Most Sees King Crowned with Formula Renault NEC Podium.

Jordan King on the podium at Most in the Czech Republic.

British racer Jordan King took MP Motorsport back to the podium during the most recent round of the 2011 Formula Renault Northern European Cup in the Czech Republic, at Most on Sunday, 28 August while King’s team-mate, Karl-Oscar Liiv was tantalisingly close to securing a podium for the team also.

Without a doubt, the trip to the Czech Republic was the most rewarding for the front running Dutch squad as King and Liiv proved themselves as matches for the Championship leading Red Bull Junior drivers throughout the weekend while the team’s third driver, young Russian Alexey Chuklin continued his impressive rise up the standings.

Following on from their Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup appearance at Silverstone the previous weekend, the team headed east and straight to the Most circuit, the venue for the latest round of the Formula Renault NEC, and venue for the most easterly round on the calendar.

The team were rapid straight from the off and King ended up fastest across the four practice sessions and along with Liiv, the pair confirmed the team’s pace in qualifying, as they finished with the fourth and fifth fastest times. Qualifying ahead of the second race of the weekend saw Briton King finish with a front row starting position while Estonian Liiv finished ninth fastest.

The first race at Autodrom Most saw Liiv come within half a second of a podium finish, having put Stoffel Vandoorne all the way to the chequered flag. Chuklin fought his way up the field strongly from twenty first on the grid to finish fourteenth overall. For King, however, the race wasn’t so fruitful. While batting for third, he had contact with Alessio Picariello and this resulted in the British driver having an excursion and ended up a lap down.

The first of two races on Sunday saw King take the team back to the podium – after his front row starting position. He was able to lap at the same pace as Carlos Sainz Jnr and Daniil Kvyat en route to his third place finish. At the flag, he was a mere 0.8saway from Kvyat and 1.5s off winner Sainz Jnr. King’s fastest lap of the race – 1m32.794s – was only 0.2s off the best lap of the race.

As in the opening encounter, Liiv was once again in outstanding form and he carved his way up from ninth on the grid to bring the car home P5, and with a fastest lap that was within 0.2s of King’s best time. Russian Chuklin also delivered another strong run as he finished sixteenth from the tenth row of the grid.

MP Motorsport could have secured their second podium of the weekend during the third and final race of the weekend at Autodrom Most, but Liiv was forced to settle for fourth overall, just two seconds away from the top three. Chuklin also continued his climb up the field as he secured a top twelve finish, right on the tail of Picariello and Rafael Danieli. King, on the other hand, had to face more bad luck after being given a questionable drive through penalty.

Having to start from the back of the grid after his race one result, King made a rapid getaway and was soon running in the mid pack before being given the penalty for a pass made on Richard Gonda. The decision, however, was an error and King was only able to recover to sixteenth by the flag.

“Overall, we really are very happy with the way this weekend has gone”, said MP Motorsport team principal Sander Dorsman, “It’s been our best race meeting of the season by far, Jordan and Karl-Oscar were on the pace all weekend and really took the fight to the Red Bull guys. Alexey keeps on impressing us with his progress and the visit to Most saw another improvement. All in all, a fantastic event.”

Next up for MP Motorsport is a trip to Valencia this weekend for the latest instalment of the Auto GP season with Daniel De Jong. After Valencia, the team will turn their focus to the penultimate round of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 campaign, at Paul Ricard in the south of France over the 17/18 September.

Picture Credit: Chris Schotanus/Essay Produkties

Thompson Secures Podium During Challenging Okayama Weekend.

Gary Thompson - Okayama 2011

Gary Thompson secured his fifth podium of the Japanese Formula 3 Championship season at Okayama, in what turned out to be a challenging weekend for Ireland’s brightest single seat prospect.

Thompson, who is backed by the Aviation Display and Cebu Pacific Air, set a stellar pace during qualifying, as he set the second fastest time of the first session and made himself one of the favourites for Pole Position.

