Race 2
First Podium for Roldan
Javier Villa has claimed his third Sunday win for the
season in race two at the Hungaroring, regaining the lead after an accident
in front of him and then soaking up race long pressure to take the chequered
flag just 0.6 seconds ahead of yesterday's winner Adam Carroll.The win came
despite a relatively slow start from pole which saw fellow front row starter
Adrian Zaugg storm away into the lead, with third place starter Roldan
Rodriquez also making short work of his countryman further around the
track. Behind then Carroll had a storming start from eighth to fifth at turn
one before disposing of Borja Garcia at turn three and heading off after his
former teammate. Lucas di Grassi had been confident of a good result this
morning, but an uncustomary slow start dropped the Brazilian to sixth place,
just ahead of a fierce battle between Andi Zuber, Kazuki Nakajima, Timo
Glock and Giorgio Pantano, whose usual rocket start had propelled him up
from sixteenth on the grid to the fight for the final points finish.
Further back Pastor Maldonado was looking ragged, hoping
for gaps that weren't there as he tried to go inside Bruno Senna: the pair
inevitably came together and both men went wide. It was a fight that was to
bound to continue as the Brazilian could not seem to escape his rival, and
the Venezuelan seemed unable to make a clean pass.Back at the front and
Garcia was dropping like a stone: di Grassi was through on lap two for fifth
place, and then Glock also passed him after a brave move to dispose of
Nakajima, which Pantano also took advantage of, sparking a fierce battle
between the Italian and Japanese drivers. On lap six Nakajima saw his chance
into turn one as Pantano moved to pass Garcia: the pair banged wheels as the
drove down to turn two but Pantano held on resolutely. Zaugg was clearly
slower than his pursuers: with just 2 seconds covering the top six as they
struggled to find a way by the South African. Eventually Rodriguez had
had enough and took a look up the inside at turn two: Zaugg shut the door
too hard and the pair collided, allowing Villa and Carroll through before
Rodriguez got back on track, with di Grassi and Zuber slotting in ahead
of the former leader, who now had Glock on his tail.The German was through
into the points one lap later, an incredible result after another
disappointing weekend so far, but he was soon on his teammate's tail and
looking for more while Zaugg was causing more problems behind him, baulking
Pantano out of turn one next time by to allow Nakajima to get past, and then
squeezing Nakajima wide at the same corner as he tried to overtake the South
African on the next lap.
It wasn't going to last: Nakajima saw a gap that wasn't
really there the next time around at turn two, bounced over the kerbs and
into the side of Zaugg, who limped back to the pits and retirement. The
Japanese driver was handed a drive through penalty for his efforts, but he
too was soon back in the pits and out of his car due to damage picked up in
the collision. While the battle at the front continued at a frenetic pace
the fight for fourth was white hot: di Grassi was holding on for dear life
as the iSport pair, led by Zuber, sniped at his rear. Unfortunately for the
Austrian he was just too close, losing the air over his front wing and his
downforce with it, spinning off and handing the fight to teammate Glock. The
German was in his element, toying with his title rival as he popped out at
every corner, not looking to overtake so much as force di Grassi into a
mistake to lose any chance of points. For four laps the showboating
continued, Glock looking easily the faster of the pair until he slowed
dramatically: his gearbox has given up the fight and he was forced in
another heartbreaking retirement.But at the front of the field last year's
Racing Engineering teammates were in the final throws of battle, with Javier
Villa just holding on from Adam Carroll as the chequered flag dropped.
Roldan Rodriguez finished third after another gutsy drive to finish three
seconds back but well ahead of a relieved Lucas di Grassi, who headed
Borja Garcia across the line. The Spaniard's teammate Karun Chandhok looked
to have done enough to earn the final point until his gearbox also gave up
the ghost on the final lap after immense pressure in the closing stages from
Andi Zuber, who claimed sixth ahead of Giorgio Pantano, with Sebastien Buemi
setting the fast lap on his final tour. On the podium Villa was all smiles
as Carroll picked him up to honour his outstanding drive before Rodriguez
covered the pair in champagne, much to the delight of Villa's team below:
they had gone through yet another difficult weekend but were delighted to
close it with another win. But further down the pitlane and Glock was ruing
what could have been as he watched his championship lead cut to just one
point, 55 to 54 for di Grassi.
