GP2 Series – Spanish races 1 – Montemeló
The second GP2 race disputed this morning in Barcelona gave the Racing Engineering team the opportunity to climb to second position in the team classification, after a great performance by Giorgio Pantano and Javier Villa. The Italian took a positive third position, after a good race where, in spite of his fast pace, he was unable to make any further progress.
The Repsol driver was obstructed by Sébastien Buemi, who took full advantage of the characteristics of the Catalunya Circuit to defend his position. Teammate Javier Villa staged an impressive comeback; starting from fourteenth position, Villa finished sixth, in the points zone.
In spite of a good start, Giorgio Pantano was unable to climb positions, and was trapped behind Swiss driver Sébastien Buemi. The Repsol driver was affected by an error in the sixth gear ratio, which prevented him from from getting out of the groove and overtaking on the tricky Barcelona track. Six laps from the end, Giacomo Ricci’s single-seater spun leaving the chicane, forcing the entrance of the Security Car. When the obstacle was removed one lap later, an incident involving the leader, Sébastien Grosjean, punished him with a Drive Through, clearing the way for Pantano to climb a position, finally finishing third.
Javier Villa staged an impressive comeback. Starting from fourteenth position, the Repsol driver overtook five rivals during the first four laps. From that moment on, he stayed in a stable ninth position, defending himself from Malsechi’s attacks, and climbing a place when Petrov withdrew. When the Safety Car entered the track, all the drivers regrouped, and when the race took off again, the Repsol driver had a brush overtaking Maldonado. At that moment, in spite of having provisionally climbed a position, Malsechi seized the chance to overtake Villa, who had to make do with seventh postion. The final sanction imposed on Grosjean gave him a final sixth place and the reward of a first point in this championship after a good race.
Giorgio Pantano, 3rd at 1,962 sec. >> Audio
“Today I finished third and I’m happy, because my aim was to finish on the podium. I think yesterday’s and today’s results are very good, because having seen the precedents, in my previous championships I never scored points in the first race. However, we’re leaving here with eight points. I think we’ve started well and now what we have to do is continue working, get to know each other better, and improve race by race, which I think is very realistic.”
Javier Villa, 6th at 8,480 sec. >> Audio
“After yesterday’s test, with problems at the start and with the pace, we had to work and prepare for today as if it were a kind of test for the championship. I think I got off to a good start and during the first lap did my best. We kept up good pace, good enough to have achieved more than we actually did, but if you start out in the lead you can obviously race faster. It was a good race, we almost caught up with Giorgio -Pantano-, who had started fifth, while we were in fourteenth position. Then there was a small mistake by everyone which ended up in a brush with Maldonado. It was something which shouldn’t have happened during the race. The wheel was affected and I couldn’t go for it. Luckily, there were only three laps left and that saved us.”
