"My second race in WC, and again I bring points home! I'm really happy because the starting grid had only incredible names...
There isn't much to say about my race. Maybe I would have been able to resist more laps to DeWit if i hadn't ran out of fuel in the pit entry, and my pit stop had put the right fuel (put 20 laps instead of 16)..."
"The beginning of the race was really poor. I couldn't practice from thursday, and did only the warmup. I had to wait until mid-race to see my laptimes improve, but it was too late.
Anyway, even with slightly better pace I don't think that a point was possible for me today.
I'm still happy with another top10 position.
Thanks to fred for helping me with the setup, a shame he had problems again."
"I did very little practice (280 laps counting non-finished laps) so I knew I couldn't fight for any points. I focused on consistancy and 1-stop, hoping there will be some incidents. There weren't enough :D
I damaged a bit the car after dodd's spin, but it didn't hurt too much. I'm still happy with another top-10 position, a good fight with kasimatis who was faster ;)
Congrats to Bruno, and of course Sebastian who did an amazing race!"
"This track is one of my favorites. The layout really suits to me, and with not too much practice I was able to do quite fast laps.
My quals went fine, but with only 2 thenths faster i would have been 4 or 5 positions better.
At the start, I lost some valuable positions due to the pressure and also to a bug (with max visible vehicles). After that, I was 13th behind Kasimatis.
I started to have a slow rythm, and I couldn't go faster. I could overtake Marconi in pits in lap 20 with an amazing pit-in.
I had to wait final stint and ferry koek in front of me to finally achieve good laps. he was 2s in front with 15 laps to go and 1-2 thenths gained per lap...
5 last lap worth all my season sofar, in term of fun. I was very close to him and I thought I could try an overtake in lap 59 or 60...but he could drive very fast despite the pressure (especially last lap) and made no mistake (even we were both at the limit, with the car sliding a bit sometimes...close to a spin!)
Thanks Ferry for this nice battle, and the team (Fred, Rogerio) for the help/support."
"The first 200 meters were very good, I took a beautiful start and I was next to my team mate Phil, 2 positions ahead. Unfortunately, we all know the lag problems that happen in this start...and that made maybe patrick change his line so fast. I simply couldn't avoid him...and lost my front wing plus damaged heavily the front left suspension (wheel turning to go straight).
I knew from here that it would be a very hard race, but who knows what can happen! I continued with my damaged car, making a few spins here and there...but managed to finish the 6th race out of 6 which I participated. There is a bit "monteiro" in me, but I have to find a bit of "alonso" too :)
I'm also happy to have Phil as team mate, in addition to fred. Hopefully, we'll be able to practice together and improve our performances.
"In the fist corner, after a bad start, someone touched me very slightly at the rear, and my ForceFeedback on my wheel was gone!
In the beginning, I was not really used to it and especially in the straight I couldn't go exactly where I wanted.
My laptimes where good despite the lack of FF, and I had great battles, with Emanuel Gaczella, Mark Aalberts and Ferry Koek.
Unfortunately, on lap 50 we pitted ferry and I at the same time. He was .5 in front, and a few meters from the pit he hit the wall and "entered" the wall (that's what i was seeing). I panic, braked too hard (late?) and hit him heavily from behind. With all this, I forgot to put the speed limiter and had stop&go penalty.
My car was damaged of course (suspension), but kept on. WIthout FF it's hell to drive, and Marconi could profit of my situation and passed me in the 71st lap.
I'm really not happy with my mistake, and I apologize to Ferry and the team who worked very hard to provide me a stable and fast car."
"hoho, what a race for me!
I survived the first lap with no damage. I was even in a quite good position, behind Dyrlund, thanks to a nice trip in the gravel from DeWit and Greco.
I was pushing but I had Nils behind, who I know is faster. I was watching my mirrors in turn 1-2 to see him, took too wide..touched grass with a back wheel and spun. He couldn't avoid me, and rear wing was broken, plus rear suspension was damaged, so the steering was bending.
I had many difficulties to bring the car to the pits after this incident, spun twice but finally I was back on track, 17th at more than a minute from the 16th :S. (I lost 1m50 totally)
Then I saw the position counter go down and down, and I was pushing like hell, really close to the limit, to close the 50s gap with the guy in front. With only a 1 stop strategy (switched after incident) it was possible to get him before the end.