However, after crashing out of the second session, the young Irishman was left to wonder what might have been. On his second flying lap of qualifying two, he crashed and ruined a set of new tyres – this would prove costly come race day.

Despite the qualifying disappointment, Thompson battled back to pick up his fifth podium of the season during Saturday’s race – after a tremendous effort by Thompson’s team, SGC by KCMG, they got the Irishman’s car rebuilt in time for the opening race.

Lining up second on a drying Okayama circuit, Thompson chose to start the race on slicks. This decision meant that Thompson dropped back in the early stages but as the race progressed, the decision paid dividends as he worked his way back up to third and also took second on the final corner. He also set the second fastest lap of the race in the process.

After his qualifying incident, Thompson was forced to use the same tyres which he had used in qualifying as well as the opening race. This put him at an immediate disadvantage but this didn’t put him off, as from fifth on the grid, he was challenging for the lead at Turn one.

Further into the opening lap, a collision between two rivals ahead of him saw Thompson forced off the track to take avoiding action – a decision which left him fourth at the end of the opening lap. He ended up remaining fourth until the chequered flag at the end of the second race but he showed impressive pace throughout the second race.

Thompson has limited time to collect his thoughts about Okayama as he is back on track this weekend at Suzuka, for the penultimate rounds of the 2011 Japanese Formula 3 Championship. Nineteen year old Thompson will hope to add to his podiums at the Japanese Grand Prix venue, as he performed strongly at the circuit earlier in the season.

Thompson said about Okayama and Suzuka:  “Overall I can’t be disappointed with the weekend as we’ve come away with a podium finish and shown some extremely competitive pace. That said it would have been great to make the most qualifying, as I believe we had a very good shot at pole.

“The team did a great job to get the car ready in time for the first race and to score another podium and only just miss out on the fastest lap was a satisfying result. Ultimately the second race was always going to be a challenge as our tyres were significantly more worn than our rivals’, so to come home fourth was an achievement.
“We’re back in action next weekend at Suzuka and I can’t wait. It’s probably the best circuit I’ve raced on and we had a very strong weekend when we raced there earlier in the season so I’m looking forward to it tremendously.”

Six Points Covers Top Three Heading to Thruxton.

Championship Leader Dino Zamparelli Wins at Croft.

Thruxton marks the penultimate round of the 2011 Protyres Formula Renault BARC Championship and with just four races left to decide the destination of the Championship, the one day event in Hampshire will play a pivotal role – the season finale takes place at Silverstone alongside the BTCC.

Heading into rounds nine and ten, the top three in the Championship are covered by six points, so the two rounds at Thruxton on Saturday, 3 September are going to play a vital part in the title battle.

Heading to Thruxton as the Championship leader is Bristol’s Dino Zamparelli (Antel Motorsport), who, after a win and a second at Croft last time out leads the way. Just one point behind Zamparelli is Josh Webster (Fortec Motorsport), the Stowmarket youngster also being a double race winner.

Croft saw Zamparelli’s title ambitions boosted significantly, for Webster the opposite could be said. During the annual Formula Renault BARC trip to the North Yorkshire circuit, his hopes took a hit during the first race – an DNF after contact from his Fortec Motorsport team-mates, Kieran Vernon and Archie Hamilton.

Sitting third in the Championship is another two times winner, James Thorp (MTech Lite). The Evesham racer needs a strong Thruxton outing as he is one of a few drivers who will be affected by the dropped score ruling come the season’s conclusion.

While the other title contenders have zero points to drop, Thorp currently has to drop eleven points as the exclusion he got at Oulton Park cannot be dropped.  This could have a major bearing on the final Championship outcome and means he needs to have two strong events, at Thruxton and Silverstone, if he is to come out on top.

Heading to Thruxton fourth overall and within twenty three points of Zamparelli is Kourosh Khani (Scorpio Motorsport) – the Iranian made history during Oulton Park’s sixth round as he became the first Iranian driver to win a Formula Renault race.  He has been in a rich vein of form since securing his first podium during round four at Brands Hatch.

