Race 2
Glock wins Negrao 2nd
Timo Glock made up for his misfortunes of yesterday by
decimating the field in race two at Istanbul Park, claiming the win with
another clinical display of brute speed to finish almost ten seconds ahead
of Xandi Negrao and Adam Carroll as the German regained his lead in the
championship from rival Lucas di Grassi.After running qualifying pace laps
all race long in race one as a result of an unfortunately timed safety car
period, this morning Glock resumed apace, and the win was set up by a good
start followed by some aggressive overtaking to get to the front of the
field. With a surprising front row of Karun Chandhok and Negrao no one knew
what to expect when the lights went out, but both drivers got away well, the
former holding onto his advantage and a storming start from Kazuki Nakajima
splitting the pair, with Borja Garcia, Glock, Carroll, Giorgio Pantano and
di Grassi holding position behind them. One man who lost out yet again at
the start was Andi Zuber, who stalled at the back of the field and had to be
pushed into the pits to be restarted. Up at the front Nakajima was piling
the pressure onto Chandhok, but the Indian driver was equal to the
challenge, looking serene despite the constant red and white presence in his
mirrors. Further back and Glock was on a charge: he sliced past Garcia on
the first lap and then blew by Negrao next time around on the back straight,
putting himself into the top three and setting himself up for a few fastest
laps to get up to the leading pair. Further back di Grassi knew that his
championship rival was picking up points: he clearly needed to get some for
himself, but unfortunately he was in eighth place behind Pantano. Running
through the complex he saw a gap that closed rapidly and the pair collided,
with Pantano spinning helplessly around before getting away again as di
Grassi's rear wing disappeared into the distance.
Meanwhile Luca Filippi was driving as though his career
depended on it, clearly determined to make amends for his mistake in the
first lap yesterday: after starting second last he was carving through the
field like a hot knife through butter, running in eleventh after a couple of
laps and looking for even more as he closed in on the point paying
positions. His life was being made a little easier by silly moves elsewhere
on the track, in particular Sebastien Buemi making a silly lunge inside
Jason Tahinci at the final turn: the Turk was spun around and removed Adrian
Zaugg's front wing for him and the Swiss driver was soon in the pits to take
a drive through penalty, followed shortly after by his teammate for the move
on Pantano.Back at the front Nakajima was still harassing Chandhok, who now
also had the ominous extra pressure of Glock right behind the pair. The
Japanese driver clearly took this as a hurry up call, but unfortunately he
went for a gap that wasn't there at the final turn and punted Chandhok into
the gravel and retirement, a cruel blow after such a strong drive for the
Indian: Nakajima was soon in the pits for a drive through and then
retirement, but it was no consolation for the unhappy Indian driver. The
move handed the lead to Glock, who had looked to easily have the pace to get
by anyway: the German just put his foot down and tore away, and the rest of
the field looked like they were in a different race. That race now had
Negrao in front, with Carroll ahead of Garcia, Bruno Senna and Vitaly Petrov,
with Luca Filippi remarkably just outside of the points after the drive
throughs shook out: di Grassi had dropped to fifteenth and had no chance of
coming back. Senna was clearly pushing hard, and a points finish would be
welcome after an incredibly unlucky run of finishes, but it looked as though
it all went wrong when he missed his braking point at the end of the back
straight and ran wide, with Petrov and Filippi slipping through. The Italian
was clearly overjoyed to be up in the points and was looking for more. He
was noticeably faster than Petrov but the Russian was robust in his defence
of fifth, which ultimately forced the Italian into a mistake: Filippi ran a
little wide through turn one after braking too late and Senna could outdrag
him up the hill, undoing all of his good work. But when the laps ran out all
eyes were on Glock, who regained his title lead with a dominant performance
at the front to claim the win by 9.4 seconds over Negrao, who was
nonetheless delighted to claim his first ever podium in the series ahead of
Carroll. Garcia was the next man across the line, another plucky performance
to take fourth ahead of Petrov and Senna, with Zuber picking up the fastest
lap the last time around. With di Grassi finishing 11th and outside the
points for only the second time this year the championship swung back to
Glock's corner, 66 to 64, and the German was serene in victory, delighted to
score his third win of the season and score the result that his blinding
speed has warranted all weekend.
Race 1
di Grassi wins Negrao finishes credible 7th for 2
championship points. Roldan down in 11th
Lucas di Grassi has silenced his critics after claiming
his maiden GP2 win in race one at Istanbul Park, taking the top step of the
podium ahead of Giorgio Pantano and Adam Carroll as well as the lead in the
championship ahead of fourth placed Timo Glock. The Brazilian's win was set
up by his usual demon start and a good pitstop by his ART mechanics under
the safety car, and then later by a mistake by Andi Zuber ahead of him,
which meant the lead cycled back to di Grassi when the all of the pitstops
shook out. Di Grassi was not the only fast man at the start: Zuber sliced
between teammate Glock and poleman Luca Filippi when the lights went out to
take an early lead in the race, with the front row starters falling into
place in order behind him but ahead of Pantano, Carroll, di Grassi, Xandi
Negrao and Kazuki Nakajima.
