GP2 Series – British races – Silverstone
The Repsol driver ends the weekend at Silverstone in the British Isles with a victory and a third place. Javier Villa sufered in the rain, finishing thirteenth yesterday and retiring today Sunday
RACE 1
Giorgio Pantano got another splendid victory, this time at Silverstone. The Italian driver showed a fantastic combination of speed and intelligence to win and so increase the lead he has at the top of the World Championship. His teammate Javier Villa finished thirteenth yesterday, but set the third fastest lap of the race. Demonstrating that the young Spanish driver is on the way to finding the good form he had last season
Fortunately for all the participants in the GP2 Series, the threat of rain was just that and the race began with blue skies, with the drivers making a clean start of this weekend´s 36 lap long race. Pantano got off to a great start from fifth position, moving up one place right at the beginning as he took advantage of the slow start made by Grosjean who also got in Zuber`s way. The Racing Engineering driver knew how to make the most of the situation. On the third lap he gained another position when the leader up to that point, Senna, made a mistake at Store, going off the track and losing several positions
Giorgio then began an interesting battle with his championship rival, Grosjean, the two fighting for the second place but soon after Senna also joined them.
The leaders had planned a very similar pit-stop strategy; Pantano stopped on lap 16, and one lap later Grosjean did the same returning to the track with the Italian`s Dallara tucked in behind the ART. Giorgio then began to attack Grosjean, the car sponsored by Repsol clearly demonstrating that it is faster. Unfortunately, a car retired in Vale brought out the yellow flags in one of the places where Pantano seemed to have a better chance of overtaking. Finally, when the two entered Abbey, Grosjean left a small gap, and although a car could hardly fit in the space, Giorgio made a dive for the inside and moved up to second position, with the two car touching tyres during the maneouvre.
The Repsol driver was now just 3.7 seconds behind the leader, Di Grassi, and he soon began to cut the gap and on lap 30, when the two came out of Stowe, Pantano stuck to Di Grassi`s car and when entering Club feinted to the inside. Di Grassi was covering the move but Giorgio took him on the right and so got the lead. The fight for the victory ended at that moment; on the remaining laps Pantano extended his lead and when he crossed the finishing line got his second victory with the Andalusian team.
What Javier Villa had to do was to make the best he could after starting from 13th position on the grid. From the start he was blocked in behind Tung and with Petrov just behind him. Javier tried to overtake Tung but was not able to get the better of the Chinese driver. As the cars ahead of him made their pit-stops Villa moved into better positions, even leading for a lap and a half before making his obligatory tyre change. Although he returned to the track in front of Petrov, he lost his position on the following lap when he span because his tyres were still cold. On lap 23 Villa was behind Vallés and attacking him trying to overtake and move into sixteenth position. On the next few laps he fought his way up to thirteenth position after taking advantage of several of his rivals` problems. That would be his position at the finishing line, setting the third fastest lap of the race.
Giorgio Pantano
“Everything worked perfectly and I have to give special thanks to the team because the car I had in the race was fast and for the quick tyre change. This is really sensational for me, for the team and for everybody; it was a fantastic race.”
Javier Villa
“I am very pleased with the race itself. I was getting good sensations from the car and I could clearly see that the problem was on the straights. That means that you have a lot of confidence for the next few races, because the mechanics and engineers have been doing a great job all year and they all deserve a great result, I hope it comes in Germany.”
RACE 2
Giorgio Pantano has become the big favourite to win the 2008 GP2 Series title after adding a new podium in the sprint race at Silverstone today. The Racing Engineering finished third in a very complicated race because of the rain. His teammate, Javier Villa, was one of the victims of the bad weather, he was not being able to finish after spinning out almost at the end of the race.
As the weather forecast predicted rain fell today at Silverstone, and the track was totally wet when the race began. The first lap made it more than obvious that the conditions were tremendously complicated and that the key would be not to making any mistakes. Giorgio Pantano interpreted the situation perfectly, winning no fewer than five positions on the first lap moving up to third place at the end of the first lap, after starting eighth, the position that the inverted GP2 grid had put him after yesterday’s victory.
Ahead of Pantano the Brazilian Senna and Di Grassi took advantage to get away from the rest after several mistakes were made by several of the drivers behind them, this turned into quite a large gap between the leading two and the rest of the field. For several laps Pantano tried to catch them up, only three seconds behind the two leaders, this is how he set the fastest lap at the beginning. But after going off the track a little on the seventh lap the Racing Engineering driver realised that he was taking too many risks and he opted to think more of the championship than on today’s race. Moreover, with a Silverstone expert, the British driver Mike Conway, close behind him staying in third place was not going to be easy and so Giorgio concentrated on protecting his podium finish and on adding some important points so that he could stay at the top of the overall classification. Something that the driver with the Spanish team was able to do after driving safely and consistently to the end of the 24 laps, he even got closer to the driver classified second, Di Grassi, who he had gradually stalked down, at the chequered flag he was just one second and a half behind the Brazilian.
Javier’s Villa race was not so brilliant. Starting in the middle of the group after his thirteenth place yesterday, the Spanish driver was unable to drive in good traffic conditions and with good visibility and so exploit all his potential. After being stuck behind Vallés for several laps, he was finally able to overtake him on lap 12, Villa was blocked by Buurman on the following laps, and when he tried to find a gap to get past him he ended up spinning in the slow area towards the end of the Silverstone circuit and he had to retire when he was 11th .
With today`s third place, Pantano continues to be the clear leader of the overall GP2 Series, with a lead of 11 points over Bruno Senna. Giorgio is also the driver with the most victories and podiums so far this season, a clear demonstration of his talent and of the excellent preparation of the Racing Engineering cars, since the Andalusian team has extended its enviable record for reliability.
Giorgio Pantano
“From 8th to 3rd is really good given the conditions. I decided to maintain my position and not take any risks, especially on the final ten laps when it began to rain again, so I had to make do with third position. I want to thank the whole team as we have had a great weekend.”
Javier Villa
“It was a difficult race and I never felt comfortable. For me it was complicated, as I have had few wet races. On the first part I lost a bit of time, and even though towards the end I went faster it was not enough.”