Rounding out the Championship top six are Hamilton and Vernon – the duo are just two and three points behind Khani. While the Championship top three does have the advantage, their nearest pursuers are all capable of registering a podium finish at Thruxton.

The next group of drivers is led by Zaamin Jaffer, the Protyre Formula Renault BARC rookie currently sits ahead of series veteran Steven Durrant, Howard Fuller and impressive car racing rookie Matt Mason.

Qualifying for rounds nine and 10 of the Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship is scheduled to get underway at 09.30 next Saturday, 3rd September, with the first race set to begin at 11.30 and race two expected to follow at around 15.10.

Along with headline sponsor Protyre, the championship is additionally supported by ELF, Michelin and NGK Spark Plugs.

Picture Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Morris Aims to Edge Closer to Ginetta Junior Glory at Knockhill.

Seb Morris moves into the lead of the first Ginetta Junior race at Snetterton

With just eight races left of the 2011 Ginetta Junior Championship, Seb Morris knows that with another strong weekend, he can edge that little bit closer to being crowned Champion for 2011 – the destination of the title is still a long way off being decided though and one bad weekend can throw everything wide open.

After the opening twelve races of the season, Hillspeed’s Morris has secured nine victories, ten podiums in total, six fastest laps and six pole positions. All of this equals a Championship advantage of 114 points heading to Scotland. Within his six fastest laps, the Liberty Properties and Legat Owen backed youngster has set Lap Records at Donington Park, Thruxton and his home event, Oulton Park.

Morris has been the class of the field all season, whether he has been out in front or fighting in the mid-pack, the fifteen year old has been setting the standard all season long.

The Fife circuit of Knockhill presents a unique challenge and at just 1.3 miles in length, it is the second shortest on the calendar – after Brands Hatch Indy. Morris will head to Scotland looking to secure Pole Position in qualifying as well as a brace of race victories.

He is also realistic and acknowledges that it is consistent results which are required during the second half of the season to secure the 2011 title.

I’ve worked really hard so far to stretch out as much of a points lead as possible to try and reduce the pressure in the championship”, said The King’s School, Chester pupil, “We’ve got a good lead so that’s boosted me to try and go for more wins without worrying too much. If we can take a couple of good finishes at Knockhill it’ll be great, but my real aim is to go there and fight for wins.

“Knockhill is the most unique track on the calendar, I like it as it brings out a lot of skill unlike some other tracks where you can maybe run wide a lot and not get into too much trouble. It’s a technical circuit and completely different to anywhere else I’ve raced. We were quite quick there last year so hopefully this time around we’ll have a successful weekend.”

Friday, 2 September will see Morris and the rest of the field in pre event testing while Saturday, 3 September will see an additional test session before qualifying, which is due to start at 14.35. The first race of the Knockhill weekend is due to get underway at 17.35 on Saturday.

Round fourteen of the season is due to get underway at 12.25 on Sunday, 4 September and will be screened live across the UK via Freeview, Cable and digital satellite channel ITV4 as well as on ITV4 and via http://www.itv.com/touringcars.

Picture Credit: Matt Auger/Back Of The Grid.co.uk

Lloyd Aiming for Home Success as Scirocco R-Cup Heads to Brands Hatch.

Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup Title Contender, Daniel Lloyd.

Daniel Lloyd will heads to Brands Hatch Indy circuit this coming weekend, 2^nd/3^rd September as he aims to secure a home victory in the Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup.

Nineteen Year Old Lloyd, a race winner and title contender in his maiden season of Scirocco-R Cup action is heading into his most important race of the season – round seven of the ten round season. The Brands Hatch race will have a huge bearing on the destination of the title but for Huddersfield based Lloyd, he will have a group of seventy five sponsors, guests and family there cheering him on around the 1.2 mile Brands Hatch Indy circuit.

As well as his group of seventy five sponsors, guest and family, Lloyd can count on plenty of home support as he is the only British driver in the series, and heading to Brands, he will be looking to eat into the forty seven point gap which Championship leader Mateusz Lisowski has opened up.