Behind them chaos reigned as Mike Conway swapped ends out
of turn one and rolled straight into Andy Soucek, who went over the
Englishman just as Adrian Zaugg found the stricken Super Nova, putting
debris all over the track as the rest of the field scattered as they looked
for a way past. With Filippi spinning to a stop in the middle of the chicane
at turn ten and pieces of car at the end of the start straight there was no
other option but to bring out the safety car. Which is when the field dived
in for a pitstop en masse, except for Glock, Negrao, Roldan Rodriguez and
Ricardo Risatti. Zuber was the first man in, followed by di Grassi (who had
forced his way past Pantano at turn two and Carroll when Filippi spun), and
they were the first men out again, followed by Carroll and Pantano, then
Borja Garcia, Sebastien Buemi and local hero Jason Tahinci. Which is the
order they stayed in after the race went live again on lap four. Glock was
kept out rather than queuing behind Zuber in the pits, but it meant that the
German was going to have to set qualifying laps every time around from the
lead of the race and then hope that luck would swing back to him in the
latter stages when he had fresh tyres against the remainder of the field on
old rubber.Glock did his part well, leaving the other non-stoppers behind to
hold up the usual fast men as he set fastest lap after fastest lap.Risatti
was unable to stem the tide in his first race in the series, dropping down
the order and exposing Rodriguez to the effective leader of the race: Zuber
was the first of the stoppers, and he was determined to claim his second win
of the season.Zuber wasn't letting his teammate have everything his own way,
running at a similar pace but nonetheless being slightly held up by
Rodriguez. Lap after lap he piled the pressure on with his engineers telling
him the gap forward to his teammate, who was edging away slowly but
surely.On lap 20, with Glock setting yet another fastest lap and almost ten
seconds further up the road, Zuber was caught out under braking at the end
of the straight into the final complex, flicking left to avoid Rodriguez but
throwing himself over the kerbs, across the track and into the gravel. The
Austrian waved in vain for a push from the marshals, who would not have been
able to pull his car out, and Zuber's win evaporated.
Which handed the adjusted lead to di Grassi, who was never
going to make the same mistake: with his team keeping him updated on the gap
up to Glock the Brazilian had the luxury of sitting behind Rodriguez and
watching the laps tick over, although to his credit he still piled the
pressure onto the Spaniard, just in case. With Negrao and Rodriguez in on
laps 25 and 29 it was a straight speed fight between the two title
protagonists, and all eyes in the pitlane were on the timing screens.Glock
had a 16 second gap back to di Grassi when he stopped at the end of lap 28,
and it was never going to be enough. The iSport engineers were looking
further back to di Grassi's teammate Buemi in fifth, who could have been
called upon to be a spoiler after the inevitable stop until the Swiss driver
was forced into the pits and retirement due to a gremlin, after which the
focus turned to Garcia: with the gap out to 27.6 seconds it was time to come
in at last.Di Grassi tore past and into the actual lead as Glock trundled
down to the very end of the pitlane for his stop, with Carroll and Pantano
engaged in an almighty tussle a few seconds behind. Two rears were changed
and the German tore straight out and back onto the track, arriving just in
time to keep the Garcia/Nakajima slugfest behind him but a twelve second gap
up to the new leader: with five laps remaining it seemed an impossible
challenge.In front of him the fight for second was red hot, with Pantano
filling Carroll's mirrors all the way round the circuit. The inevitable push
came on lap 30 when the Italian stuck his nose inside his rival at the end
of the back straight: Carroll held his nerve and hauled the inside line back
in the twisty complex, just keeping his nose ahead on the front straight,
but Pantano had the momentum and sliced his way through as they dropped into
turn one.Behind them Glock was carving into their lead, but with the laps
running out only a mistake by one of his rivals would hand him a podium for
his troubles: it was a forlorn hope which was shattered when di Grassi was
cheered across the line by his team just over a second ahead of Pantano,
with Carroll dropping back but just holding on to beat Glock across the
line.Behind them Garcia punched the sky with delight after holding on
against race-long pressure from Nakajima for fifth, with Negrao taking
seventh as a reward for his early race pace and Karun Chandhok driving an
incredible race to finish eighth in a car that he had previously claimed was
almost undriveable, while Nicolas Lapierre claimed the point for fastest lap
on the final tour after stopping again for fresh tyres.But all eyes were on
di Grassi as he cruised into the pits and parked his car behind the number 1
sign: the Brazilian stood on top of his car to survey his cheering team in
front of him, pointing his fingers to the logo of long time supporter
Renault across his chest before bounding over to hug every member of his
team individually in celebration of his first win in the series, and the
re-emergence of ART after their first win since Silverstone last year.
