24/07/2010
NEWS STORY
Racing Engineering - Dani Clos (4th) Christian Vietoris (DNF)
Racing Engineering saw both sides of the coin in today's feature race at Hockenheim. Dani Clos, who started from sixth position on the grid, had a difficult race which was highlighted by the charge he led later in the race, in order to finish in fourth position, only four tenths from another podium. Local hero Christian Vietoris, who started fourteenth on the grid, saw himself behind a slowing Grosjean into turn 1 and couldn't avoid the impact, which ended the German's race on the first lap.
The rain gave the competitors a break today at Hockenheim, and the GP2 field faced a long feature race, scheduled for 38 laps, on a dry track. Dani, starting from 6th position, was able to maintain his place at the start and during the opening laps of the race. His team mate, German rookie Christian Vietoris, had a more cautious get away from 14th position, but safely made it to turn one, where he was surprised by an unusually slow Grosjean. Christian was unable to do anything to avoid a collision with the French driver. A damaged front suspension resulted in the Racing Engineering driver's retirement from the race.
During the early stages of the race, Dani Clos fought for fifth position, which he took in lap 3. The following lap, the Spanish driver went wide at turn 7, losing a place to Bianchi. But Dani was able to reduce the distance to the French driver very quickly again. Both came in for their pit stop in lap 8 and, after a trouble free tyre change, exited the pits in the same order.
Dani Clos then started to get the best out of his tyres, and quickly passed Ericsson on lap eleven and closed in on Bianchi again, who was stuck behind Arabadzhiev, who was late in pitting. The three were running together when, on lap twenty-two, the Bulgarian went wide and both Bianchi and Dani overtook him. But, there was already quite a gap to the drivers ahead of them because of being held up. Half a lap later, the Spaniard from Racing Engineering pulled a master move on the French driver, to gain another position. He was then in in fourth and more than eight seconds behind Pic, who was running in third.
At this point, Dani started a spectacular drive, lapping consistently and significantly quicker than his rivals, to distance himself from Bianchi and close in on Pic. In the course of his recovery, he set the provisional fastest lap of the race, and was consistently over half a second a lap quicker than his predecessor. In the end, Maldonado won the race and Dani finished just four tenths of a second short of a podium finish.
The reverse grid rule has Dani starting tomorrow's sprint race from fifth position on the grid. Christian, on the other hand, will start the sprint race at the end of the field after his early retirement from Saturday's race.
Dani Clos: "I had a pretty good start and was quite aggressive. Starting from 6th is a bit of a gamble, but I managed to keep my position and quickly found a good rhythm. I then passed drivers and made some really nice moves. Towards the end of the race we were really quick and I went for the fastest lap. But Bianchi took it away from me in the second to last lap. I tried to fight back and had some fastest sector times on the last lap, but just before the finish line I caught Pic, who slowed me down. I am happy and looking forward to tomorrow's race."
Christian Vietoris: "I was behind Grosjean in corner 1. We were already accelerating again when he was all of the sudden slower in front of me. I really don't know if he just got slower or had some other problem, but I had no chance to even react anymore. It's a real pity. Our bad luck started during the last minutes of yesterday's qualifying and continued today. We know we are fast and can be on top, but there always seems to be someone or something not allowing me to get great results."
Alfonso de Orleans-Borbon, President of Racing Engineering: "It's a pity about Christian. I think he would have had a fantastic race. But at least Dani made up for it and showed everyone what he is capable of doing. Everyone in the team did a good job today, especially during the pit stop. Now we need to get ready for tomorrow's race."
Super Nova - Marcus Ericsson (6th) Luca Filippi (10th)
A thrilling GP2 race in Hockenheim today saw the Super Nova team claim two top ten finishes, with Marcus Ericsson in 6th place and Luca Filippi 10th. The track was completely dry for the first time this weekend, adding a further test to the drivers in finding the optimum grip limit. The opening laps of the race provided great entertainment, with position changes throughout the field as well as some ultra close wheel-to-wheel racing. Marcus handled the early chaos very well and retained his position until the team called him in for an early pit stop. This strategy proved to pay off, with a quick stop and some fast laps from Marcus he was soon running in an effective fifth. Unfortunately a gear selection problem allowed Clos past and Marcus then remained in P6 to the end. Luca didn't emerge from the early stages quite as well, being pushed wide by another car and losing several places in the process. Another early pit stop put Luca in clean air to show his speed, allowing him to leap-frog a number of cars to finish 10th.
Marcus Ericsson: "It was a good race and a good first two laps where I managed to gain a couple of positions. After that we had a good strategy, we came in at the right time for a pit stop and gained a few places as a result of a very good pit stop and out-lap. After the stop we started having problems with the gearbox, and therefore I struggled to defend Clos. However, the pace throughout the race was good and it's good to be back in the points. Finishing in P6 has left me a good start in the race tomorrow in P3 and hopefully we should gain some more points, and possibly a podium."
Luca Filippi: "Finishing in 10th position is a bit disappointing, as we were aiming for a better result. The first two laps were a bit unusual with everyone fighting hard. I had a little contact and as a result lost 6 places. Our strategy abled us to gain some places back and we managed to get up to P10 in the middle of the race. However, we weren't able to catch up with the guys in front as their pace was similar. Tomorrow starting from P10, hopefully we'll be able to improve the set up and try and finish in the top six."
