Third Win of GP2 Season for Filippi Leads to Vice Champion at Season’s End.

Scuderia Coloni topped the podium during the opening race of the GP2 finale at Monza as Luca Filippi made up the nine points over the two races to secure the Vice Champion position in the Championship.

Having qualified on the front row for the fourth event in succession, Filippi backed up his Spa-Francorchamps sprint race victory with a dominant performance during the feature race, after making the perfect getaway from second on the grid to jump Pole Sitter Pic.

Once in the lead, Filippi was in a race of his own – after two laps, he had opened up an 1.8s gap, so his rivals were unable to take advantage of the slipstream, which is a key feature of the Monza circuit. Having set a number of fastest laps, Filippi was soon 5.4s ahead after just nine laps.

Lap twelve saw most of his rivals make their pit stop but Filippi had managed his tyres well, so he was able to pit two laps later than his rivals. Once he rejoined the circuit, he still had an advantage of over three seconds. He then controlled the pace during the middle part of the race.

With seven laps remaining, Filippi picked up the pace and he set about securing the points plus the fastest lap point, as he opened up his gap to cover five seconds once again – as well as battling with Grosjean for the fastest lap of the race. Filippi came out on top with a best lap of 1m33.397s.

The result saw Filippi move into P3 in the standings ahead of the Sprint race the following morning, where he lined up eighth.

It wasn’t such a good race for team-mate Michael Herck, as his season finished after just two laps. The incident with Chilton caused the Romanian driver a hand injury and he immediately went to Monte Carlo for hospital checks. He sat out the final race of the season.

Filippi said after the Feature race: “It was just a perfect race. I realized immediately that my start was very good and that my pace was enough to immediately open a gap, preventing the others from using my slipstream. After that I was in full control and I even had fun driving this car on the low downforce setup.

“Lap after lap, while the win of this home race was getting closer and closer, I realized how special is what we are achieving, and I have to say thanks to this guys because I’m living the best period of my career with them.

“Now second place in the standings is my aim: tomorrow I must finish in front of Pic and keep an eye on Bianchi who is starting from pole on the reversed grid. It won’t be easy but I will do my best.”

Paolo Coloni spoke after the feature race: “What this team is doing is amazing. In just four events we took results that usually require a whole season and we are proud that the Italian flag was being waved on the podium once more. Luca, the engineers, the mechanics, all of them are working hard for the same aim, and the results are there to prove how good they are. This win is what they deserve, and the best way to say thanks to the Italian fans for their support. Now we must fight to take the second spot in the standings with Luca, and tomorrow we do our best again.”

Sprint Race: P5 and Vice Champion Confirmed.

The final race of the season saw Filippi line up eighth, and he had to outscore Pic and finish as close to Bianchi as he could – Bianchi was starting on Pole after the reverse grid.

It wasn’t going to be an easy task but having survived the hot, tough opening lap. He survived the first corner but only just – Pic had missed his braking point and hit Grosjean, and with damaged steering he then collided with Filippi, damaging the front wing and bargeboard. Filippi started to suffer with under steer but this didn’t deter him as he moved into P6 at the expense of Clos and Gutierrez, and he then took fifth at the first corner from Carroll.

Once Filippi moved into fifth, he was equal on points with Bianchi, who was running in third but the French driver was ahead on count back of race wins. To avoid any risks, Scuderia Coloni asked Filippi to back off to save the rubber for the latter stages, so he could chase after the point which comes with the fastest lap of the race.

He followed the plan and after a few careful laps, Filippi set a 1m32.567s to secure the fastest lap, as none of the other drivers could match his pace.

The three points he secured in the final race of the season was enough to see Filippi finish as the Vice Champion of the 2011 GP2 Series, having scored forty five points in the eight races since he joined the team ahead of the trip to Nurburgring.

In the four events together, the all Italian pairing secured four front row starts, three victories, one third place and three fastest race laps. Such was his speed in the Scuderia Coloni car, nobody could match the amount of points he scored – in comparison, and champion Grosjean recorded forty two points in the same eight races.

Filippi can’t believe what he and the team have achieved in their four race weekends together: “I can’t believe what we did. If somebody would have said this to me in Nurburgring, when we started racing together, I would have answered no way, because I had a too big gap to close. Our only chance to make it was being perfect in each weekend and that’s what we did, but how we did it was amazing. More than forty points in just four rounds, three wins, four first rows, I’m a bit overwhelmed! I want to say thanks again to these guys, they gave me a new life and together we have something special, something I never experienced before. Now it’s time to party, we deserve it.”

