10/07/2011
NEWS STORY
Marussia Virgin Racing achieved its sixth double finish of the season today at its home Grand Prix at Silverstone as both Timo Glock and Jerome D'Ambrosio crossed the line after a consistent and well-fought race.
A rain shower an hour before the start of the race meant that the track was still very wet around the old start-finish straight when the cars made their exploration laps. The choice of tyres was by no means certain, with the final decision being made on the grid.
They both started the race on the Pirelli P-Zero Intermediate tyres. After eight laps a dry line was beginning to form and the challenge was to find the optimum time to stop for slicks. On lap 11 both Timo and Jerome stopped for soft 'Option' tyres and shortly afterwards, Jerome was able to overtake Liuzzi. In order to minimize time lost due to blue flags, the team wanted to run a two-stop strategy, using two sets of Options. Towards the end of the race, Jerome suffered from degradation of his front left tyre, but both Timo and he were able to get to the finish in 16th and 17th positions respectively.
Timo Glock: "A good race for us today and a good result for the team in getting both cars to the finish in our home Grand Prix. It was quite a normal race for us I would say. I got a good start and a good first lap. The first couple of corners were a bit of a mess but when everything started to settle down I was in front of Jarno and could hold my pace okay to stay in front of him. After they were out of the race I had a relatively easy time. It wasn't possible to gain places so I didn't push too hard; I just concentrated on achieving our objective today which was another two-car finish. I'm happy for us and hope for more of the same in my home race in Germany in two weeks' time."
Jerome D'Ambrosio: "It was very difficult at the beginning when it was wet and I lost quite a bit of time there. Then in the second stint it was ok. I had a good fight with Tonio and managed to overtake him. The last stint was very difficult, after a couple of laps I had no grip on the front left tyre so I couldn't attack much and I just had to back off all the time and just make sure I could last until the end of the race. I was quite worried I might have to come back into the pits again but I managed to keep going and get to the end."
John Booth, Team Principal: "A good finish to the team's home race weekend, not only with both cars finishing but also a clear positive in terms of an improvement in pace. Timo managed the 17th fastest lap in the race and Jerome pulled off a good overtaking move on Liuzzi in Copse, so both drivers are leaving the track on a positive note. The engineers coped well with the decision that had to be taken on the grid with the tyres and determined a good strategy. This was all helped with some good pit-stop work by the mechanics, including some late calls and coping well with both drivers stopping on the same lap. We've got a busy week ahead before the next race in Germany, with an aero test at RAF Cottesmore and also further rig tests. We are all looking forward to maintaining our current form at Timo's home race."
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