GP2 Series – Monaco races – Monaco circuit
Giorgio Pantano, involved in two incidents when hit by rivals, was unable to complete either of the two tests. Javier Villa is still making promising progress.
RACE 1
Neither of the Repsol drivers escaped from the usual incidents and traffic problems which are so common to the races held in Monaco. Both Giorgio Pantano and Javier Villa were unable to achieve a good result, after the Italian was victim of a number of brushes throughout the exciting test, and the Spaniard found it impossible to climb back from the low position he had started from.
Incidentally, the start, which is normally the moment each year when the most problems happen in Monaco, was this time exceptionally clean, with the 25 single-seaters passing through the Sainte Devote funnel without incident. Pantano, who started from fifth position, fell a couple of places when he was pushed against the protection barriers by Chandhock, forcing him to lift his foot off the gas, while Javier Villa, starting out in 18th position, climbed a place when he overtook Roldán Rodríguez.
Having seen their classification during the training sessions, both drivers’ tactic regarding the obligatory pitstop was very different, with Villa as one of the first to do the pitstop in order to have as much free ground ahead as possible over the next few laps, while Giorgio held out in the leading pack for as long as possible, only to stop when most of his rivals had already done so.
At the start everything went as planned, with Villa changing his tyres at the beginning of the test, and immediately starting to ride fast once he had returned to the race and there was no traffic ahead. But things started getting complicated for the Spanish team when the Dallara bearing the Repsol colours driven by Pantano was brushed by the Arden team single-seater driven by Sebastien Buemi, with fatal results for the Racing Engineering driver, forced to abandon the race when he had good options of finishing once again among the fastest, and of claiming a good starting position facing Saturday’s sprint.
Javier Villa was able, meanwhile, to stay in the race, though he soon met heavy traffic ahead, which prevented him from running his current pace and progressing in the classification, finally finishing in 14th place after a brush close to the end of the race with Conway, which cost him a ten position panalty on the following day’s starting grid.
Javier Villa
“I started off well. At the beginning I overtook Roldán, pushed hard for two laps and then stopped to change the tyres. From then on I was alone for 3 or 4 laps, until I caught up with the cars ahead. I was driving very fast and felt very comfortable in the car, but it was a tough race, with a lot of incidents.”
Giorgio Pantano
“The start wasn’t perfect. My tyres skidded hard and Chandhook pushed me against the wall, so I had to lift my foot off the gas. After that overtaking was hard. I was probably faster than a few of the cars ahead of me, but there was no way to overtake them. Then Buemi hit me and I was out. A shame, because I was in a good position, mainly thinking about Saturday’s race.”
RACE 2
With two drivers starting out at the back of the grid, there was not much room for optimism within Racing Engineering regarding the chance of getting good results in the sprint. And it was finally the case. Javier Villa ran a solid and intelligent race, avoiding the numerous incidents around him and finishing tenth, while Giorgio Pantano was forced to withdraw when he had a brush with another car early on in the test.
The race started under dark clouds and the threat of rain, but only a few drops fell before the start and all participants were using slicks. The 25 cars got off to a clean start from the grid, but when they reached the funnel at Ste. Devote, two of them came into contact with Bakkerud hitting Zuber from behind, flying over him. Both cars sponsored by Repsol of Racing Engineering passed by the area avoiding the debris on the track, with Giorgio forced very close to the fence. At the end of the first lap, Giorgio was 14th and Javier was just a few places behind, 17th, after a positive first lap.
Over the next few laps, Pantano struggled with Puglisi in front and with Filippi behind, all three drivers waiting for the slightest mistake by their rivals. Villa was in full battle with Hanley, who was right behind him and running a similar pace.
When Pantano passed through the chicane during the eighth lap he tried to overtake Puglisi, but while the Racing Engineering driver was making his move, the Durango driver pushed him against the wall leaving the tunnel, leaving Giorgio out of the race with damage to the front suspension of his car.
After Valerio spun around soon after Giorgio withdrew, the Safety Car intervened again and at the start of lap 12 the cars restarted the race with Javier Villa in fifteenth position, catching up with Kobayashi while Hanley pressed hard from behind. Over the next three laps things did not change, though Kobayashi later withdrew with damage to his suspension and Villa climbed to fourteenth position, closing in on Filippi.
During the final laps Javier Villa continued to attack, even cutting through the chicane three laps from the end, but was unable to overtake Filippi, though he did manage to put a slight distance between himself and Hanley, finishing in thirteenth position with a second and a half advantage over the Campos Racing driver.
Though it was not the weekend Racing Engineering expected, there is valuable information for the Spanish team at the end of it. Once more, the cars were totally reliable and Giorgio’s two withdrawals were due to brushes with other cars. What is more, as during previous races, both drivers ran competitve times during the qualifying tests and the race.
GP2 now takes a month’s rest before recontinuing the competition in Magny Tours, next 21st June.
Javier Villa
“We knew it was going to be a tough race. We were starting out from very far back and we have to look at how far we got. In the end we finished in number 13, so we climbed 11 positions. But that’s not what counts; what really matters is that we were a few decimal points behind the fastest lap time. That’s good news for all the team facing the next test and the rest of the championship.”
Giorgio Pantano
“I ran a good race and the car was performing well. But when I tried to overtake, my Italian friend Puglisi pushed me against the wall outside the tunnel and everything ended there.”
