GP2 Series – French races – Magny-Cours
The French circuit of Magny–Cours was the venue this weekend and were Giorgio Pantano once again got to the top of the GP2 driver classification. The Repsol driver won Saturday`s race and today, Sunday, was forced to retire after an accident. His teammate Javier Villa overcame some difficulties but in the end finished the two races and took another step in the right direction.
Race 1
Giorgio Pantano did what was expected of him, winning the long race yesterday and in addition setting the fastest lap. The peformance of the Repsol driver in the race also put him in a clear first place in the Drivers` Championship. Javier Villa had a difficult problem to overcome yesterday, as he had to do his best because he started in 23rd position on the grid. Villa overtook throughout the race to finish in 13th position.
Giorgio made a great start, passing Grosjean in the first few metres putting his Dallara Racing Engineering car sponsored by Repsol, into second position behind Senna the leader. At the end of the first lap the Italian was just behind Senna, both cars completing the first lap with a difference of just 0.6 seconds, with Grosjean in third position. Over the following laps the two were very equal with a difference of less than one second. On lap 8 they had already left Grosjean 2.8 seconds behind.
On lap 18 Giorgio and Senna had to make their scheduled pit stops, Giorgio losing one place with repect to Grosjean who had stopped a couple of laps before. In spite of this the Italian quickly got behind the French driver. On lap 21 Senna suddenly lost speed as he had clutch problems and Giorgio moved up to second place behind Grosjean. The difference between the first and second was around one second; but when the cars started lap 33 Grosjean was also forced to slow down due to mechanical problems and so Pantano took the lead.
With just 8 laps left and with a 9 second advantage over di Grassi, Giorgio Pantano took the remaining laps calmly, so as to make sure of a great victory for him and the Spanish Racing Engineering team, who once again this season could demonstrate its competitiveness.
For Javier Villa it was a less dramatic race. Starting in 23rd position the young Spaniard made a good start finishing the first lap in 20th position. The Andalusian Racing Engineering team decided on an early pit stop for Villa, and so on lap 7 he stopped, his team quickly returning him to the race. During the rest of the race Villa was involved in a tense battle with Soucek. The two had climbed in the classificatioon taking advantage of other drivers` problems.
On lap 29 a tough fight between Buurman, Rodriguez, Soucek and Javier Villa had come about. Three laps from the end Soucek went into a curve too late and Villa tried to overtake him but Soucek touched the front of the Repsol car when it returned to the track. The fight continued until the very end of the race, with Villa finishing in 13th position right behind the car driven by Soucek.
Race 2
With the asphalt wet the cars got into their postions on the grid for the 28 lap race. With the threat of more rain there was a lot of doubts concerning the type of tyres to use, dry or slick. The majority of the drivers, including Pantano, decided on wet tyres, but several of the drivers at the back of the grid, who had little to lose among these Javier Villa, chose slicks and these turned out in the end to be the best ones.
The start was clean for all the drivers, although Villa lost a few positions as the car he had ahead of him was slow getting started. At the end of the first lap Giorgio had climbed one place, up to seventh position, but Javier was held back in 19th position. The Italian gained another position on lap 2, chasing Maldonado and getting away from Nunes.
On lap 5, Pantano made his pit stop and the Andalusian Racing Engineering team quickly replaced his old tyres with smooth ones. Javier had been progressing among the chasing group taking advantage of the pit stops made by the cars in front of him to put dry tyres on. On lap 10 he was already ninth, while Pantano was in 14th position after his pit stop.
Giorgio was aiming to get among the points and on lap 14 he tried to overtake Petrov when both cars entered the Adelaida fork. The driver sponsored by Repsol tried on the inside but the Russian did not give him any space and the two cars hit each other at speed. It was immediately obvious that Giorgio had got some suspension problems, this meant that he had to stop again and later he had to retire.
Javier Villa continued racing as rapidly as possible on a slippery track but on lap 18 he braked late for a curve, losing two positions to Zuber and Kobayashi. The young Spaniard continued to push hard on the remaining laps while several of the cars that he had ahead of him had mechanical problems or went off the track. Villa In the end was able to finish in tenth position.
Although the results obtained today by the team based in Sanlucar de Barrameda (Cadiz), were not those expected the Racing Engineering team has once again demonstrated that its cars are very competitive and potential winners at any circuit. Moreover, they have once again shown themselves to be very reliable with both cars finishing the three races, and the only retirement was due to an accident.
The GP2 teams now go to Silverstone for a race in two weeks time.
Giorgio Pantano
“Everything went perfectly for me today. The car, the team… Everything was magnificent. We have a fast car but unfortunately we did not start in pole position and we had a little luck when Senna and Grosjean had problems with their cars, so them I decided to take it easy until the end of the race. Sometimes I have good luck and sometimes bad.”
“The conditions this morning were very difficult. I made the decision to leave with wet tyres and to take advantage of the wet track. When it dried we had to change to slicks, but it was too late. Later I had a collision with Petrov and that ended my race.”
Javier Villa
” It was quite a tough race. We thought that we could be fast in spite of starting at the back of the grid, but I did not feel comfortable in my car. We need to improve right now, tomorrow.”
“It was a difficult race. The track was completely wet, but we knew that after a few laps it would be drier. At the end of the race I was going very fast and I really had some fun. I have not finished in a good position, but this was also due to the bad track conditions.”
