23/07/2010
NEWS STORY
Trident Racing - Adrian Zaugg (5th) Johnny Cecotto (12th)
The second half of the 2010 GP2 Main Series started today at the Hockenheim ring. Qualifying for the 6th round of the season was run in rainy conditions due to an heavy rainfall at the start of the session.
Adrian Zaugg led the pack until the very closing stages, when race control threw a red flag due to several incidents. The South African made it back on-track in the final few minutes, but had to face heavy traffic, being forced to settle for 5th.
Johnny Cecotto managed to score less than his potential would have allowed, as the Venezuelan and his Trident Racing Dallara will take off from row 6. The weekend at Hockenheim will continue tomorrow with the dispute of the first race of the weekend, at 15:40, on a 29-lap distance. 21-lap Race 2 is set for Sunday at 10:35. Live coverage will be provided in Italy by Raisport.
Adrian Zaugg. "It's been a really intense qualification, but also really tricky. The car's balance was great, and when I saw my name at the top of the chart with 5 minutes to go, I knew it wasn't something casual. When race control re-opened the track in the closing stages, I knew I would have been a threat. Unfortunately, Filippi spun in front of me and I had to abort my last flyer. It's been a bit of a shame but I'm glad I've been able to fight within the leading pack. We now have to work for tomorrow's race. My goal is to cash as many points as possible."
Johnny Cecotto Jr. "We've been extremely competitive, and we definitely deserved more than 12th place. Unfortunately, before coming back to the track after the red flag interruption, I had some troubles in taking off in first gear, losing several minutes. Once restarted I was trying to warm tires up, when the second red flag flew. I came back to the pits still with cold tires, and when we finally re-started again, tires got to the right temperature only in the second and third sector, as the split times confirmed. Today we had everything to shine, and we were condemned by circumstances. But I hope to come back tomorrow."
Racing Engineering - Dani Clos (6th) Christian Vietoris (14th)
Spanish team Racing Engineering has had a day full of mixed emotions with the difficult conditions at the mythical Hockenheimring today. With free practice being held on a drying track, both Racing Engineering drivers showed their skills setting the fastest and third fastest time of the session. Just when qualifying was to start, heavy rains set in and turned the session into a lottery for the top positions on the starting grid of Hockenheim's feature race. The team brought all its efforts together in order to achieve a good result and Dani, as well as, were in top positions throughout most of the session. But problems with traffic and a session marked by many interruptions, including two red flags, prevented the boys from fulfilling their expectations. Spaniard Dani Clos set the sixth fastest time, and local hero Christian Vietoris, who had some problems with traffic, finished in fourteenth place.
In the morning free practice session on a drying track, both Racing Engineering boys had a fantastic session in which Dani Clos took the top spot on his second lap. Only at the very end of the session did Dani drop to P2, but fought back half a minute later, leaving no doubt about his dominance during the session. Team mate Christian Vietoris was on the fly all session as well, and finished it in a good third position.
For qualifying, some drivers had mounted slick tyres, hoping to take advantage of a drying track after the F1 session. But rain started to fall heavily again just five minutes into the session. Dani Clos set the fastest time after just two laps. His team mate Vietoris setting the seventh fastest time, although he spun on this flying lap. One lap later, Christian was on the top spot at his home track, with his Spanish team mate in second place. At that point a battle for pole started between Dani Clos and GP2 returnee Grosjean, with the Spaniard having to slow down during his best lap as Gonzalez spun off the track. Grosjean took the top spot, and Christian Vietoris moved into second. After completing seven flying laps, the Racing Engineering boys came into the pits for some minor adjustments on their cars to try and better their times for the rest of the session.
As they rejoined the track, Chilton spun and stopped on the main straight, causing the session to be red flagged. After the restart, Maldonado started his charge for pole, but the session was quickly stopped again because of an accident by Valsecchi. Qualifying was restarted with less than five minutes to go and there was a lot of traffic on the slightly drying track. Times dropped and the timing sheets saw several drivers taking provisional pole position. With only time for two more flying laps, Dani went wide on the first lap and although he did not have a perfect second lap, was able to climb back up to sixth position. Christian, on the other hand, struggled with traffic and didn't find enough space to improve his time and finished the session in fourteenth.
