26/07/2009
NEWS STORY
iSport International - Giedo van der Garde (1st) Diego Nunes (15th)
iSport was back to winning ways today at the Hungaroring as rookie Giedo van der Garde drove from second on the grid to take his first victory in GP2. Van der Garde had a great start and passed pole sitter David Rigon to take the lead into the first corner. The Dutchman had sustained pressure from the experienced Luca Filippi from start to finish but never put a foot wrong to take the chequered flag and top step of the podium. iSport racer Diego Nunes had a difficult task ahead after a retirement in the feature race yesterday on a circuit notoriously difficult to overtake. Nunes made up ground at the start to take the flag in fifteenth.
Giedo van der Garde: "I had a good start and overtook Rigon into the first corner. After that I just controlled the race. I concentrated on making no mistakes even with Filippi pushing hard behind me. I knew it would be difficult for him to overtake me at this circuit if I did not make any mistakes. This is a great result and a real boost for myself and the team which I hope to carry forward to the next race in Valencia".
Diego Nunes: "I had a good start and made up a few places. The car was good but it is really difficult to overtake here. You need to be so much faster to even have a chance to overtake. So starting from eighteenth it's difficult to have a good race, if you start at the front you can finish at the front, if you start at the back you finish at the back. But the car felt good and was balanced so I hope for better luck in Valencia".
Fat Burner Racing Engineering - Lucas Di Grassi (3rd) Dani Clos (11th)
Lucas Di Grassi completed a great weekend for the Fat Burner Racing Engineering team at the Hungaroring, where after Saturday's second place, today he made it to the podium once again. Spanish Dani Clos was 11th.
The GP2 sprint race in Hungary started under cooler conditions than the two previous days. With the thermometers reaching 23ºC, both Fat Burner Racing Engineering drivers took their places on the grid hoping to continue with the great pace of the feature race and aiming for points.
Lucas started from seventh and kept his place without problems. By the end of lap 1 he was already 4th after an accident in front of him between Rigon and Maldonado. The Fat Burner Racing Engineering driver had Villa in his sight during most of the race, and whilst trying to improve his position, he had to fend off Grosjean. His chance to improve came on lap 19, when the safety car made an entry, Villa made a mistake at turn 12 that Lucas took advantage off to overtake him. During the rest of the race, the Brazilian tried to catch up with the leading men, Van der Garde and Filippi, while holding Grosjean behing him. In the end he finished third, scoring another handful of very valuable points towards the championship title.
Dani's initial and final place did not vary, as he crossed the line in 11th place. Nevertheless, the Spanish rookie had a very good start and fought well with Hülkenberg during the first part of the race. He made it up to 7th, but on lap 10, he made a little mistake that cost him four positions, hence he went back to his initial place. From then on, the Fat Burner Racing Engineering driver had a good battle with Petrov to keep his position and finish 11th.
Lucas Di Grassi: We had a good start and a good race. The team did a very good job. This was our best weekend so far and we made it to the podium in both races. We scored 14 points this weekend, which brought us closer to the leaders. It's still a long way to go and I am confident we are improving every weekend.
Dani Clos: Today we really had a very good start. I was able to find a good gap. I quickly overtook Hülkenberg and pushed to close in on Parente. In lap ten I went towards the outside of corner 11, the dirty part of the track. I spun and when I came back onto the track again, I was running in 11th. Petrov was pushing from behind then, but I was able to control him and finished the race in 11th position.
Alfonso de Orleans-Borbon, Team President: Fantastic results. Another podium from Lucas. Pole and two podiums and most points of any driver this weekend is an amazing achievement by both the driver and the team. Once again Dani aas close to getting points. He is getting there. We should see it soon. Well done to everyone in the team. Fantastic job. These results give us great momentum for the second half of the season."
Ocean Racing Technology - Alvaro Parente (6th) Karun Chandhok (10th)
Alvaro Parente drew strength from the progress made on the Dallara Renault by the engineers of Ocean Racing Technology in the GP2 Main Series today when the Portuguese driver managed to move up three places between the start and finish of the second race at the Hungaroring. His performance was rewarded by a point for 6th place making it the third time he has secured points in the last four races, and the fifth in six races for the team.
