11/07/2010
NEWS STORY
Virgin Racing's first home Grand Prix continued in the same vein as Qualifying and Free Practice, with a good performance step being demonstrated but minor problems preventing the team from capitalizing on the improvement. Timo drove an excellent race, splitting the Lotus pair in the second half of the race, but a small mistake towards the end of the Race cost him a place and he finished in 18th position.
Both cars were racing the Lotus pair closely in the early laps, setting the pattern for the entire race. But on lap 10, Lucas reported a hydraulic problem, and was called in to the pits for investigation. A broken hydraulic power pack was diagnosed as the problem and it ended his race. Timo continued to hunt down Kovalainen and Trulli, and was able to get in front of Heikki as a result of a faultless pit stop by the Virgin Racing crew. A Safety Car and a yellow flag in the final sector then allowed Heikki to close the gap, and he was in a position to pass at Stowe when Timo ran wide. But the clear positive message is that the new aerodynamic package will really allow us to race for the honour of being the best of the new teams, and we leave Silverstone encouraged and relishing the challenge that Hockenheim will bring.
Timo Glock: "I had a bad start again and lost position against Jarno and Heikki. In the race I tried to stay with the Lotus, which pulled away slightly. When Heikki went in to the pits I had two really good laps and came in to the pits. The boys did a really good pit stop which brought me out in front of Heikki. Then I was following Jarno and I tried to keep up with him but I had a really big oversteer moment over a bump and nearly lost the car. Heikki then overtook me and so I finished behind the Lotus. On a positive note the pace was good and I was fairly happy with the car."
Lucas di Grassi: "We didn't have a very good day. The car was good at the start but then we lost hydraulic pressure which ended my race. I am obviously disappointed but on a positive note, the car is showing great progress and I am looking forward to the next race."
John Booth, Team Principal: "I'm really pleased with how the Team worked together this weekend. We had a number of challenging issues during Free Practice, when the boys managed to get Timo back on the track with minimal loss of track time and in the Race we had a faultless pit stop, reflecting all the hard work and practice that we've been putting in. The new aero package works well with the mechanical upgrade we fitted in Valencia, meaning that we are in a strong position to keep moving forwards at Hockenheim."
Nick Wirth, Technical Director: "A mixed result today. We have clearly made a good step forward in performance and had a race-long battle with the Lotus cars. This was somewhat spoiled when Timo lost ground to Heikki in the yellow-flag section caused by Alguersuari's off, which allowed Heikki to get in Timo's slipstream and eventually pass. Lucas has fallen victim to another hydraulic gremlin, just when he was in the thick of the action, and we will address this for Hockenheim. But the progress is clear and our battles, finishing position and fastest race laps show how tight things are now. We know that every bit of performance counts, so we'll be looking to bring more updates to Hockenheim and the races beyond, with great confidence that they will translate into yet more speed."