I passed 2 cars when they where going out of pits, especially Marconi who was...8th! So 15 laps from the end, I couldn't believe I was in the points. I kept on the same rythm not to lose concentration, and put pressure on Dyrlund (but 1 lap back) to maybe make him do a mistake :)
But a couple of laps before the end, I released a bit because I wanted everything but DNF. I bring an incredible point home, which I'm really proud of...but with a bit of deception because I knew I could do a better result."
"My quals were slower than expected. In my two attempts I made big mistakes. In the first attempt I didn't want to take too many risks and didn't take T1 good, and in second attempt I was .4 in front but lost everything in last corner with another mistake.
I started 14, with Koek already overtake me a few laps later. I had pressure and I had to attack, and unfortunately I was losing time.
Nothing really exciting happened till Bilibok made his 2nd pit-stop. He was 10 seconds behind me but I had to do another stop. In every race I put a goal that motivates me, and I decided to do everything to be in front after my last pit-stop.
I gained 12s in about 10 laps thanks to a lighter car and a good driving, and with a very good pit-stop I was 5-6 seconds in front, with 9th position.
I tried to keep on same rythm but Bilibok was coming closer. He made a mistake that made him lose 3 seconds and gave me a little air, but I couldn't take advantage of it.
The 3 last laps where thrilling, with 2 overtaking attempts. But as I was 8th (essa retired), I couldn't lose this precious point...and managed to keep it.
Thanks laszlo for this great battle!"
"My quals didn't go as expected, because for the first time I managed to crash in lap 2. I put fuel to make 2 timed laps in 2nd stint...but I was afraid to make another mistake.
As usual, I was confident for the race. I made very little practice in comparison with race, I had good strategy/pace...but I couldn't show it as I made 0.3 laps. First DNF this year.
I've been unfortunately hit by Essa. The reason seems to be lag (see Essa's comment). I hit the barrier with a big speed, but hopefully my health is ok. My car was completely destroyed, so I couldn't continue with ~slightly~ damaged car (as I did in many past races).
We can't go back, so I'll focus on the next race, and try to be as competitive as this one."
"My qualifications went really well, I did my best result this year. I had the chance to score a new PB during my stint! I was expecting a .5 slower time...
Unfortunately, the start wasn't good as I fell back a few places, due to the little mess in turn 1.
I managed to overtake an Ash car in the first laps of the race, in turn 1, and then I was trying to pass Bilibok. In the first laps I was faster, due to his 2-stop strategy. I pushed to pass when he was heavy, but didn't manage it.
For the remaining laps, I was always within 10s, but I was never able to catch him.
I'm very happy to finish the race 7th after the disappoinment in Hungary."
"Again a DNF, 2 in 3 races! Even if it's not as much as Binz' stats ( :P ) i'm very disappointed. Last year I had dnf in exactly 2 same tracks! Let's hope I'll finish the championship without trouble...as I'm very close to many drivers just in front of me in the standings.
Since i've done only 2 laps, there's not much to say. I had a super top-speed which could have helped me do a top 8 position. I overtook my team mate very easily in the straight, but unfortunately I hit Pescali.
He was driving with a damaged suspension, and lost control in acceleration of first chicane after coming from off-track. I had a car in front, so I couldn't see him and go off the racing line to avoid him. 200kmh vs 10kmh...
I've tried to continue but the car was simply too damaged, so I hit ESC.
Hopefully Fred was able to score 2 points, thanks to a very good drive and no mistakes, so the team could take 2 points lead from Ash racing. 7th position will be hard to get though!"
"I worked harder for this race than usual, because there were only 3 remaining races and there are many drivers that are close to me in the championship. I got very angry some times because I just couldn't improve my q-time, even with the help of Gosling. I was able to do 32.7 (32.245pb), but before the race i found some improvements in setup and driving line and i was able to do 32's easily.
In quali, things went okay since even with a very good time my position wouldn't have changed a lot.
In the beginning of the race I had quite a lot of pressure because i had problems in last races. And in T1 a car had spun and I couldn't evitate him. I was really surprised to see that my car had 0 damage. I passed Gort in the first laps. Then before my 2nd pit stop, I saw I had problems to end the stint (tyres worn) and decided to put a little bit harder compound because Davison was catching me...tenth after tenth. I didn't want to have him just behind me with worn tyres and 3 laps to go :D
Hopefully, it worked as planned and finished the race just 2s in front of him.
6th place in a really good result, and once again I show my consistancy...which is good for the future :)"