26/02/2010
NEWS STORY
iSport - Davide Valsecchi (1st) Oliver Turvey (9th)
iSport racer Davide Valsecchi drove to another stunning victory in Bahrain today to clinch the GP2 Asia Driver's Championship in style. After dropping a place at the start Valsecchi spent most of the race in third behind leader Javier Villa and Luca Filippi. After a stunning turn of pace in the remaining ten laps, Valsecchi closed on the top two, dispatching Filippi on the second attempt after running wide. Valsecchi soon closed in on leader Villa, darting down the inside of turn one to take the victory and the GP2 Asia crown. Team mate Oliver Turvey got away well from sixth, up to fourth by the first corner but a sticky wheel nut in his pit stop cost him dearly as he dropped back through the field. After some great moves on Jules Bianchi and Sam Bird, British rookie Turvey took the flag in ninth, just shy of the reverse grid pole tomorrow.
After Davide Valsecchi's win today iSport have the Team's Championship in their sights as we go into tomorrow's Sprint Race.
Davide Valsecchi: "Everything was perfect. I was really nervous about this race because I felt a lot of pressure to clinch the championship this weekend so I was a little bit worried. So today after the start we had the best car of the paddock and the best driver of the paddock. It was really good to win, really good for the team. We are in incredible form at the moment, the car is perfect for me and I am perfect for the car. Tomorrow I will try to win the race but today we did a really good job. The Championship is won now which feels fantastic".
Oliver Turvey: "I had a good start; I was up to fourth and right up behind Davide. We had the pit stop; I think it was the right time to make the pit stop as I had a bit of a problem with the rear tyres. Obviously we lost a lot of time in the pit stop; because it was so early in the race it cost a lot of positions. I think we lost about seven seconds. After that the pace was good, my pace at the end of the race was fairly good. We were pretty good today I think we could have possibly had a good shot at being on the podium (if not for the problem in the pit stop) We'll try and clinch the team championship tomorrow and score some points".
MalaysiaQI-MeritusMahara.com - Luca Filippi (2nd) Alexander Rossi (DNF)
MalaysiaQI-MeritusMahara.com drivers Luca Filippi and Alexander Rossi qualified fourth and fifteenth respectively for the start of the 34 lap first race in Bahrain. Qualify results put Filippijust four hundredths of a second off pole position in a very competitive session. But the best of the week-end was to come the following day when Luca Filippi finished in second position in the first race at Bahrain and went on the podium.
Indeed, it was a very special day today for the team. Not only the team raced a perfect race and finished 2nd. Filippi also clocked one of the fast laps in the first third of the race with 1.48.496. But today was also Team President and founder Peter Thompson's birthday a special birthday for him who turned 55 today in Bahrain. The drivers encountered mixed fortunes and the American Alexander Rossi experimented his first non finish of his season with MalaysiaQI-MeritusMahara.com , damaging and loosing the floor of the car which brought the team to ask him for safety reasons to retire.
An excellent start brought Luca Filippi (20) rocketing from fourth to the lead of the race for the first twelve laps till the pit stops. Alexander Rossi also had an equally excellent start from 16th to 13th and then pushing to 12th and successively 10th and even 4th position during the pit stop sessions at the Bahrain track but then a damaged floor put an end to his hopes.
As the pit stop session started, Filippi was still leading and Rossi coming up to 4th fastest in the classification. Filippi completed his pit stop on lap 11 just after Villa did his. Alexander Rossi completed his stop on lap 12. They both rejoined the race as Davide Valsecchi (ISport International) still had to complete his pit stop and by lap 13, Javier Villa (Arden International) was leading the race lapping 1.48.054 with Luca Filippi in second continuing to show a dominant pace, with a time of 1.47.644 with Rossi in 11th place (1.50.227). Then Rossi regularly lost ground until he completed a second pit stop returning to the pits to retire on lap 26 where the team made the decision to retire for safety reasons.
There was an exciting finish. With eight laps to go the fight at the top was continuing and the distance between the leader Javier Villa (Arden International) and Luca Filippi was around 1s, but Davide Valsecchi (ISport International) went off losing a bit of time though later on continuing his attack of Filippi. After that, the Italian from ISporet was putting some pressure on Luca Filippi and overtook him three laps before the end. Two laps before the end Filippi grabbed the second place again.