Qualifying
Super Nova's Luca Filippi topped a hotly-contested
qualifying session where pole position changed hands at least a dozen times
before the Italian slammed in a time that no one else could match.Filippi
grabbed the top spot as early as ten minutes into the 30-minute session but
was immediately demoted by Giorgio Pantano.The Italian, in turn, who was
beaten by Adam Carroll, only for Pantano to take it back, before Andi Zuber
stole it, and then Filippi nabbed it back before the halfway point of the
session.The key to all the excitement was the use of Bridgestone's hardest
compound tyre, which caused chaos in the cold at Silverstone but produced a
remarkable session in the heat of Turkey, as it allowed drivers multiple
attempts at a lap time.
Pantano, however, then spun at Turn 1, taking the edge off
his new rubber. Timo Glock put in a lap of 1:34.502 that looked good for
pole, but that was to discount Filippi.The Italian took pole back for a
third and final time with a 1:34.470 - this despite being balked badly by
Andy Soucek in the final corners.0.224 seconds faster than anyone else.Glock
will start second, ahead of iSport teammate Zuber. Pantano (Campos), who
improved his position late on, will join him on the second row, while row
three comprises Adam Carroll (FMS) and championship protagonist Lucas di
Grassi (ART).Di Grassi had called for his ART team to give him a better car
in qualifying, which seemingly they did not, but at least rival Glock missed
out on the two points for pole.Xandi Negrao (Minardi/Piquet) shot up the
order in the closing seconds to start seventh, ahead of Kazuki Nakajima
(DAMS), Sebastien Buemi (ART) and Borja Garcia (Durango).At the back, the
recent additions/newcomers all qualified, led by Ricardo Risatti (Trident),
ahead of Marcos Martinez (who spun his Racing Engineering car several times)
and Henri Karjalainen (BCN).
Super Nova's Luca Filippi topped a hotly-contested qualifying session
where pole position changed hands at least a dozen times before the Italian
slammed in a time that no one else could match.
Filippi grabbed the top spot as early as ten minutes into the 30-minute
session but was immediately demoted by Giorgio Pantano.
The Italian, in turn, who was beaten by Adam Carroll, only for Pantano to
take it back, before Andi Zuber stole it, and then Filippi nabbed it back
before the halfway point of the session.
The key to all the excitement was the use of Bridgestone's hardest
compound tyre, which caused chaos in the cold at Silverstone but produced a
remarkable session in the heat of Turkey, as it allowed drivers multiple
attempts at a lap time.
Pantano, however, then spun at Turn 1, taking the edge off his new
rubber. Timo Glock put in a lap of 1:34.502 that looked good for pole, but
that was to discount Filippi.
The Italian took pole back for a third and final time with a 1:34.470 -
this despite being balked badly by Andy Soucek in the final corners.
That seemed to make Filippi, and his final lap as the chequered flag fell
was 1:34.278 - some 0.224 seconds faster than anyone else.
Glock will start second, ahead of iSport teammate Zuber. Pantano
(Campos), who improved his position late on, will join him on the second
row, while row three comprises Adam Carroll (FMS) and championship
protagonist Lucas di Grassi (ART).
Di Grassi had called for his ART team to give him a better car in
qualifying, which seemingly they did not, but at least rival Glock missed
out on the two points for pole.
Xandi Negrao (Minardi/Piquet) shot up the order in the closing seconds to
start seventh, ahead of Kazuki Nakajima (DAMS), Sebastien Buemi (ART) and
Borja Garcia (Durango).
At the back, the recent additions/newcomers all qualified, led by Ricardo
Risatti (Trident), ahead of Marcos Martinez (who spun his Racing Engineering
car several times) and Henri Karjalainen (BCN).