Once Filippi was confirmed in P2, Coloni was speechless: “I can’t find the words to describe the emotions that this second place with Luca is giving us. Today was just incredible; our feelings went from fear, when he was hit by Pic, to joy when he crossed the line, doing exactly what we asked him even with a damaged car.

“We knew that we had to do our race on Bianchi and we did that, sealing the runner-up spot with that fastest lap. What we did in just four rounds is unbelievable, the team guys were flawless and now it’s really time to celebrate.”

BMW Motorsport Encounter Difficult Silverstone Outing.

BMW Motorsport saw their front row start within the GTE Class produce a fourth and sixth in class after a difficult outing during the Autosport Six Hours of Silverstone, the fourth round of the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup.

At the end of the six hours, the #56 BMW M3 GT, piloted by Andy Priaulx and Uwe Alzen finished fourth in class while the second BMW M3 GT, raced by Augusto Farfus and Jorg Muller could only finished sixth.

Team Manager of BMW Motorsport, Charly Lamm said: “Obviously you can’t be satisfied when you start a race from the first row and finish fourth and sixth. In today’s quite cool conditions we were struggling to find the grip we needed. Due to this we lost a lot of time, especially in the first two stints. Over the course of the race we got back into our rhythm, but by this time the gap to the front-runners was already too big. The only safety-car phase of the race turned out unfortunate for the no. 55 car. With the number 56 car we had to do an unscheduled stop.”

Priaulx started off the race in the #56 car while it was Farfus at the wheel of the #55 car and both former WTCC drivers complained at a lack of grip which caused them to drop down the standings.

Coupled with the lack of grip, Farfus encountered more bad luck after fifty minutes. During the Safety Car period, the second Safety Car was deployed right in front of Farfus, which cut him off from the rest of the lead pack, and Priaulx was forced into an unscheduled stop which also increased the gap to the class leaders.

Priaulx said about the race:  “I think today we got the maximum out of a difficult race. It would have been nice to finish my comeback in the BMW M3 GT on the podium – especially here in Silverstone – but fourth was all we could do today. In the beginning, it was not easy to get the maximum out of our tyres. However, then it got better and better, and during my second stint I had a really good feeling for the car. Unfortunately it was too late to fight for top positions.”

Farfus added: “In the beginning we had no grip, and on top of that we had the bad luck during the safety car period. Normally our strategy would have worked out, but then the safety-car joined the track directly in front of me. When you lose so many positions there is not a lot you can do, but we were fighting hard and everybody in the team gave his best.”

As the six hour race proceeded, the BMW drivers were able to up their performance and they started to build on the performance shown during qualifying. Both cars were lapping at a consistent pace and recovering from their earlier troubles. At the end of the six hours, Alzen and Muller were in the two cars ad they had worked their way back to P4 and P6 respectively.

Alzen feels that the podium was on before their early race difficulties: “Unfortunately the grip level dropped dramatically after the first few laps. Then we managed to get over this issue and were able to start a fight back. Overall the BMW M3 GT worked very well here once again, and we were able to prove this at various stages of the race. If we would not have had the issues in the beginning of the race, the podium would have been possible, but now we have to be satisfied with the thankless fourth place.”

Muller is disappointed that they lost so much time under the Safety Car as they should have been able to record more than a P6 result.

“It is certainly a shame that we lost so much time due to the safety-car phase. Six hours is a long time, but it is really difficult to bridge such a big gap in this really close field. After the difficult start we found a good rhythm, but then it just wasn’t possible to achieve more than P6,” said the German.

Two more ILMC rounds are scheduled for the rest of the season: On 1st October BMW Team RLL will not only fight for more ILMC points at the annual “Petit Le Mans” held at Road Atlanta (US), but also have their eyes on winning the American Le Mans Series GT titles. The ILMC season will then be concluded at the “Zhuhai International Circuit” in China on 13th November, with BMW Team Schnitzer again being in charge of fielding the two BMW M3 GT cars.

Monza sees Team Lotus Secure a Two Car Finish.

Monza saw the conclusion of the European leg of the 2011 FIA Formula One World Championship and for Team Lotus, it marked their best ever two car finish since they joined the grid in 2010.

Having survived the mayhem at the opening chicane, both drivers, Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli drove solid races to bring the two cars home in P13 and P14, Kovalainen matching the best result of the season for the team while Trulli had to recover after an early pit stop.

Kovalainen said about his race: “I had a great start, passing Jarno and then seeing the HRT coming into T1 in a pretty hardcore style so I avoided that and was then up into a good position early on. I managed to hold that place for a good number of laps and found the tyre degradation pretty easy to manage. The pitstops were really good today – the calls to come in were made at the right times and the whole crew did a great job to get me out so quickly, so thanks to them and the whole team for a good end to the weekend.”