Brands Hatch also marks the first circuit on the Scirocco-R Cup calendar which Lloyd has prior experience of – having raced in the Renault Clio Cup UK at the circuit previously. Despite his lack of European circuit track knowledge, Lloyd has secured a Pole Position, a race victory and two other podium finishes.

“I’m really looking forward to next weekend, it’s fantastic to be back racing at home”, he said, “I want to go out there and win, that’s my focus for the rest of the season – just try and win every race as the points gap to Mateusz is quite big. I’m preparing as hard as I can, in the gym and with the guys at iZone Performance, to make sure I’m on top form for my home race.

“There will be a lot of pressure on at Brands and loads to do out of the car as well as we’ll have 75 guests there on raceday. I’m determined to try and have our best weekend yet as without the amazing support of my sponsors – especially Andy Goddard at TNT Post, Chris Brooks at TSD, Justin from The Print Academy and the guys from Balreed and Propack – I wouldn’t be racing at all.”

Volkswagen’s flagship series has set some extremely high standards in the way it manages parity between all of the cars and it is this fact which is making Lloyd enjoy his time in the series.

“The Scirocco is a great car, I’m having a fantastic time this season racing it and one of the best and most important things is that all of the cars are exactly the same”, he added, “There are loads of one-make championships out there but this one really is down to your own performance and ability. The guys at Volkswagen Motorsport do an amazing job, it’s great being able to work with them.

“Even though it is only my first year in the R-Cup I will be disappointed if I don’t win the championship, that’s my goal but it is going to be very tough. All things considered though I think we’ve had a really fantastic year and I’m loving every minute of it.”

Digital satellite and cable channel Motors TV will broadcast the race action live – for more details please visit www.motorstv.com – while the official Volkswagen Motorsport website will also feature live streaming at www.volkswagen-motorsport.com/livestream

In addition, iPhone, iPad and iPod users can access live footage and other great content thanks to the new app from Volkswagen Motorsport which can be downloaded free of charge at www.volkswagen-motorsport.com/R-Cup_iPhone

To keep up with all the latest news regarding Daniel’s participation in the VW Scirocco R-Cup, please visit his official websitewww.daniellloydracing.com, follow him on Twitter @Daniellloyd23 and check out his exclusive blog at the Motors TV websitewww.motorstv.com

Picture Credit: Volkswagen Motorsport

Nasr closes in on British Formula 3 Crown.

Felipe Nasr - Staring at a British Formula 3 Championship Victory.

Nineteen year old Brasilla based racer, Felipe Nasr (Carlin) can become the twelfth Brazilian winner of the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series, his name joining those of Emerson Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna and Rubens Barrichello.

Heading to Rockingham this weekend, 3^rd/4^th September, Nasr will be hoping to repeat his victory of last season, which was his first in the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series.

Nasr’s Rockingham victory was the only one he secured in 2010 but having switched to the Carlin team and Volkswagen power, he hasn’t looked back. He has secured seven victories this season – he secured a double victory at Monza and Paul Ricard while also tasting the victory champagne at Oulton Park, Brands Hatch and Nurburgring. He has been the standard which the other drivers have to measure themselves against.

Should Nasr leave Rockingham with an advantage of 109 points or more, he will be the fourth champion in succession to have come from Carlin: 2008 saw Jaime Alguersuari crowned, 2009 was the turn of Daniel Ricciardo while 2010 was Jean-Eric Vergne. Both Alguersuari and Ricciardo are now racing in Formula One while Vergne will get some test runs for Scuderia Toro Rosso. He arrives in Northamptonshire with an advantage of 114 points, so he could leave Sunday night with the title in his pocket.

“The title is getting closer for me,” said Nasr, “and maybe it will come at Rockingham… It’s a track I really like, and at which I have always been quick. I know it very well and it would be very special to win there and maybe take the championship.”