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Filippi Super Nova International 1:34.278 13
2. Glock iSport International + 0.224 15
3. Zuber iSport International + 0.267 14
4. Pantano Campos Grand Prix + 0.331 15
5. Carroll FMS International + 0.372 9
6. Di Grassi ART Grand Prix + 0.636 10
7. Negrao Minardi Piquet Sports + 0.761 13
8. Nakajima DAMS + 0.900 15
9. Buemi ART Grand Prix + 0.932 10
10. Garcia Durango + 0.940 15
11. Petrov Campos Grand Prix + 0.967 14
12. Conway Super Nova International + 1.035 14
13. Rodriguez Minardi Piquet Sports + 1.059 15
14. Lapierre DAMS + 1.209 16
15. Tahinci FMS International + 1.727 11
16. Tung BCN Competicion + 1.736 12
17. Hirate Trident Racing + 1.899 13
18. Senna Arden International + 1.943 12
19. Soucek DPR + 2.006 15
20. Zaugg Arden International + 2.038 15
21. Chandhok Durango + 2.040 13
22. Risatti Trident Racing + 2.490 15
23. Martinez Racing Engineering + 2.833 13
24. Villa Racing Engineering + 2.847 4
25. Karjalainen BCN Competicion + 4.164 16
Free Practice
Giorgio Pantano put himself on the top of the timesheets
with a blistering lap just at the close of free practice this morning,
firing the opening salvo of the Istanbul weekend and squeezing past Luca
Filippi and Adam Carroll. Pantano set the fastest first sector time on his
second last lap then slowed up to ensure a clear track in front of him
before screaming round in 1:35.598 to set the best time. Filippi followed
him across the line seconds later but missed the top spot by just 0.043,
with Carroll's best time set a few minutes earlier, stopping the clock one
tenth behind the Italian duo.To the popular saying regarding mad dogs and
Englishmen you can now add GP2 drivers into the mix, with 26 of them going
out onto the scorchingly hot track under the midday sun. The hard compound
tyres caught out quite a number of drivers in the first half of the session,
which saw spins galore as the field searched for the limits on the tricky,
rolling track.
Filippi took the top spot on the timesheets 7 minutes into
the session before spinning in the final complex, stopping just in front of
the pitlane entrance and causing a few problems for his pursuers. Luckily
for the Italian the marshals pushed him into the pits and he was able to
continue: Nicolas Lapierre spun at turn 4 and had no chance of continuing
the session, while Sebastien Buemi was also lucky find his way back after a
spin in the final complex a few minutes later.The top spot then alternated
between Timo Glock, Lucas di Grassi, Pantano and Carroll, who all managed to
set good times between the local yellow flags. One driver who didn't have
this problem was Javier Villa, who had to sit out most of the session with a
gearbox problem before putting a few laps in towards the endThe pace was
clearly picking up as the session went on, with the best time dropping 3
seconds from start to finish as Pantano pushed the rest of the field in the
closing stages. Behind the top three Glock and di Grassi were the next
fastest, albeit four tenths off the top time: the championship rivals were
separated by just one thousandth of a second as the chequered flag was
shown.As usual the times were tight all through the field, with the top 11
drivers covered by one second, and with most of the drivers now up to speed
on the circuit/hard tyre combination this afternoon's qualifying session
promises to make the pitlane even hotter.
1. Pantano Campos Grand Prix 1:35.598 12
2. Filippi Super Nova International 1:35.641 + 0.043 11
3. Carroll FMS International 1:35.787 + 0.189 13
4. Glock iSport International 1:36.022 + 0.424 16
5. Di Grassi ART Grand Prix 1:36.023 + 0.425 14
6. Garcia Durango 1:36.406 + 0.808 15
7. Zuber iSport International 1:36.459 + 0.861 14
8. Zaugg Arden International 1:36.471 + 0.873 15
9. Negrao Minardi Piquet Sports 1:36.491 + 0.893 15
10. Conway Super Nova International 1:36.573 + 0.975 15
11. Rodriguez Minardi Piquet Sports 1:36.574 + 0.976 16
12. Nakajima DAMS 1:36.842 + 1.244 16
13. Buemi ART Grand Prix 1:36.855 + 1.257 16
14. Chandhok Durango 1:36.856 + 1.258 14
15. Soucek DPR 1:36.889 + 1.291 14
16. Tung BCN Competicion 1:36.967 + 1.369 16
17. Petrov Campos Grand Prix 1:37.022 + 1.424 8
18. Senna Arden International 1:37.259 + 1.661 15
19. Tahinci FMS International 1:37.447 + 1.849 11
20. Villa Racing Engineering 1:37.716 + 2.118 7
21. Bakkerud DPR 1:37.890 + 2.292 16
22. Hirate Trident Racing 1:37.892 + 2.294 9
23. Martinez Racing Engineering 1:38.103 + 2.505 14
24. Lapierre DAMS 1:38.274 + 2.676 6
25. Risatti Trident Racing 1:38.309 + 2.711 16
26. Karjalainen BCN Competicion 1:41.308 + 5.710 15
Time schedule
All times Local
Friday Practice 12- 12.30pm
Qualifying 16- 16.30pm
Saturday Race1 16.00
Sunday Race 2 11am