Peter Thompson: "A great race for Filippi. Alexander Rossi (21) did a good job before his pit stop and got out in a good position, but he hit a kerb and the floor of the car was gone. The team dedicated this race to our two best followers, Dato'Syed Sultan Idris, Ambassador of Malaysia and Enrico Padola Ambassador of the Republic of Italy and to all the Questnet fans who came to the track to follow us".
Raad S. Abduljawad, Team Chairman, MalaysiaQI-MeritusMaharaGP.com: "These eight points are a good gift from Luca Filippi to the team for Peter Thompson, on his 55th birthday. A good race that brought Luca Filippi (20) from fourth to the forefront and gained him a podium and eight points."
Luca Filippi: "Happy birthday Peter Thompson. I would have liked to win the race for the second time of my career. But I suppose we should have pitted slightly earlier to stop Villa being ahead of me. I had an amazing start, this is what I will remember from this race. We were very close to the win and I am very happy to bring this result to the team and Raad S. Abduljawad, Team Chairman who lives in Bahrain. In the end the team did a great job and I dedicate the win to them. Let's see what tomorrow brings."
Alexander Rossi: "I started from 15th and pushed hard to be in 13th and go higher at every lap. I was even fourth fastest at one point. I was getting the best out of the car, then after our pit stop I do not know what happened and I could not push any longer and it was getting dangerous for me to race so the team called me back in. What a pity. Tomorrow I will try to overtake and finish in good position despite leaving from the back of the grid."
Scuderia Coloni - Alvaro Parente (6th) Will Bratt (16th)
Scuderia Coloni was really looking forward to the first race of the Sakhir weekend, and was rewarded with a really good result celebrating Alvaro Parente's 6th place and a good race by Bratt, in which the Brit driver managed to climb the race classification finishing 16th after starting from the tenth row.
At the start, Parente wasn't perfect and slipped from fifth to 8th position; anyway, his pace was so good that he immediately managed to stick to frontrunners, attacking and passing Perez and then Turvey, climbing back to 6th. At the pit-stop, a great job by the team allowed the Portuguese driver to get closer to Pic and Ricci, and when back on track Alvaro keeped pushing hard to close the gap. While the Italian and the Frenchman were fighting for fourth, Alvaro managed to reduce the gap to 2", keeping his position for the finish of the race. The sixth place means points at the first race with Scuderia Coloni, and the third spot on the reversed grid for tomorrow's race.
Also Bratt, starting 20th, did a very good race: the brit was in "attack mood", a strategy that leaded him to some mistakes after a very good start.
Anyway, after the pit-stops, he managed his tyres very well, becoming quicker and quicker and overtaking four cars. In the last laps he had the same pace of the leading pack, and was able to close the gap on Piscopo to just 1". The laptimes of the second part of the race do give the team good hopes for Will in tomorrow's race.
Paolo Coloni: "We are fully satisfied after today's race. Apart from a difficult start, Parente showed immediately how quick he is, recovering in a few laps and posting the 4th fastest lap of the race. It's only its first race with us, he has to gain confidence with the team and with the car, so he really did a great race. Also Will was good, and this is the confirmation that with some more luck in yesterday's qualifying he could have aimed for a great result. I'd also like to say thanks to our guys, in the pit-stops they did a wonderful job".
Alvaro Parente: "I had a bad start, but my reaction to that was perfect. I made up some positions immediately, but then the tyre wear came a bit too early, sixth was really the best I could do. Now I hope we can fix that for tomorrow's race, starting from the third spot on the grid we have the chance
for a great result".
Will Bratt: "Despite the finishing position today's race was one of the best so far for me in the GP2 Asia Series. My start was good, then there were a few mistakes where I went too deep going into the corners and ran wide, which lost me some places. Then after the pit-stop I settled down for the rest of the race. This part was very good because I was able to manage my tyres well and I overtook 4 more cars. With some more laps we could have overtaken even more at the end, definitely one and possibly another three cars".
Trident Racing - Adrian Zaugg (8th) Plamen Kralev (22nd)
Trident Racing's Adrian Zaugg did an outstanding job today at Al Sakhir, as he'll be starting tomorrow's GP2 Asia Series Race 2 at Bahrain on the pole. The South African driver made a great start from 18th, and got several spots back since the beginning. Despite a pit-stop problem forced him to lose some seconds, he came back to the track and climbed up the order with an outstanding pace. In the second half, his car has been the fastest on-track, and thanks to 8 stunning passes, he moved up through the front, clinching 8th place and Race 2's pole.
