30/07/2010
NEWS STORY
Racing Engineering - Christian Vietoris (5th) Dani Clos (13th)
Racing Engineering has made the most out of a challenging day at the Hungaroring. In both sessions, free practice and qualifying, the time gaps were close. With constant traffic problems on this twisted track, it affected both Racing Engineering drivers. Christian Vietoris, who is racing at the Hungarian circuit for the first time, had a very positive day with a qualifying session always on the charge, achieving fifth position for tomorrow's grid. Dani Clos was slowed down by traffic and yellow flags to finish qualifying in thirteenth position.
It was warm and dry during GP2's free practice and qualifying sessions at the Hungaroring today. There was a lot of activity on the track ad very close time gaps during the morning's free practice session. The top 15 drivers were all within a second, which was an indication that qualifying might turn out to be very interesting. Christian Vietoris' primary task in free practice was to learn the track and getting accustomed to its particular features. The young German was successful in doing so by setting the eighth fastest time. Dani Clos, suffering from intense traffic, finished in twelfth.
For the afternoon qualifying session the target was clear for both Racing Engineering drivers. Given the characteristic of the Hungaroring track which makes overtaking practically impossible, Christian Vietoris as well as Dani Clos wanted to finish the session as high up on the timing sheets as possible. The session started with an impressive show from the Racing Engineering boys, with Christian Vietoris setting the fastest provisional time and Dani Clos grabbing the second position after just one flying lap. Fighting for top positions during the opening laps, Christian and Dani came into the pits to pick up a new set of slicks and fuel while in sixth and eighth positions respectively. Both Racing Engineering drivers rejoined the session with 12 minutes to go, but faced different fortunes. While Christian finally had a qualifying session where he was not hampered by other cars on the track, Dani was not so lucky. The Spaniard encountered traffic on each of his flying laps and had to abandon his intents to better his time. Yellow flags towards the end of the session didn't help either. Dani had to finish the session in a disappointing 13th position knowing that he could have been much higher up with only a bit more luck. Christian, on the other hand, finished the session in fifth position, just 0.361 seconds behind pole.
Christian Vietoris: "This was good. In the end we managed to have a normal qualifying session without being hampered by traffic. We were fast during the first laps, but not yet at 100%. With the new set of tyres I improved my lap time, but I know I could have even set a faster time, although a yellow flag in the last corner slowed me down. The car was really good and we improved it from free practice to qualifying. I am happy today and satisfied with the results. Now I hope for a good start tomorrow where a podium finish is possible."
Dani Clos: "Well, we had a very positive first stint. The car was really well balanced and we were able to go pretty quick. After the tyre change I created a nice gap in front of me for my flying lap, but some drivers in front of me didn't get out of the way, although there were blue flags waved for them. This destroyed my fast laps and this meant no further time improvements. Now we have to see about tomorrow's strategy, but we hope for a good race."
Alfonso De Orlaans-Borbon, President of Racing Engineering: "Fantastic job from Christian. I am really happy with his qualifying results. Although without the yellow flag he might have been even higher up on the grid tomorrow. Sadly Dani was hampered by the traffic on track. I am sorry to see Dani in such a low position when we know he could have easily been in the top five."
Scuderia Coloni - Alberto Valerio (6th) Vladimir Arabadzhiev (22nd)
Alberto Valerio will start from third row of the grid in the first GP2 race of the Budapest weekend. The Brazilian driver stopped the clock on 1'28"245, a laptime that was good for 6th place, just 3 tenths shy of first row. Valerio managed to stay in front of Sergio Perez taking a great result for the team and himself, something that was really deserved after a very good session. Alberto was always among the quickest on track and had even the pace to go for pole position: setting his fastest lap with still 6 minutes to go, he had the time for a last try and went for it: his first two sectors were good for pole, but then he had to slow down in the last sector due to the yellow flags for the D'Ambrosio car standing still out of last corner. This obviously costed him precious seconds, and the chance of taking the first spot on the grid for tomorrow's race.