Once up into 6th place, Alvaro looked after his tyres to make sure they lasted the distance and that he would be able to resist his rivals, including the current championship leader, Nico Hülkenberg, who had never been in a position to attack him."The second race was very different. The car was much better and it allowed me to climb up into 6th position and then defend it. The tyre wear was less severe and it contributed to the excellent overall performance. It's clear, had I won one more position on Saturday, the weekend scenario would have been very different, but under these circumstances the result is positive. Our car was not always at its best in Hungary, contrary to Turkey for instance, but we will keep working hard and we'll come back stronger in Valencia."
Meanwhile, teammate Karun Chandhok was also on the attack. 17th on the starting grid, the Indian driver finished the race in the top ten and his performance also demonstrated the evolution of the Ocean Racing Technology single seaters. Karun knew that he was going to have a difficult race on the basis of the circuit itself and the difficulty in overtaking, but he managed to underline the quality of the work carried out by the team since Friday. "The tyre wear was not as big as yesterday and it made all the difference. I knew I would lose a lot of time trying to overtake some slower cars and to finish into the top 10 was the best result I could get today. After two weekends with no point I will work hard with the team to inverse the trend in Valencia."
DAMS - Kamui Kobayashi (8th) Jerome d'Ambrosio (DNF)
This weekend, DAMS raced in the sixth round of the 2009 GP2 Series Championship on the Hungaroring in Hungary. The very twisty, dusty circuit was a different kettle of fish to the Nürburgring 2 weeks earlier.
Jerome d'Ambrosio and Kamui Kobayashi tried to take up the challenge, but their weekend was compromised by poor qualifying performances. In addition, the Belgian driver suffered electrical glitches affecting gear selection throughout the meeting, a recurrent handicap that led to his retirement in the second race.
The team is going back to Le Mans after a scoreless weekend, and its aim is to carry out an in-depth examination of the reasons for this lack of performance, and then to modify its approach according to the lessons learned. The next round will take place on the Valencia circuit in 4 weeks.
Eric Boullier, Team manager: "We had a really bad weekend. We never found the right setup for the circuit for the two cars, and we also ran into technical problems. We failed to score any points, a result that's a wakeup call. Our performance isn't in keeping with our reputation and our skills: we've now got to get to the root of our problems and take them into account for the next round."
Kamui Kobayashi: "There's not really a lot to be said. Qualifying went off badly and this handicapped me throughout the weekend. On a circuit where overtaking is virtually impossible, an out-of-sync strategy helped me to gain a good few places in the first race, but not enough to score points. It was the same story on Sunday in the short race in which I managed to pass five cars. When we start from the top end of the grid, we can score points, so we've got to concentrate on out-and-out speed on Friday."
Jerome d'Ambrosio: "After a great start to the season, we've got bogged down and it's really frustrating to finish outside the points, as we've got what it takes to succeed. We've just got to stack all the odds in our favour. My driving is the same; my car hasn't changed, and the team's approach is identical to the one which enabled us to aim for the podium at the start of the championship. We've got four weeks before Valencia to find out what's wrong and make the necessary changes."
Durango - Davide Valsecchi (9th) Nelson Panciatici (20th)
The final classificafication of Budapest race 2, with Davide Valsecchi ninth and Nelson Panciatici twentieth, surely does not reflect the real value of their good performances. In fact both Durango drivers lost, absolutely not for their fault, much better positions. The words from Ivone Pinton are a nice summery of this morning race: "Davide once more took a good start but, just few laps later while he was fourth, a couple of drivers spun in front of him so Davide had to get off track to avoid the contact. He was able to get back but the car bottom was damaged. Anyway yesterday he drove a good race and today was fast as well. I'd say that as a team we regained our driver and a serene mood. Talking about Nelson, even today he was managing a solid race in the top fifteen places but he was pushed off by a competitor trying to overtake him not in the best way. Nelson has been good in keeping the engine on and in getting back on track finishing twentieth. For sure his merit has been much better than his final position".
