During the first compasses of the race it was Maldonado who was pulling away at the front while the rest of the cars made for a tightly bunched snake of colour through the Monaco streets. For once early pit stops were not the general order of the day with cars stopping anywhere from lap 4 to lap 25.
Javier Villa was driving sensibly but quickly and was making up positions as the cars in front began to pit, by lap 12 he was 10th, lap 16 he gained another 5 places and by lap 20 he was third 4 seconds behind a battling Senna and Zaugg. Sergio had pitted on lap 18 and resumed in a combative 16th place.
Villa was leading a group of four cars but made a small error on exiting the tunnel chicane as his tyres went off; he immediately dived into the pits on the 23rd lap for his compulsory stop. He was quickly back in the race, but was in almost immediate trouble with some sort of problem at the rear of the car; unable to control the wayward Dallara he spun and hit the barrier hard. His closely following team mate, Sergio Jiménez, was lucky to be able to avoid contact.
The Pace Car was called onto the track as Villa’s car was pushed away. The Brazilian driver was now up to 15th which quickly became 14th and he was soon embroiled in a tough battle with Borja Garcia and pulling away from the chasing drivers. Sergio and Garcia rapidly closed in on a dice between Hirate and Senna and when Garcia ran wide at the Loews hairpin Jiménez dived to the inside. Unfortunately a combination of a locking brake and a lack of space meant that he and Garcia had a gentle coming together. With both cars interlocked they were unable to continue and both drivers clambered out of their cars.
Despite both of the Racing Enginnering cars failing to finish the race, their drivers have have had a positive performance on one of the most complicated circuits of the season.
Javier Villa:
“th nd made it through the first lap OK, I was pushing all the time and the car was doing well but the tyres were starting to get really old by the time I made my pit stop. I came out of the pits and started to push again but there was some sort of problem at the rear of the car and I couldn’t avoid spinning and hitting the barrier.”
Sergio Jiménez:
“The race wasn’t too bad and I had a good ace from the Stara but I was blocked and it is sodiffcult to pass. The car was great alter the pit stop, I traed passing the guy in front 5 laps from the end but he closed the door on me and I was out of the race. I ust need to do better in qualifying so that I am higher up in the grid.”