While Nasr focuses on the Championship, it provides others with a chance to share the limelight at Rockingham, including William Buller (Fortec Motorsports), for whom Rockingham is his home track. The Ulster born, Islip based driver arrives at Rockingham with an impressive run of form which has seen him secure victory in half of the last six races. The eighteen year old secured his maiden British Formula 3 success at Paul Ricard HTTT before backing that up with a double win at Spa-Francorchamps. He is now joint second in the Championship with Carlos Huertas (Carlin).

Colombian racer Huertas was team-mate to Nasr last year for the Raikkonen-Robertson Racing team and secured a second place finish behind Vergne at the Northamptonshire Speedway last season. He is still waiting to secure his maiden victory in the series.

Northamptonshire based Fortec Motorsports have three race winners within their ranks. As well as Paul Ricard and Spa-Francorchamps winner Buller, Sidmouth based Formula Renault UK Graduate Harry Tincknell secured the honours during the Brands Hatch GP Sprint race while Brazilian Lucas Foresti has climbed on top of the podium three times this season. He is looking for a return to the podium after a few races without a top three finish.  Fahmi Ilyas is looking for more Championship Points after breaking his duck at Paul Ricard.

As well as running the Champion Elect and Huertas, Carlin also run cars for British race winners Rupert Svendsen-Cook and Jack Harvey, regular podium visitor Jazeman Jaafar and 1994 British Formula 3 Champion Jan Magnussen’s son, Kevin. Magnussen didn’t see his title challenge get underway until the third weekend of the season at Snetterton, where he secured a double victory. He has since secured another two victories in a season dominated by bad luck and disappointments. Magnussen recently impressed in the Zandvoort Masters of F3, where he secured a podium on his debut.

Hitech Racing have also been race winners and podium finishers – Riki Christodoulou secured victory at Oulton Park before seeing his season curtailed so it is rapid Brazilian Pietro Fantin which leads their charge while over at T-Sport, they arrive with three cars for 2010 National Class Champion Menasheh Idafar, Bart Hylkema and Yann Cunha. Idafar has secured a brace of podium finishes this season but a number of disappointments during the second half of the season have left him further down the Championship standings than he would like.

Heading to Rockingham with hopes of making it their breakthrough weekend are Double R Duo, Scott Pye and Pipo Derani. Both drivers showed well at the circuit during testing while Sino Vision Racing duo, Adderly Fong and Hywel Lloyd head to Rockingham that they can become consistent top ten runners as their forward progress continues to gather momentum.

In the Rookie Class, Hitech’s Japanese driver, Kotaro Sakurai can expect to make further strides to the title. Having secured class honours nine times already in 2011, he has had things all his own way since July, when Hylkema moved into the International Class. He will be joined this weekend by Italian Luca Orlandi, who will compete in a Team West-Tec prepared car.

British Formula 3 enjoys the headlining support of Cooper Tires and is additionally backed by Sunoco Racing Fuels, Anglo American Oil Company and OAMPS.

Rockingham Schedule:

Friday, 2 September:
09.35, 11.05 and 12.50: Free Practice (50 Minute Sessions)

Saturday, 3 September:
10.35 – Qualifying
14.50 – Round Twenty Two (30 Minutes)

Sunday, 4 September:
11.00 – Round Twenty Three (20 Minutes)
14.50 – Round Twenty Four (40 Minutes).

Picture Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography

First Spa-Francorchamps Victory and with it Comes a 1, 2 Finish for Red Bull.

Sebastian Vettel Flat Out at Eau Rouge as he Heads to Belgian Grand Prix victory.

Sebastian Vettel secured his first victory in Belgium at the Ardennes Forest circuit of Spa-Francorchamps under unusually bright sunshine. For the team, the sunshine brightened up their 1, 2 finish as Mark Webber, who confirmed during the weekend that he would be retained by the team for 2012, followed Vettel home.

The results have seen the team extend their advantage in both the drivers’ and constructors’ Championships as the series heads to Monza over the 9/10/11 September for the final European race weekend of the season.