For Vladimir Arabadzhiev it was a less lucky session: the Bulgarian driver was 22nd, but with his first set of tyres he was in P15. Then, in the second run, he got stuck between slower cars and without a fully clear lap he didn't manage to improve. Anyway he was really happy about the feeling with the car and he's ready to fight in tomorrow's race.
Paolo Coloni: "We're really satisfied about this session, also because we even had the pace to be quicker than this. In his last try Valerio had a 31"4 in the first sector, and also in the second one his pace was good for pole. Than he had to back-off due to yellow flags and he deserves to be praised for that, that's what a pro does. When you know you're fighting for first row it's very difficult to slow down, but doing this Alberto showed that he's full-grown as a driver. We're solly for Vladimir, because he really had the pace to get a better starting place. He was just slowed down by traffic and that's something that happens very easily on a track like Budapest. He didn't show all his speed, so we're expecting a good race from him tomorrow".
Super Nova - Marcus Ericsson (15th) Luca Filippi (20th)
A tough qualifying session today saw the first twenty cars on the GP2 grid separated by just a second. Unfortunately both Super Nova drivers struggled to find clear laps and will line up 15th (Marcus Ericsson) and 20th (Luca Filippi). Marcus was optimistic going into qualifying after a strong practice showing but he only managed to find one clear lap, which wasn't enough to challenge the top ten positions. Luca also had problems with traffic on the majority of his laps and, once he found some space, the tyres were past there best.
Marcus Ericsson: "I am slightly confused after qualifying today, as the car felt pretty good and I felt that I extracted the most out of it, so I was very surprised to hear that I was in P15. Since the track is quite short it was also difficult to get a clear lap, which didn't help to get into a rhythm. We need to analyse all of the data and work hard to find where this missing time is but tomorrow is another day and I will do my best to get into the points, although it is very difficult to overtake at this circuit."
Luca Filippi: "I am very frustrated with the position we are in. The traffic was terrible and i don't think the other drivers were very helpful in moving out of the way for faster cars. Unfortunately when I did find a clear lap it was when the tyres had done five or six laps, so there just wasn't enough grip to get the optimum lap time. "
David Sears - Team Principal: "Having expected both cars to be in the top ten like last year at this track, we were hugely disappointed to see Marcus in P15 and Luca in P20. The traffic was really bad but that is no excuse because it was the same for everyone. In fact, Sam Bird was P18 until he got his only clear lap when he put his car on pole position! We can only hope that we have some luck tomorrow for a change and improve from our lowly grid positions."
Trident Racing - Adrian Zaugg (19th) Johnny Cecotto Jr (21st)
Just 5 days after the end of the Hockenheim event, the GP2 Main Series was back yesterday at the Hungaroring, for qualifying of the 7th meeting of the 2010 season. Teams and drivers were running for pole position, on a really busy 30-minute session.
Trident Racing scored 19th place with Adrian Zaugg, while Johnny Cecotto ended up in 21st. The session was heavily conditioned by traffic, as all the drivers had issues in finding the necessary space to push on the short Hungarian raceway.
Adrian Zaugg: "It has been a very tough session. While pushing hard for a fast lap I always found some slower cars up front, that were trying to find some space themselves. With the first set of tires I managed to complete just one lap without needing to go off the ideal line. Then, with the second set of tires I finally managed to find two clean laps, but on the second one I made a mistake. Traffic was there for everybody though, I'm not looking for excuses but sometimes you need some luck to take the best out of the car, and I couldn't do it today."
Johnny Cecotto Jr: "I had a lot of trouble in trying to manage the car's potential, due to some huge understeer. In addition, it's been a nightmare from the traffic point of view. With the first set I couldn't do more than one lap without being blocked by other cars, and with the second set, a yellow flag on the last sector got added to the mix. As a consequence, I couldn't improve my times in the closing stages. It hasn't been my best day so far this season."