Zaugg confirmed the high potential of the Trident Racing cars, owned by Maurizio Salvadori, while Plamen Kralev successfully made it to the flag, despite being hit by another car and forced into a spin. The Bulgarian will be taking off from 11th row. The final race of the weekend will be starting at 13:15 (GMT+3) and broadcasted by RaiSport Pił.
Adrian Zaugg: "As I told yesterday, I had some great expectations over today's race, and we managed to work it out even better than that. I found a good feeling with the car, and I have to thank the all team for the wonderful job they did since practice. The car proved fast until the closing stages, and I've been able to pass several cars I had in front during qualifying. I'm really satisfied with today's result and I hope to keep going like that during Race 2 too. Being on the pole it's wonderful, and it's a big start too".
Plamen Kralev: "I was able to complete the race distance, and I haven't suffered from physical issues. My laptimes aren't bad, even if compared to the top drivers. I'm disappointed for the incident, as I was hit at the end of the straight and couldn't avoid a spin".
Ocean Racing Technology - Yelmer Buurman (12th) Fabio Leimer (20th)
After a qualifying that delivered results that left Ocean Racing Technology wanting, (16th and 21st), the team chose to make good use of the first race in Bahrain to test new set ups for the final round of the GP2 Asia Series, which will take place on the same circuit in two weeks time. The team could therefore obtain some very valuable information that may not have been available to them otherwise as just as in Formula One, of which both GP2 championships are the feeder series to, there is no more testing between races.
For his return to Ocean Racing Technology and the GP2 Series, Yelmer Buurman finished the first race in 12th place while his teammate, Fabio Leimer finished 20th. They had moved up into 16th and 21st positions off the starting grid respectively and both encountered difficulties on the Sahkir circuit.
After a modest start, Yelmer Buurman drove a solid race that he was reasonably happy with, After a year away from the series, the Dutch racer quickly found his feet and his speed enabled him to recover several places as he fought it out in the middle of the pack. "It's not so bad. I fought a lot with other drivers and all in all it is a good result. We worked a lot throughout the weekend and I am looking forward to seeing if this pays off tomorrow and if the car is good enough to see the chequered flag with some points in hand," said Buurman.
Meanwhile, the car piloted by Fabio Leimer was not ideally set up for the Bahrain layout, the Swiss racer succeeding in gaining a position but then remaining stuck in 20th place. "Qualifying did not go well and that's why we opted to explore new ways in terms of set-up. Our choice was not convincing, the car was difficult to handle and I made some mistakes myself. On Saturday, we will try a different solution which I think will be more efficient," said Leimer.
Super Nova - Jake Rosenzweig (19th) Josef Kral (21st)
Today's GP2 Asia race was held in scorching conditions at the Bahrain circuit, providing an added test for the drivers' fitness.
Both Super Nova drivers made strong starts and had gained places by the end of the first lap. Josef was called in when the pit window opened, as he was being held up by the car in front. Josef then struggled with car balance after his stop and had a frustrating race on the way to finishing P21.
Jake was also showing good pace and pitted for new rear tyres the lap after Josef. He gained in confidence and looked stronger as the race progressed, finishing in an encouraging 19th position.
Jake Rosenzweig: "I had a fairly conservative start, struggling slightly to get off the line. I concentrated on not taking too many risks to allow me to get through the first lap unscathed. I felt my race pace was pretty good, building up experience throughout. I am happy to get a race under my belt and the more laps I do, the more confident and comfortable I feel in the car."
Josef Kral: "I made a good start and pushed really hard before the pit stop. We had a really fast stop, allowing me to gain some places on track, so thanks to the team for that. The car felt good on the out lap then, as the rear tyres heated up and gained in grip, I struggled with understeer and couldn't seem to find the right balance, due to the difference in grip between front and rear. I tried different driving styles to try to improve, and then flat spotted my tyres as a result, so I struggled for the remaining laps of the race."
David Sears - Team Principal: "Not the best day for Super Nova in terms of results. Josef struggled to get to grips with the Bahrain circuit and the car balance all weekend showing his frustration by flat spotting his tyres in the race. Jake has improved steadily in each session and in fact had good race pace towards the end, which is very encouraging."