Vettel had qualified on Pole Position for the Belgian Grand Prix but as he explains, the first few laps were more about research than racing – and they were forced to pit earlier due to this.

The reigning World Champion said: “I’m very happy; today was a very good race for us, although it was not easy with the tyres. The beginning of the race was more research and science than racing and we sacrificed a lot by stopping very early. We had a good feeling though and I came in again when the safety car came out, just to see how they were. I can judge a bit from looking at the inside, but when you’re doing 300kph or more and the tyres are always spinning rather than stopped, you can’t really take the time to see, so it was crucial to come in and have a closer look. I’m very happy with the result.

“It’s a big relief after all the discussions we had going into the race. This morning disturbed our normal rhythm, as normally you know what you do when you arrive on Sunday morning, but today we had a lot of discussions which doesn’t make it easy to keep focused. Before the race, we decided the priority was simply to finish the race today and not think too much about where, so that’s why I am so happy with the result. It couldn’t have been any better. The car felt fantastic and with each lap we learned more and more about the tyres, which made us more confident to push when necessary.”

Webber celebrated resigning with the team for 2012 by bringing his sister Red Bull home in second after he started third on the grid. He struggled to get away from the line after the anti-stall kicked in and he lost positions. He also missed the call to pit in under the Safety car, so to finish second, in his words ‘was one of the team’s best ever one-two finishes.’

The Australian driver said about his race: “The lights went out and I got anti-stall at the start – I don’t know whether it was due to the start being uphill or not. We were worried about the tyres going into the race and had a lot of meetings this morning. In the end, the right decisions were made and the team reacted incredibly well and did some good research overnight to work out how we could best get through the race. We did a lot of damage to the tyres in qualifying and had to stop pretty early to protect ourselves from any issues from the tyre which put us out of position.

“We picked some people off, but in terms of the result I was after I was frustrated at that point. Then the safety car came out. The team wanted me to pit, but when I got the instructions of what to do in the pit lane I was the wrong side of the pit wall – I never heard the call to come in. I was worried, but we kept going and the car behaved well. I drove well from then on and we got a good result in what was one of the team’s best ever one-two finishes. It was a great weekend for the team and they deserve this result.”

Team Principal Christian Horner praises the team for an incredible result – the team’s first Belgian Grand Prix victory. He said: “A fantastic team result – a one-two in Spa and our first ever victory here, it’s phenomenal for the team. Sebastian made a good start, but Mark looked like he got the anti-stall and dropped down the order. Having damaged our tyres in qualifying, we had some concerns about them going into the race based on a lack of knowledge after all the wet running this weekend. So, we were conservative with the strategy opting to stop Mark on lap three and Sebastian a lap or so later. More than anything we wanted to see how the tyres were behaving. We put Mark onto the prime tyre at that point and we could see, fairly early on, that it was performing well.

“At the safety car we pitted Sebastian for another set of options, which worked out well for him. After a radio issue, Mark stayed out on the prime, which was still looking very strong at that point. Sebastian then got his head down and conserved the tyres when he needed to, pushed when he needed to and closed out a very satisfying victory – which was backed up by Mark who hunted down Fernando in the closing laps and passed him. It rounded off a great weekend for the team; it’s a lot of points in both Championships and we have extended our lead in both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ at a circuit which we have not previously won at – so it’s a fantastic day for Red Bull.”

Picture Credit: Getty Images/Red Bull Racing

Team Lotus Tangle then Secure Two Car Finish.

Whoops! Team Lotus tangle at La Source...

The general rule of Motorsport is not to hit your team-mate… Team Lotus saw their drivers; Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli do just that at La Source on the opening lap of the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.

Thankfully for the team, both drivers continued with minor damage as they secured a two car finish, with Trulli coming home fourteenth and Kovalainen in fifteenth.

Trulli enjoyed the entire Belgian Grand Prix weekend – apart from the moment with team-mate Kovalainen – and he wants to use the momentum built up from Spa heading into the final races of the season.