David Sears - Team Principal: "Both Supernova drivers got squeezed out on the opening lap, and dropped a couple of places initially. Marcus Ericsson really got going and picked up a good pace. He was helped by a four second pit stop and jumped ahead of Turvey and Clos. However, his gearbox then started to miss gears on the upshift and Clos managed to get back past him. Even with this problem, his pace was really good and he ended up in a very satisfying 6th place. He starts tomorrow in P3 for the reverse grid race, and should have a good chance of a podium. Luca Filippi got pushed wide at the beginning of the race and dropped down to P17. But, again down to a quick pit stop, a determined Luca got back up to P10, which is where he will start tomorrow's race. With two cars in the top ten, the team are very pleased with both drivers."
Trident Racing - Adrian Zaugg (7th) Johnny Cecotto (13th)
Trident Racing ended the first race of the Hockenheim weekend with a valuable points finish thanks to Adrian Zaugg. After moving on from 5th, the South African managed to drive a clean race, passing through several fights without making a mistake and finalizing a really important result for the whole team.
Johnny Cecotto was off to a great start from Row 6, before the Venezuelan was hit by another car on lap 1 and lost positions. Johnny eventually recovered up to 13th place, running on consistent laptimes.
The Hockenheim weekend will end tomorrow, with the running of Race 2. Zaugg is set to start from 2nd place, while Cecotto will take off from row 7. The start is set for 10:35 CET, with live coverage in Italy by RAI2.
Adrian Zaugg: "The race started with a great take-off, before I was pushed towards the outside by another car at turn 3. and lost positions. I've been really close to a spin but eventually I kept control. In agreement with the team, we decided for a late pit-stop, and after the change I found myself amidst Turvey and Herck. It's been tough, as I was clearly faster than Turvey but I couldn't find the space in. With three to go I finally made it, and with a clean racetrack my laptimes dropped consistently. I'm glad to have driven a great race, finally rewarding all the team of all the tough days we had in the past.
Johnny Cecotto: "I believed it would have been a great day, because the start has been fantastic, I think I was in 9th at the first corner. At the braking point before turn 6 I tried to enter as wide as I could to close the line towards the apex. I was certain I would have climbed up even more, but a car hit me, I ended up off-track and I was passed by all the pack. After the pit-stop I held the fastest lap of the race for a lot of time, as a further confirmation of a potential we've been prevented to express."
Scuderia Coloni - Alberto Valerio (11th) Vladimir Arabadzhiev (15th)
The first race of the Hockenheim GP2 weekend saw a very good recovery from the Scuderia Coloni drivers. Both Alberto Valerio and Vladimir Arabadzhiev managed to make up six places compared to their starting positions, ending the race in P11 and P15 respectively.
The Brazilian driver started the race in the best possible way, getting off the line really quickly and passing three cars immediately: slightly touched by Ho-Pin Tung in the braking for the first corner, Valerio luckily had no damage and could go on with a very good race, setting up a very consistent pace and making no mistakes. This allowed him to pass other drivers during the race: on lap 4 he made the most of the race incident between Valsecchi and Razia passing both, while on lap 17 he passed Van der Garde after a spin from the Dutch, who was touched by Bird. The british driver of ART had to serve a drive-through for this contact and thanks to this Valerio was 11th when all the drivers had done the mandatory pit-stop. In the final stage of the race he pushed a lot, stretching his gap on Van der Garde and closing on Filippi who was in P10. On the last lap he was just 0.5 adrift but he was surprised by some early braking by the Italian driver and had to back-off, settling for 11th.
Also Vladimir Arabadzhiev had a very good race. Starting from 11th row the Bulgarian driver boasted a really good start and gained positions lap after lap thanks to a late pit-stop strategy. Before changing tyres he climbed to 4th position, and managed to keep at bay Bianchi and Clos for a few laps. After the pit-stop he found himself in P16, fighting with Bird and Leimer. Despite being at his absolute first time on a dry Hockenheim track, his pace was really better than what his rivals could do and he easily overtook Leimer in the Motodrome section. Besides this, in the last laps he was the second quickest driver on track behind race winner Maldonado, something that gives him and the team good hopes for tomorrow's race two.
Alberto Valerio: "The car was really good and this makes me even more angry for the traffic we found in yesterday's qualifying. Starting a bit in front would have meant sure points with the car we had today. Even when I tried to push as hard as I could, the car was doing exactly what I asked, and it's a pity that here overtaking is so difficult because I was faster than Filippi. Anyway both me and the team did our best today, and tomorrow it will be another kind of race starting from P11".
Vladimir Arabadzhiev: "Starting from the back races are always difficult, but I did a good start, avoiding wheelspin, and even if Ricci pushed me off the ideal line in the first corner I managed to pass two cars. Then with the team we decided for a late pit-stop because we had little tyre wear and the car was better lap by lap, allowing me to race with Bianchi and Pic. Then when I did realize that fighting with them I was just losing time I decided to let them through. After the pit-stop I struggled a bit with cold tyres, but as soon as they warmed a bit I was on the pace again and passed Leimer easily".