Trulli describes what happened in his Italian Grand Prix  “For once I didn’t have a great start but I managed to avoid the crash at the first corner and luckily Heikki and I were able to get through that and avoid damaging our cars. While I was racing Heikki, I think Massa got into trouble into the first chicane, so I had to go off track to avoid hitting him. When I rejoined the track he shut the door on me, so I went down the inside, kept flat out and managed to overtake him. Then, going into the first corner I had two faster cars behind me with KERS – they had just pressed the button and while going into the second corner Massa lost the car under braking and hit me which forced me into the car next to me,  damaging the front end of the car and the front wing. It was really unlucky as I was basically in a sandwich and I was the only one that was damaged! The team did a great job to bring me in, change the nose and then rethink the strategy, switching me to one stop strategy pretty much straight away. From there my lap times were really good and I enjoyed the whole of the rest of the race. I’m really happy about the performance today and the pace was excellent all afternoon. In fact, throughout the whole weekend I have been very happy with the pace of the car overall and this morning’s news about next year’s contract has made this a fantastic home race for me – thanks to the whole team for that!”

Mike Gascoyne, Team Lotus Chief Technical Officer is pleased with how the race went for the team in general and is looking forward to the first of the season closing flyaway races, on the streets of Singapore.

Gascoyne said:  “That was a great race for us. Both drivers managed to avoid the carnage at the start but then Jarno lost a bit of time early on after being hit by Massa. That incident meant we had to bring him in to change his front wing, putting him back a few places but we switched his strategy and put him onto a long stint on the soft tyres before changing to the mediums. That change, and the fact he was pushing throughout the whole race, helped him get back in front of his direct opposition and he did well to finish 14^th. Heikki was also strong all afternoon and was holding the places he had gained at the start as long as he possibly could – we are all delighted that he brought his car home in 13^th without any issues at all as that was the primary goal for today. After a difficult Friday this performance was a great recovery from the team to show how we can bounce back from a difficult start to the weekend. It is been an extremely positive result which sets us up well for Singapore, so well done to everyone.”

For Team Lotus Team Principal, Tony Fernandes, he is pleased to have been at the race, having had a hectic few weeks with everything that has been going on around him.

Speaking before heading back to London ahead of the QPR vs. Newcastle Utd Premier League match, Fernandes said:  “It has been a great day for Team Lotus and, for me, about the best race I have been to so far! To come 13^th and 14^th at Monza is way above my expectations so I am very proud of both drivers and the whole team. Obviously the race had a number of incidents which helped our final grid positions, but there are two key points for us to take out of today – we were there at the end to take the advantage of the positions that were available and our pace over the race distance was strong enough to keep up with a number of the established teams. Both Heikki and Jarno did an absolutely fantastic job throughout the whole afternoon and they were helped by the pitstop crew who performed brilliantly, and the engineers who made the right calls at the right times. Well done to all. This has been a pivotal few days for our team and we will be making a number of announcements over the next few weeks that will show just how well we have laid the foundations for the future of our team. But now for me it is back to London and Loftus Road!”

Victorious Vietoris Secures Monza Finale Victory.

Christian Vietoris ensured that the Racing Engineering team had something to celebrate as he secured the honours in the final race of the 2011 GP2 Series at Monza, leading home Fabio Leimer (Rapax) and Jules Bianchi (Lotus ART) after surviving race long pressure from the duo.

For Vietoris, the victory was secured at the start, as both Bianchi and Leimer struggled to get away from the line; the German went between the two of them to lead before the first corner, while Adam Carroll (Super Nova Racing) had to settle for fourth after trying to move ahead of the duo before running out of track.

Behind the lead four, chaos ensued as Charles Pic (Barwa Addax Team) ran into the back of Champion Romain Grosjean (Dams) before running into the side of Luca Filippi (Scuderia Coloni), before slowing to a halt just after the chicane. Grosjean lost two laps as the team fitted a new rear wing while Filippi continued in his hunt for second in the Championship, just behind the top four were the hard charging duo of Sam Bird (iSport International) and Esteban Gutierrez (Lotus ART).

Filippi recovered one position on the next lap as he overtook Gutierrez while up at the front, Vietoris was under pressure from Leimer – but with the high speed Monza layout not favouring overtaking, the only way Leimer was going to get ahead was if Vietoris made a mistake.

Carroll wasn’t enjoying his race as he slipped behind Bird and Filippi in successive laps before leading a train of cars for the following ten laps.

