Javier Villa pit-stopped on lap eleven to change tyres. One lap later the safety car was out after an accident involving Filippi. His car hit the trackside barriers and then rebounded across the track leaving a sprinkling of car parts on the track, in total three other cars were caught up in the incident. The Repsol driver avoided problems and got behind Zaugg and Glock for the five laps that the Safety Car was out.
When the race restarted, Zaugg and Glock quickly got past Tung whilst Villa tried to do the same. Over the following 14 laps there was a dogfight between Zaugg, Tung and Villa, with the first of these lapping slower than two just behind him. This allowed Hirate to close in on the Repsol driver but he was unperturbed and kept up his pressure on Tung.
On lap 31, Tung tried to pass Zaugg on the inside but came out of it leaving a gap open, Javier Villa took advantage and climbed another place to 9th. The Repsol driver was soon after Zaugg, trying to find a way to get past and get a valuable 8th position. This he got with Pantano`s retirement, who at that moment was fourth.
From then on Javier Villa concentrated on protecting his position from the attacks launched by Tung, whilst he tried to find a way past Zaugg. The Repsol driver finally got up to 8th place which gave him the pole position in Sunday`s race.
His team mate Marcos Martínez had nothing but bad luck yesterday. During the free training he had no problems, improving his times as he got to know the circuit and the car. However, in timed training there was a disappointment for the Spanish driver; on his second lap the Repsol driver set good times on sectors 1 and 2, but when he reached curve 11, towards the end of the circuit, he accidentally touched one of the buttons on his steering wheel and his engine stopped. An unfortunate incident which was probably caused by the bumpy Hungaroring circuit.
Marcos Martínez could not continue and set a time that 107% more than the pole position, and so the marshalls did not let him start the race on the Saturday. After the session the team studied the Spanish driver`s telemetrics data on the previous sectors and there was no doubt that he had been unlucky, he would have set a time within the limit stipulated by the rules, that is to say under 107%.
Javier Villa:
“Finishing 8th is not bad at all, although this weekend I was hoping for more. I wanted to be among the first four otr five, but the race was very close and there were a lot of incidents. Now we have to prepare tomorrow`s race well, and if I get another podium finish that would be great ”
This Sunday Javier Villa won his third race of the season, making everybody aware of how talented and mature he is by winning the tough round held at the Hungaroring in the morning. The result in yesterday`s race – 8th – allowed Villa to start from pole, but when he set off he had been overtaken by Zaug, but he was not able of returning the deed at the first corner. Before finishing the first lap the Repsol driver had also been overtaken by Rodríguez.
The four leading cars, Zaugg, Rodríguez, Villa and Carroll, did not take long to get away from the rest; with Villa just one second behind Rodríguez at the end of the first five laps. Very soon the leading group was bunched up as Zaugg seemed to be slowing the other three down. On the ninth lap Rodríguez tried to overtake on the inside but Zaugg shut the hole, but the two collided and they both shot off the track to the outside and Villa and Carrol immediately overtook them to occupy 1st and 2nd places.
Once in the lead the Repsol driver had an open track and was able to go at his own pace and was soon setting faster times than Zaugg and Rodríguez behind him. The battle between Villa and yesterday`s winner, Adam Carroll, was very hard, the two set very similar times and so were able to get away from Rodríguez.
As the laps went by Villa fought to increase his lead by tenths of a second and in the end was almost up to one and a half seconds. However, Carrol continued to breathe down his neck and the gap went down to under one second. The Repsol driver would not budge though and he managed to finish the race without making any mistakes and so get another victory.
Javier Villa:
“Winning today ahead of yesterday`s winner, Adam Carrol, is even more important than winning such a tough race. I did not get off to the best possible start and the first few laps were difficult. But after the fourth lap I was able to speed up and get close to the two leaders. When they made a mistake I overtook them, I was able to up my pace and both Adam and I escaped. From then on we saw that we could go faster and go on to win.”