The experienced Italian said about his race: “For me and the whole team that was a really good race. I had a great start, passing a few other cars away from the line but then the accident in T1 meant both Heikki and I suffered damage – him to his nosecone, me to the floor and I had to run the whole race with that damage, so to finish 14^th after that is just fantastic. Apart from the start I enjoyed the whole race – I passed a number of cars and when the safety car came out I was able to close the gap to the cars ahead. That gave me the chance to fight with the Renault and I passed him and was then able to keep pace with the other guys ahead. One of the best points of the race was the first stop I made – I came in just behind one of the HRTs and the pitcrew did a brilliant job to get me out fast enough to pass him in the pitlane, so I want to thank them and the whole team for a really solid weekend. Racing like this, with no problems and with a car I can fight with all afternoon is very satisfying, so now I can’t wait to get back in when we get to Italy and keep up the momentum we’ve built up here.”

Kovalainen was forced to pit at the end of the first lap due to the damage sustained in the La Source incident, which saw him run a three stop strategy as he finished behind Trulli.

He feels that it was a good weekend for the team, apart from the incident at La Source, as he explains: “That was a good race for us, obviously apart from the start! I got off the line well but it all tightened up at the first corner and I touched Jarno after someone else had hit me – I was caught in a bit of a sandwich but after I’d pitted and had a new nose it all went pretty well from there. The soft tyres weren’t working quite as well as the mediums, but I was still able to push and the main thing is we had a two car finish in strong positions, so that’s a good end to the weekend.”

For Chief Technical Officer, Mike Gascoyne, the Spa weekend marks one of the strongest results for the team since they joined the grid for 2010.

After the strong performance, he reserves special praise for the pitcrew and for the drivers themselves, as he explains: “That is a very good result for the whole team today and goes down as one of our strongest performances since we came into the sport. We had a poor start where both cars were last after making contact in the first corner but we recovered very well, and to have finished in 14^th and 15^th after that is very pleasing. Both drivers were excellent today, but the pitcrew deserve special praise for having taken a massive step forward in their performance. All our stops were exactly what we needed so congratulations to them for a job very well done today.”

New group CEO, Riad Asmat thanks for the whole team in playing their part in a strong result for the team in Belgium. He added: “I want to thank the whole team for today’s performance, and the jobs everyone has done all weekend. The main aim was to make sure both cars saw the chequered flag, and we wanted to be in the mix to take advantage of any opportunities that presented themselves and finish as high as we could reasonably expect. 14^th and 15^thmeans we achieved that, and everyone played their part in making sure we leave Spa on a high, so this goes down as a very good weekend.”

Picture Credit: Lorenzo Bellanca/LAT Photographic

Lotus ART Secure Double GP2 Podium Finish.

Jules Bianchi (Middle) in a four way scrap for position at Spa.

Lotus ART saw the penultimate round of the 2011 GP2 Series reward their efforts with two podium finishes for Jules Bianchi, who has closed up to within one point of second place driver, Giedo van der Garde, heading to Monza over the 9/10/11 September.

Qualifying for the Feature race saw Bianchi set the third quickest time of the session while team-mate Esteban Gutierrez finished with the ninth best time in qualifying.

The chaotic feature race resulted in Bianchi securing second position, behind Vietoris while in the dry sprint race, Bianchi worked his way up from seventh on the reverse grid to secure his second podium of the weekend, once again in second. The results moved him up from fourth to third in the Championship.

Speaking about the weekend, Bianchi said: “I had a very good start and I was lucky to be on the right side because it was dryer than the left. Then I tried to stay behind Christian Vietoris. At first he was a bit quicker but I closed the gap. Having said that, there was no way I’d have tried something stupid. I needed this second position, so did Lotus ART, and we secured it. On Sunday, it was the opposite: I decided to go on the outside but it was the wrong choice because I was a bit closed in. I was P8 but I could push and gain a lot of positions. I want to end the season in a good way, but mainly, we have to keep our momentum. It’s important to look at it race by race and not focus too much on the championship. It would be important to finish second, but I don’t think about that. I try my best race by race, try and be quick every time.”

