24/07/2011
NEWS STORY
Marussia Virgin Racing celebrated its new long-term agreement with Timo Glock by achieving its seventh double finish of the season at today's German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring, with Timo finishing in 17th position and Jerome, 18th.
It was spitting with rain on the grid minutes before the start of the race, but both Timo and Jerome decided to start the race on the Pirelli P-Zero Option tyres. Timo got off to a good start and gained two positions straight away.
Timo's first stint was extended because of his good pace on track and he finally pitted on lap 22. Jerome was also told to stay out to avoid traffic, stopping for the first time on lap 24. They both put Options back on and rejoined the race in 18th and 21st positions respectively. Timo was comfortably pulling away from Vitantonio Liuzzi.
With only 12 laps remaining, Timo stopped for Prime tyres and Jerome followed him a lap later. Both drivers set their fastest laps of the race on their final laps.
Timo Glock: "After a positive start to the day with the announcement about my future with the team, it was quite a difficult race today. I struggled with the braking system from the middle of the race onwards and I wasn't able to push late on in the race, so we have to look into the problem. Otherwise thanks to the team for a good weekend at my home Grand Prix. A shame it was so cold for everyone but we head to Hungary now for better weather and I hope we can have another good result there."
Jerome D'Ambrosio: "I'm happy about the weekend. I feel like I'm back on the right track and although there's definitely more improvements I can make, particularly in qualifying, I'm going in the right direction. The last few weekends have been a bit tough and this is the one I'll be focusing on. I'd like to keep this momentum in Hungary before the break and stay as close as possible to Timo."
John Booth, Team Principal: "This is a great way to end Timo's home race weekend. After announcing a new long-term contract with him this morning, the day ended in a positive way as we achieved another double finish. We knew that the Option tyres would work better, which is why we completed most of the race with them and waited until the very end to use the Primes. Jerome struggled at the start of the race but after the first pit-stop found his way when the fuel load lightened and came back at Ricciardo, overtaking him in the second stint. We had a small issue with Timo's braking system towards the end of the race and this slowed his pace. Overall, a pleasing result with the team working well under pressure. We now complete a quick turnaround and travel over to Hungary for what we hope will be another good weekend."
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