Dani Clos: "Just when we were in the pit lane, it started to rain. The session started well and I was in P1. I was improving my lap times, but then I encountered traffic on track. This hampered us for some laps. After, there were many yellow flags and the session was then red flagged, which meant we needed to enter the pits. In the end, I had only two more laps. During the first one I went off track a bit, but was able to get back. On my second lap, I was able to improve my time, although it was not really a good lap. It was a complicated session and with all it's bad parts, but we were able to reduce the damage. Although under normal conditions, we have shown that we can be at the very top."
Christian Vietoris: "It's a pity as the qualifying session was not bad at all and we were always there, being very quick. We were always in the top 3, but then luck was not on our side. Towards the end, when the track got better, I didn't find the space to set a fast lap time, which was a pity as we were strong all session and also in free practice. My starting position is not what I hoped for, but we know we are fast and it's a long race tomorrow, where anything is possible."
Alfonso de Orleans - Borbon, President of Racing Engineering: "After this morning's free practice session, it's a pity the results that we achieved in qualifying. But then again, in the rain everyone knows that anything can happen. Both Dani and Christian should be much higher up since they were in the top 5 during the whole session. Well done to everyone in the team and let's get ready for tomorrow."
Super Nova - Marcus Ericsson (8th) Luca Filippi (11th)
Super Nova drivers Marcus Ericsson and Luca Filippi will be starting tomorrow's GP2 feature race from 8th and 11th positions respectively, after both drivers kept their cool in treacherous conditions at the Hockenheim circuit. The forecasted rain arrived only minutes before the start of qualifying, forcing all of the cars in the pitlane to change to wet tyres and venture out on track as the rain increased in intensity. Marcus and Luca adapted to the conditions well and ran for a number of laps, finding the grip on the circuit and getting heat into the tyres. With around a third of the session remaining the Super Nova drivers pitted to make set up changes to their cars, ready for a final push for qualifying position. Unfortunately one of the iSport cars then speared into the barriers with just over four minutes remaining, causing a red flag. The GP2 cars all queued up in the pit lane for a last gasp effort on a faster track. Almost all drivers improved their times, with Luca in P4 on his first flying lap but he unfortunately made a mistake on the crucial last lap. Marcus made an impressive improvement from P20 before the red flag, up to 8th position at the end. Super Nova will look forward to tomorrow's race, with a good chance of both drivers finishing in the points.
Marcus Ericsson: "It was a very difficult qualifying session in the wet weather conditions. In the last two laps I managed to pull it together and got up to P8 from P20. I am very confident about the race tomorrow and hopefully we should be able to gain some points."
Luca Filippi: "I was very happy with the balance and performance of the car. I managed to get up to P4 before the very last lap, where I made a mistake at the beginning of the lap which caused me to go down to P11. I still think its a good position to start the race in, and the goal is to get points and as close to the podium as possible."
David Sears - Team Principal: "When it started raining at the beginning of the qualifying session, we knew that it would be an eventful session, with many cars spinning off.
Marcus Ericsson was not on a full wet set up, but on the last lap he jumped from P20 to P8, which is a good starting position for tomorrows race.
Luca Filippi was around P4 and looking to improve his position, when he made a mistake out of turn 1 on the last lap and dropped down to P11. However, both drivers should be capable of finishing in the points in tomorrows race, which hopefully will be run in dry conditions."
Scuderia Coloni - Alberto Valerio (17th) Vladimir Arabazhiev (21st)
Alberto Valerio will start from P17 and Vladimir Arabazhiev from P21 in tomorrow’s GP2 Feature Race in Hockenheim. It was a really unlucky session for the Italian team because the cars and drivers performance where worth a really better result. Qualifying started with a wet track due to a rain shower just before the session, and with the tarmac improving lap after lap finding the limit was a really difficult task. While other drivers had problems, with even a red flag caused by an off for Max Chilton, Alberto Valerio boasted a really great drive and was 9th with just three minutes to go. Then, two nearly simultaneous crashes by Davide Valsecchi and Sam Bird forced Race Direction to call for another red flag: at the restart Valerio remained stuck in the traffic in both his fast laps and didn’t improve, falling down in the lower part of the grid. Also for Arabadzhiev this Friday wasn’t a lucky day: the Bulgarian driver was getting quicker and quicker on the wet track, and in the last lap he was performing really well: his first two sectors were good and then he lost 0.6 due to traffic in the last part of the track. Without this issue he could have qualified at halfgrid, a really better position for tomorrow’s Race 1. Anyway, the Scuderia Coloni drivers are ready to go for a great recovery.