FMSI - Andreas Zuber (17th) Luiz Razia (DNF)
The sixth round of the 2009 GP2 Series took place this weekend at the Hungaroring, near Budapest, in Hungary. Fisichella Motor Sport International were in action for races 11 and 12 of the season with Andreas Zuber and Luiz Razia on driving duty for the Italian team.
Andreas Zuber: Set the 11th fastest time with a lap of 1:29.658 in Friday practice after running 13 practice laps. In the afternoon's qualifying, he set a time of 1:28.465 to take the eighth fastest time, setting himself up on the fourth row of the grid for Saturday's feature race. Luck was not on his side at the start of the 42-lap feature race though, with the UAE driver being taken out on the second corner, putting an early end to his race. He once again showed the potential of the FMSI car in Sunday's shorter 28-lap race. After starting back in 22nd position, he moved up to cross the finishing line in 17th.
Luiz Razia: Completed 13 laps in Friday practice, setting a best lap of 1:30.097 for the 20th fastest time. He improved in qualifying, recording a time of 1:28.974 to take 17th place on the grid. Unfortunately it proved to be a fruitless weekend for the Brazilian. He didn't get past the first lap of the feature race as, the same as his teammate, he was taken out of the race. He was progressing well in Sunday's sprint race but was forced into retirement on lap 18.
Paolo Coloni, Team Principal, FMSI: "We have shown our competitiveness again which is a positive to take away, but we didn't have the opportunity to race after losing both of our cars on the first lap of the feature race. It's very frustrating for all the team as a lot of work was lost due to unfortunate accidents. It makes things very difficult in terms of fighting for the championships and we feel unlucky. However, we are strong and put in good performances as a team so now we are looking forward to the next rounds."
Trident Racing - Ricardo Teixeira (19th) Davide Rigon (DNF)
Trident Racing's great expectatins set yesterday got turned into disappointment today, as the team didn't score points on Race 2 of the GP2 Main Series weekend at Budapest. Davide Rigon, who started from the pole after ending up in 8th yesterday, exited turn 1 in second place. The Italian, who was set to try and catch Giedo Van Der Garde, was suddenly hit by Pastor Maldonado and forced into retirement.
The drive-trough assessed to the Venezuelan made responsabilities clear, but could do nothing for the lost chance for Rigon to fight for his maiden podium finish in the series.
At the end of the race, the only positive news came from Ricardo Teixeira, who ended up the day in 19th and showed an increasing feeling with his Renault-powered Dallara.
Trident Racing will now focus on the next round of 2009, starting at Valencia on August 23. The team will try to forget today's disappointing experience by welcoming partners and supporters on the Spanish state-of-art streetcourse.
Davide Rigon: "The start was not really perfect today. I got a good move at takeoff, but I was passed by Van Der Garde in the progression before the first corner and, honestly, I really don't know how he did it. Anyway, I knew that his race pace was not so high as we saw yesterday, ad I tried not to let him go away. In the middle of the first lap, I heard a hit coming from behind, and ended up into the barriers. As I was followed by Maldonado, I couldn't believe he tried to pass on that corner. We were on third gear, without serious braking. I'm speachless. The team worked extremely hard and I strongly believe that, in the end, we could have come to a deserved top-3 result. Even without passing Van Der Garde back, I could have taken second, which would have been good for the team an d a real boost for the rest of season. Thanks to someone else's mistake, it all ended after a couple of corners. I hope to forget the bad experience happened during the summer break..."
Ricardo Teixeira: For the first time this season, I've been constantly fighting with other drivers from start to finish. I made some slight mistakes, but I've been able to catch-up with the pack and fight with Razia and Perera. On lap 15 I had a spin, but got back on-track and managed to improve further by working on the brake distribution. I'm looking forward to Valencia. The track it's unknown to me, but I've got used to that during the first races of the season.