Today`s race started in the heat and when the race was just under way, with the cars racing to the first curve, one of them span in the middle of the group and the result was chaos on the track. Villa lost a couple of places and moved down to 15th, meanwhile Martínez, who had made a good start, dropped a couple of postions too at the end of the first lap and was 18th. Unfortunately for him his race was going to be very short – on the 15th lap he span when trying to catch up with the cars in front of him. The Repsol driver was trapped in the escape lane without any chance of returning to the race.
Meanwhile Javier Villa was in a battle with Tung and Risatti, who he had just overtaken. Both the young Spaniard and the Chinese driver quickly got away from Risatti. On the next nine laps the Repsol driver fought hard to get past Tung, but his Dallara was not as fast as it was in yesterday´s long race. When there were just four lap’s left Villa continued to push hard but span and was forced to retire.
Although today`s results were not those expected by Racing Engineering, there are some positives to be taken from this weekend: Javier Villa showed once again that he is one of the fastest on the grid in the Saturday race, and Marcos Martínez got some valuable experience and showed that he is adapting well to GP2.
Javier Villa:
“Today was not at all easy. We were not as strong as yesterday and I was driving much closer to the limit, but without getting yesterday`s pace. Close to the end of the race I was pushing hard, made a small mistake, and I went off the track. The only positive thing from this weekend is that we have a really good race speed. At Monza I hope to be up with the leaders.”
Marcos Martínez:
‘I was not able to finish today`s race after I span and went off the track. My objective was to finish and I could not do so. Now I am dying for the race in Monza to start where I hope things go much better for us.”
Race 1 The first of the two races in Istanbul was a tough long test for the two Racing Engineering drivers. Both Javier Villa as well as Marcos Martínez did their best to find a way through the traffic as they began towards the back of the grid. A spin involving Conway on the first lap made the Safety car come out, so the Repsol drivers overtook some cars during the pitstop. As they got back on the track Villa and Martínez tried to move up in the classification by using the whole width of the track in Istanbul Park which is suited to overtaking at some points. On the sixth lap Javier Villa was 16th and Marcos Martinez 19th. But at that moment Javier Villa had a small spin and that took him off the good line and made him go through a dirty part, in the process he fell down a couple of places in the classification. The Repsol driver soon recovered the lost ground because on lap 11 he was back up to 16th and fighting with Senna, meanwhile Martinez was just behind them in 18th place.
Javier Villa got closer and closer to the group containing Tung, Tahinci, Senna and Petrov and on lap 15 he had caught them up and was in the middle of a dogfight. At some moments the three cars were alongside each other going along the track in parallel, but one lap later Villa got past a car and was up to 14th, but at the same time his teammate was up to 16th. On lap 25 the pressure that Villa put on Petrov brought its results – the Russian blocked his brakes and allowed the Racing Engineering driver through. A car in front of them had to retire and so the two Repsol drivers moved up another position to 12th and 15th.
With the race coming to an end Villa got to within three tenths of Rodríguez, but there was no time for any more overtaking. Villa was 12th and his teammate, Marcos Martinez, just one place behind him.
Javier Villa:
“I started well and got an advantage after the incidents on the first few laps when the Safety car came out. Like many other drivers I chose that moment to change tyres, although I lost a couple of positions. I then found myself behind some slower cars and when I was trying to overtake I missed a curve and span. From then on it was just about overtaking. The car got better as the race went on but I noticed a little was missing on the setup because we could not drive much on the Friday. During the race I was changing things and now we have the information that we need to attack in the sprint tomorrow.”
Marcos Martínez:
“This was a good race to get experience in the car as I still do not know very well how it reacts and its ride and handling change as the race develops. Nevertheless, I was able set a good consistent pace that put me in 13th place. I think that is a good position to start in tomorrow.”