As it stood – the battle for second overall saw Bianchi and Filippi equal on points but the Italian driver was using his local knowledge. With there being little chance of an overtake to help him gain a position, he waited for the gap to the drivers behind to grow and he then dropped back so he could put in a succession of fastest laps to secure the bonus Championship point to assist his quest for second overall.

When the chequered flag was dropped, Vietoris punched the air with delight having secured the victory by 0.7s from Leimer, while Bianchi, Bird and Filippi crossed the line nose to tail while a further seven seconds back was Gutierrez, who secured the final point.

The Championship battle had been decided at Spa, but the Vice Champion position was still to be filled and it went the way of Filippi by a point from Bianchi, while the teams’ honours went the way of Barwa Addax Team, ahead of Dams and Racing Engineering.

Monza GP2 Sprint Race Result:

Position	Driver	Team
1	Christian Vietoris	Racing Engineering
2	Fabio Leimer	Rapax
3	Jules Bianchi	Lotus ART
4	Sam Bird	iSport International
5	Luca Filippi	Scuderia Coloni
6	Esteban Gutierrez	Lotus ART
7	Dani Clos	Racing Engineering
8	Marcus Ericsson	iSport International
9	Luiz Razia	Caterham Team AirAsia
10	Pal Varhaug	Dams
11	Adam Carroll	Super Nova Racing
12	Alvaro Parente	Carlin
13	Giedo van der Garde	Barwa Addax Team
14	Stephane Richelmi	Trident Racing
15	Johnny Cecotto	Ocean Racing Technology
16	Rodolfo Gonzalez	Trident Racing
17	Josef Kral	Arden International
18	Max Chilton	Carlin
19	Jolyon Palmer	Arden International
20	Brendon Hartley	Ocean Racing Technology
21	Romain Grosjean	Dams
DNF	Davide Valsecchi	Caterham Team AirAsia
DNF	Charles Pic	Barwa Addax Team
DNF	Julian Leal	Rapax
DNF	Fairuz Fauzy	Super Nova Racing
DNS	Michael Herck	Scuderia Coloni

Felix da Costa Secures Final GP3 Victory of 2011.

The final round of the 2011 GP3 series saw Antonio Felix da Costa (Status Grand Prix) secure his first victory in the series in a thrilling race at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.

Felix da Costa secured the honours during a dramatic final race which saw James Calado (Lotus ART) cross the line second, before being given a twenty second penalty for failing to take his drive through penalty, for his part in the incident with Mitch Evans (MW Arden).

This demoted Calado to fourteenth and promoted Rio Haryanto (Marussia Manor Racing) to second while Nico Muller (Jenzer Motorsport) rounded out the podium finishers.

The Portuguese driver took an early lead as the lights went out but Pole Sitter Evans fought back a lap later. Conor Daly (Carlin) held third at the start but he was the first driver to see his race end early after Champion Valtteri Bottas (Lotus ART) hit him up the rear at Ascari, the Finnish driver getting a drive through penalty for the collision. Bottas team-mate, Calado, had fought his way into the lead, having moved ahead of both Felix da Costa and Evans.

The top six drivers were running nose to tail and they were covered by less than two seconds. This created a fierce battle and just behind the leading duo, Evans, Muller and Simon Trummer (MW Arden) were engaged in a three way battle for third.

Evans was soon the driver on the move, as he first moved into second before grabbing the lead from the GP3 Vice Champion. Calado came straight back at Evans but three laps later, it all ended in tears as Calado went wide and tapped Evans, which put the New Zealander out of the race.

This gave Felix da Costa the opportunity to move into the lead and soon enough, Calado was awarded a drive through penalty. He failed to respond to it and crossed the line second, but was given a twenty second time penalty.

Calado’s penalty saw Haryanto and Muller promoted to second and third respectively, while the top six was completed by Trummer, Callum MacLeod (Carlin) and Adrian Quaife-Hobbs (Marussia Manor Racing).

Had it not been for the penalty, Calado could have tied with Bottas if he had secured the victory and the fastest lap of the race as Bottas finished down in seventeenth position, scoring no points but he did secure the fastest lap of the race.

Nigel Melker rounded out the Championship top three, despite not finishing the final race of the season. He finished with 38 Points, two points ahead of Muller, who finished fourth overall. Quaife-Hobbs rounded out the Championship top five, level on points with Muller.