01- J. Villa - Racing Engineering - 42:29.159
02- A. Carroll - FMS International - + 0.662
03- R. Rodriguez - Minardi Team Piquet - +
4.455
04- L. Di Grassi - ART Grand Prix - + 13.300
05- B. Garcia - Durango - + 16.498
06- A. Zuber - iSport International - + 17.307
07- G. Pantano - Campos - + 19.071
08- M. Conway - Super Nova International - + 19.914
09- V. Petrov - Campos - + 27.589
10- K. Hirate - Trident Racing - + 32.429
11- J. Tahinci - FMS International - + 51.937
12- B. Senna - Arden International - + 52.926
13- A. Negrao - Minardi Team Piquet - + 56.223
14- N. Lapierre - DAMS - + 1:14.519
15- K. Chandhok - Durango - + 1 laps
16- L. Filippi - Super Nova International - + 1 laps
17- S. Buemi - ART Grand Prix - + 1 laps
18- T. Glock - iSport International - + 1 laps
19- A. Soucek - DPR - + 12 laps
20- K. Nakajima - DAMS - + 13 laps
21- A. Zaugg - Arden International - + 18 laps
22- P. Maldonado - Trident Racing - + 20 laps
23- H. Tung - BCN Competicion - + 26 laps
Report to follow
Race 1
Great drive by Roldan
Adam Carroll scored his second GP2 win of the season at
the Hungaroring on Saturday after an inspired strategy paid off.Carroll, who
started sixth, stayed out later than the other front-runners, despite the
threat of a safety car when Pastor Maldonado shunted heavily at Turn 3 just
behind him.
The real turning point came on lap 14, when Luca Filippi
suffered a huge accident that sent his Super Nova car into the barriers at
high speed exiting the final corner.As he spun back across the track, he
clipped Vitaly Petrov, who in turn collected Xandi Negrao. All three were
uninjured, but the safety car was required.Carroll made his stop as the
safety car boards came out. Although it looked too late to keep the lead,
the short nature of the Hungaroring's pitlane, coupled with the fact that
Karun Chandhok was heading the pack at a sensibly slow pace through the
debris field, Carroll managed to rejoin in front of everyone - but only
just.Chandhok, who was yet to make his mandatory stop,
ran second but was soon demoted by Kazuki Nakajima at the restart. Borja
Garcia, on the same strategy as Carroll, ran fourth but was soon passed by
Andi Zuber, who then demoted Chandhok for third a couple of laps later.Zuber
chased down Nakajima, who ran close to Carroll until the finish, but could
not find a way past those in front. So Carroll won by 0.7 seconds from
Nakajima and the close-following Zuber.Giorgio Pantano should have been at
least fourth, but his car broke down in the last eight laps, just as he
looked poised to make an attack on the leaders. That promoted Lucas di
Grassi to fourth, and he has now closed to within four points of the series
lead.Di Grassi led from the start, passing pole man Timo Glock around the
outside of the first corner, but gave up his top spot to Pantano when he ran
wide.Glock suffered a disastrous pitstop, when his right-rear refused to
tighten correctly. His charge back through the field was interrupted when he
clipped Adrian Zaugg and spun. He finished 10th.
Borja Garcia finished fifth, ahead of Roldan Rodriguez,
Zaugg and Javier Villa. Villa takes the reverse grid pole position for
Sunday.
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Carroll FMS International 1h06:39.582
2. Nakajima DAMS + 0.714
3. Zuber iSport International + 1.156
4. Di Grassi ART Grand Prix + 12.204
5. Garcia Durango + 13.072
6. Rodriguez Minardi Piquet Sports + 17.513
7. Zaugg Arden International + 31.138
8. Villa Racing Engineering + 31.455
9. Tung BCN Competicion + 31.994
10. Glock iSport International + 32.399
11. Hirate Trident Racing + 32.826
12. Soucek DPR + 38.226
13. Senna Arden International + 38.936
14. Chandhok Durango + 49.538
15. Buemi ART Grand Prix + 4 LAPS
Not Classified:
Driver Team On lap
Pantano Campos Grand Prix 34
Bakkerud DPR 28
Tahinci FMS International 22
Petrov Campos Grand Prix 12
Negrao Minardi Piquet Sports 12
Filippi Super Nova International 12
Niemela BCN Competicion 11
Maldonado Trident Racing 8
Lapierre DAMS 8
Conway Super Nova International 0
Fastest lap: Buemi - 1:29.578
Qualifying
Timo shows the way. Roldan 14th Negrao
19th
Timo Glock celebrated his elevation to BMW Sauber F1
reserve driver status this weekend by claiming pole position for Saturday's
GP2 feature race at the Hungaroring. Series leader Glock outpaced iSport
teammate Andreas Zuber by 0.190 seconds, and the pair ended over half a
second clear of the opposition led by ART's Lucas di Grassi. Giorgio
Pantano (Campos Grand Prix) will start fourth, but will rue busting a lap in
which he'd set the fastest first sector time. Glock ruled the split times
elsewhere.