Gutierrez lined up ninth for the feature race ninth but wasn’t able to take advantage and score any points as he slipped down to fourteenth in the weather affected race. He bounced back in the feature race to cross the line seventh, just missing the points paying positions.

Despite the disappointment of missing out on scoring points at Spa, Gutierrez still feels that it was a great experience overall as he continues his learning curve: “We had some trouble in qualifying, with the mixed conditions and a some yellow flags. It was a classic decoy and unfortunately I could not avoid it. My start was good on Saturday but I collided with Giedo Van der Garde which cost me some positions. It changed my strategy because when you are behind the aerodynamics change and things did not go our way: the rain came in and because of the low temperature the car switched into the safety mode! Sunday was much better because we found the way to climb up the field. In terms of set-up our strategy was risky but I had nothing to lose and it worked. It’s too bad I missed a few points but it was a good experience.”

Frederic Vasseur sums up the weekend which Lotus ART had, as it was positive for both Bianchi and Gutierrez despite their differing fortunes in the Ardennes: “This is definitely a very good weekend for Jules. He found the right pace the whole weekend and he did some great overtaking manoeuvres in both races. He is now 3rd in the drivers’ championship and our goal is to finish it as a runner-up in Monza in a fortnight. Esteban had some bad luck in qualifying and in the first race, but he recovered well. He was one of the very best on Sunday thanks to some great tyre management and great raw speed. He would have deserved a few points but one must not forget he’s a rookie surrounded by 17 drivers who are competing in their second season in the series, at least.”

Picture Credit: Glenn Dunbar/GP2 Media Service

Kral Secures a Podium Finish at Spa.

Josef Kral leads at the start of the GP2 Sprint Race at Spa.

Josef Kral left Spa-Francorchamps with a podium finish to his name but must have wondered ‘what if’ as he saw his chance of victory taken away from him by the Safety Car.

Czech racer Kral started from Pole Position and pulled out a gap during the early laps as the rest of the field battled for position. He had opened up a comfortable advantage by the time the Safety Car had been deployed, due to the massive accident suffered by Fabio Leimer (Rapax) at Raidillon.

Once the race went live again, Kral was defenceless against Filippi, who got into the Czech racers slipstream and took the lead away heading to Les Combes. From there, Kral was busy dicing with Jules Bianchi (Lotus ART) and newly crowned Champion Romain Grosjean (Dams) – he lost out to Bianchi but held off the attentions of Grosjean to claim third but must have wondered whether he’d have secured the victory had the Safety Car not played its part.

Kral was pleased to secure a podium finish at Spa, as he missed the races here in 2010 due to injury. He said after the race: “I made a good start and set a strong pace during the first half of the race. I was able to pull away and felt very comfortable before the safety car intervened. My tyres obviously cooled off while the race was neutralised. I know it’s the same for everybody, but it took a while to get them back up to temperature and I was unable to contain Filippi at the restart. It is hard to defend down the long straights when your tyres aren’t at their peak. I was getting quite a bit of wheelspin during the second part of the race, so Bianchi passed me too, but I’m still pleased to finish on the podium – and particularly at somewhere like Spa, a circuit I missed last season through injury. I shall endeavour to repeat this performance at Monza.”

Team-mate Jolyon Palmer also had an impressive run, as he fought his way up the field to fourteenth from twentieth on the grid. A drowned engine during the feature race saw Palmer retire and put him back on row ten for the sprint race. The Englishman dropped a couple of positions early on but then fought back superbly to claim a creditable fourteenth place finish.

Palmer is pleased with his performance during the sprint race at Spa: “That was great. After losing a couple of places early on, I put my head down and was able to run at a really quick, consistent pace. The tyres held up really well and my lap times were as strong towards the end as they were at the start. It was an uplifting way to end a troublesome weekend and I hope to maintain this progress curve at Monza, to finish the campaign on a really positive note.”

Picture Credit: Alastair Staley/GP2 Media Service