Monza GP3 Race 2 Results:

Position	Number	Driver	Team
1	5	A. Felix da Costa	Status Grand Prix
2	11	R. Haryanto	Marussia Manor Racing
3	7	N. Muller	Jenzer Motorsport
4	27	S. Trummer	MW Arden
5	15	C. Macleod	Carlin
6	10	A. Quaife-Hobbs	Marussia Manor Racing
7	24	G. Chaves	Addax Team
8	17	A. Vainio	Tech 1 Racing
9	23	T. Dillmann	Addax Team
10	28	L. Williamson	MW Arden
11	30	M. Christensen	RSC Mucke Motorsport
12	19	T. Pal Kiss	Tech 1 Racing
13	20	M. Stockinger	Atech CRS GP
14	3	J. Calado	Lotus ART
15	29	D. Mancinelli	RSC Mucke Motorsport
16	8	M. Zimin	Jenzer Motorsport
17	2	V. Bottas	Lotus ART
18	25	V. Ghirelli	Addax Team
19	1	R. Stanaway	Lotus ART
20	9	C.Hurni	Jenzer Motorsport
DNF	26	M. Evans	MW Arden
DNF	31	N. Melker	RSC Mucke Motorsport
DNF	21	N. Yelloly	Atech CRS GP
DNF	16	L. Cordeiro	Carlin
DNF	12	M. Laine	Marussia Manor Racing
DNF	22	Z. Amberg	Atech CRS GP
DNF	6	I. Lukashevich	Status Grand Prix
DNF	4	A. Sims	Status Grand Prix
DNF	18	T. Hylkema	Tech 1 Racing
DNF	14	C. Daly	Carlin

Paul-Loup Chatin: France’s Brightest Prospect?

Paul-Loup Chatin is currently racing in the new Formula Renault ALPS series as well as the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 series. The young French driver is also the first “Euroformula Volant” driver, a scheme which has helped fund him in the 2011 campaign.

Next weekend will see Chatin in action at the Paul Ricard circuit as the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 heads into its penultimate race weekend of the season. Chatin kindly took time out from his preparations to speak with Back Of The Grid.co.uk about his first season, how he got into Motorsport and tells us an interesting fact about himself.

Nineteen year old Chatin developed his interest in Motorsport by watching it on the television or by going go-karting, as he explains: “Since I am young (a child), I am watching auto sport on TV, either F1 or Rally. Moreover, sometimes I did go-kart for fun.”

While following the racing on TV, which driver would Chatin say is his idol? “My hero was Michael Schumacher,” explains Chatin.

Chatin started off his career by racing go-karts near his home, in Angerville before switching to single seater race cars at Le Mans: “I began go-kart in Angerville, close to my home and in single sitter in Le Mans.”

Speaking about his season to date, Chatin has been funded this season by the “Euroformula Volant” scheme, after winning the reward in 2010. He said: “I won 50.000 € with the 2010 Euroformula Volant Prize. It helps to finance my FR 2.0L seasons and it’s a great consideration for my sponsors and auto sports’ peoples.”

With the “Euroformula Volant” funding, Chatin is competing in the inaugural Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS Series as well as the Eurocup Formula Renault series. He explains a little bit more about the ALPS Series and how it came about: “The FR 2.0L ALPS Championship is born from the union of Swiss and Italian championships. It’s useful to get practice/driving and racing experiences.”

Competing in two separate Formula Renault campaigns with tech 1 Racing means that Chatin has had some good races in both the ALPS and Eurocup Series. Looking back over the ALPS campaign to date, he sums up his best race: “In the ALPS Champ, it was at Budapest at the second race, I started 5th and I finally won under rain with the Best lap.”

While in the Eurocup, which supports the World Series by Renault event, what would he say his best race to date this season is?

“In the EUROCUP Champ, it was at Hockenheim. I had a problem in qualification, so I started around the 26 place, and I ended 9th. And my third place, in Silverstone in EUROCUP is a great souvenir.”

Looking ahead, where would Chatin like to be racing in five years time? “F1 in five years time,” he said.

If Chatin was able to compete at any race circuit in the world, where would he like to compete at? “I really like Silverstone but my dream is to drive in Monaco.”

Given the freedom of choosing any racing driver from any discipline to be a one off team-mate for a one off race weekend, at any circuit in the world, who would Chatin choose and why?

“I would choose Jenson Button for his fineness’ driving and his very good tyres management. It would be in one Formula 1 in Silverstone.”

Asked for a single, non motorsport fact about him, Chatin explains what he does away from his racing programme.

“Before driving I did lots of Ski races, and now I am a ski teacher in the French Alps.”

There is also one worldly incident which Chatin will never forget, as he explains: “The 11 September 2001 attacks on the world trade centre are something I will never forget… “

Back Of The Grid.co.uk would like to thank Paul-Loup for taking time to speak with us and we would like to wish him all the best for Paul Ricard this weekend and for all future seasons. A special thanks goes to Jacques at Euroformula for helping to organise the interview.