The session really came alive in the closing minutes, with
di Grassi laying down the initial benchmark with a lap of 1:28.349. Then
Glock banged in his flyer - a 1:27.566, some 0.7 seconds faster.Zuber
had time to chip away at his fastest lap, bringing it down to 1:27.756 on
his final effortPastor Maldonado will start fifth for Trident, ahead of a
truly last-ditch effort from Adam Carroll (FMS). His session appeared spent
when he spun at the same chicane he'd spun at this morning. He recovered to
set a cracking sixth fastest time of 1:28.648, but might be in trouble with
the stewards as his spin was under waved yellow flags.
Luca Filippi was seventh fastest for Super Nova, ahead of
a subdued Kazuki Nakajima (DAMS), Nicolas Lapierre (DAMS) and Andy Soucek (DPR).The
session was punctuated by a couple of big crashes, the first Karun Chandhok,
who spun his Durango car into the tyrewall, and the second Kohei Hirate, who
found a more direct approach to smashing his car into the tyres. Both walked
away unhurt.
Those who didn't fare well in the timesheets included
Sebastien Buemi (15th for ART), Mike Conway (18th for Super Nova) and Bruno
Senna (24th for Arden). Despite iSport's dominance, there is hope for di
Grassi: the last time Glock and Zuber started from the front, at Magny-Cours,
they crashed i nto each other within seconds of the start.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Timo Glock iSport International 1:27.566 15
2. Andreas Zuber iSport International 1:27.756 + 0.190 14
3. Lucas Di Grassi ART Grand Prix 1:28.349 + 0.783 11
4. Giorgio Pantano Campos Grand Prix 1:28.411 + 0.845 15
5. Pastor Maldonado Trident Racing 1:28.546 + 0.980 14
6. Adam Carroll FMS International 1:28.648 + 1.082 17
7. Luca Filippi Super Nova International 1:28.715 + 1.149 14
8. Kazuki Nakajima DAMS 1:28.716 + 1.150 16
9. Nicolas Lapierre DAMS 1:28.775 + 1.209 15
10. Andy Soucek DPR 1:28.797 + 1.231 14
11. Borja Garcia Durango 1:28.852 + 1.286 17
12. Javier Villa Racing Engineering 1:28.869 + 1.303 15
13. Vitaly Petrov Campos Grand Prix 1:29.038 + 1.472 15
14. Roldan Rodriguez Minardi Piquet Sports 1:29.127 + 1.561 16
15. Sébastien Buemi ART Grand Prix 1:29.209 + 1.643 14
16. Ho-Pin Tung BCN Competicion 1:29.330 + 1.764 13
17. C.Bakkerud DPR 1:29.387 + 1.821 13
18. Mike Conway Super Nova International 1:29.477 + 1.911 12
19. Alexandre Negrao Minardi Piquet Sports 1:29.497 + 1.931 10
20. Kohei Hirate Trident Racing 1:29.560 + 1.994 15
21. Adrian Zaugg Arden International 1:29.588 + 2.022 14
22. Karun Chandhok Durango 1:29.899 + 2.333 4
23. Jason Tahinci FMS International 1:30.024 + 2.458 14
24. Bruno Senna Arden International 1:30.245 + 2.679 15
25. Markus Niemela BCN Competicion 1:30.801 + 3.235 14
26. Marcos Martinez Racing Engineering 1:34.670 + 7.104 3
Timetable (Times Local)
Friday August 3rd Practice 11 - 12.30
Qualifying 16-16.30
Saturday August 4th Race 1 16.00
Sunday August 5th Race 2 10am
