very happy about Lucas' pole. Driver, team, and car - all perfect. Now we have to turn this into a win tomorrow. As for Dani, real pity, since he was driving perfectly except in the very last corner. Otherwise he would have been top 10. Tomorrow I am confident, Lucas, as well as Dani, will do a good job. Well done to the boys, they have done a good job like always.
Durango - Davide Valsecchi (4th) Nelson Panciatici (22nd)
Davide Valsecchi drove his Durango to the fourth place of today Hungary GP2 Main Series qualifying session. Nelson Panciatici, on the other Durango car, has not been able to get something more than the twentysecond place. For Durango has been a good session anyway, as declared by Ivone Pinton: "With Davide we succeeded in earning the second row of the grid because of the very good exploitation of the first tyre set. Then the air temperature increased and the track became slower. So Nelson couldn't fully exploit his second set. But at the end of the day, even if with just one car, we have been able to start a race from a very worthy position at least. Which is very good and - closing with a wide smile on his face - for today I will not say anything else!".
Trident Racing - Davide Rigon (9th) Ricardo Texeira (24th)
Davide Rigon run a shining Qualifying session today at Budapest. The Italian, back on the #19 Trident Racing Dallara after a one-race hiatus at the Nurburgring, was able to enter the top-10 by clocking the 9th fastest lap.
As a consequence, he'll be able to take off from Row 5, in what the team expect to be a really promising day. Trident Racing is eager to score its first points of the 2009 GP2 Main Series season.
Angolan driver Ricardo Teixeira will be part of the game too. He was really penalized by a red flag exposed after 6 minutes and the subsequent high traffic.
Davide Rigon: "I'm really satisfied with the result we've been able to score today. It hasn't been an easy session, as traffic can really hit on such a short racetrack, but I had fun, driving a well-prepared car that really suited my style. I think we had the potential to enter the top-6, since with the second set of new tires I found a slower car on lap 1 and then the rubber started to fade on lap 2. I think we can really aim at the points zone, that's what the team deserves. I have to thank my engineer for the great job done after preactice, that really improved the car's handling"
Ricardo Texeira: "Today's session was more a fight for a clean lap than a qualification. I think I had the potential to lap at the same pace of Jerome D'Ambrosio, who was in front of me, but I had to pass slower cars for 3 times during my hotlaps. It's frustrating because I lost something I could have achieved due to external factors. With such high temperatures and tire wear, the races will be really tough"
iSport International - Diego Nunes (12th) Giedo van der Garde (16th)
iSport racers Diego Nunes and Giedo van der Garde will start from twelfth and sixteenth in tomorrow's feature race in Budapest. It was a hot day at the Hungaroring and it was a difficult start for iSport racer Giedo van der Garde after only running half the practice session earlier in the day due to a faulty fuel pump. Brazilian driver Diego Nunes had better luck and ran second in qualifying before the red flag came out for an accident involving Barwa Addax driver Romain Grosjean. Nunes improved on his second run and was just pipped by Pastor Maldonado in the last moments to finish twelfth in a very tight field. After his problems in practice iSport racer Giedo van der Garde started qualifying with less track time than the rest of the field but made good progress through the session to start sixteenth.
Diego Nunes: "After Nurburgring I was hoping to carry that form to qualify in the top eight but it was very tight, only a few tenths would have put me in the top eight for the race. I think for the race tomorrow we will aim to finish in the top eight to get a good starting position for the race on Sunday. It is very difficult to overtake here so I think I need to think about getting a good starting position for Sunday and do the best I can to make up places tomorrow".
Giedo van der Garde: "I had a fuel pump failure in practice so I only got 5 laps in the end so it has been a tough start to the weekend. On the first set of tyres I had a bit of understeer so we tried something for the second set which did not improve the times that much but qualifying was ok considering the start we had to the weekend in practice. I think we have a good car for the race".
Ocean Racing Technology - Alvaro Parente (14th) Karun Chandhok (20th)
After the 2nd place secured by Alvaro Parente on the Nurburgring circuit last time out, following on from Karun Chandhok's rostrum finish at Silverstone, Ocean Racing Technology is hoping to surf on the wave of their recent success and heads to Hungary determined to secure more points and continue to harvest the fruits of their hard work and development since the beginning of their debut season in the GP2 Series.
By opening his score card in Germany with a podium result, the team's Portuguese driver is relieved to finally get the monkey off his back and is more determined than ever to secure points on the Hungaroring circuit this coming weekend. "The German result was really good and we want to keep up the great work as well as our progression. I am motivated by my work with the team and by the desire to secure a good result in Budapest. The track is one of the slowest on the calendar and its kerbs are aggressive, but we're adapting the car specifically to this and are therefore confident that we will be able to find the right set-up for qualifying," Alvaro explained.
On his side, Karun Chandhok already has fond experiences on the Magyar circuit, securing two 5th places on the starting grid and one 4th placed finish here previously. Despite his recent bad fortunes the Indian driver is looking ahead and planning to forget his weekend at the Nürburgring. "This track is really different. The German one was faster and we showed we were very fast all weekend long. I had my share of misfortune at the Nurburgring, but I think that Hungary will be a different story and that we will be able to fight with the front-runners just as we have done several times this year," he stressed.