Round 4 - Magny Cours, France
Feature race:
The qualifying session wasn't particularly successful to me but it wasn't that bad at all. I managed to make 10th best time and hoped for some good passing at the beginning of the race. Pole position went for my teammate with Maldonado and Petrov right behind. Just as I said, I passed a couple of rivals at the beginning and established myself well in 5th position right behind Senna. After 15 laps Grosjean, Di Grassi, Maldonado and Petrov were already out of the race. Now it was Pantano, Senna and me still in the race. I had a really breathtaking battle against Senna. I passed him in lap 27 and it seemed that my position was safe. However, withing the next couple of laps Senna must have done all his best and passed me to regain his position. Then, the situation repeated itself but this time we switched the roles - it was me who suddenly started charging Senna which lead to my regaining 2nd place. Three laps from finish I was over 40 seconds behind Pantano but I was 6 seconds ahead of Senna. I hoped to bring it home and keep the championship advantage over Pantano. Unfortunately, it was transmission failure which struck my car and just as my teammate, who blew the engine, I failed to finish the race. I got classified in 10th position. Now I'm one point behind Pantano in the championship.
The winner - Pantano, 2nd - Senna, 3rd - Filippi
Sprint race:
After a disappointing feature race I hoped for reaching at least 2nd place in the sprint. Unfortunately, the weather conditions ruined this plan. The race started with drizzling rain with the prospect of rainfall increase further in the race. I elbowed myself through to 7 position but this is when I rammed Pantano's rear. As a result, he retired while I had to pit for the front wing. I rejoined the race in 19th position over 30 seconds behind the 18th driver. I retired from the race in lap 4 as scoring points was absolutely beyond any question. The cheering fact is that my teammate, Grosjean, won the race. At least ART earned some points.
The winner - Grosjean, 2nd - Chandhok, 3rd - Petrov
Round 5 - Silverstone, Great Britain
Feature race:
As usually in England, the qualifying session took place in pelting rain. I wasn't confident on this kind of surface and as a result I managed to reach 14th position. All my major rivals were in front. Pole position went for Chandhok with Di Grassi and Pantano in 2nd and 3rd. Luckily, the race day was dry which boosted my self-esteem. I soon started passing rivals until I got stuck in 6th position. Pantano had a poor start and dropped a few position. This way, even though his starting from 3rd, he was right behind me. He was trying to divebomb me on one of the curves but he was the only who spun off the track. I was extremely happy - my biggest rival retired. Then I started pushing Parente. In lap 13,14 and 15 I managed to get right on his tail. The problem was that I was able to keep his pace but when it came to passing, I felt terribly underpowered. I tried to pass him three times but each time we only got levelled after which he'd retain his position. Fourth luck charm - I finally managed to pass him in lap 18. Then I had to beat Roldan Rodriguez. At a certain point he was the race leader but I had no problems leaving him behind on the final straight. Now there were only Senna and Buemi to beat. I passed both of them within 5 laps. From now on I started pulling away establishing an 8-second advantage in the final lap. I passed the line as a winner. The funny thing is that I wanted to retire from the race after Pantano's "murder" attempt. I got passed by a couple of drivers and lost a lot of time to the rivals. Luckily, I was the most consistent driver on the grid which resulted in my victory. As it comes to ART Grand PRix - we kept it in the family as Grosjean got one point for the fastest lap in the race. In the champonship, I'm now 9 points clear of Pantano .
The winner - Kosewski, 2nd - Senna, 3rd - Rodriguez
Sprint race:
I knew I had a huge chance to increase the lead in the championship as Pantano was to start from 22nd while I was in 8th. After the feature race in which I was master of curves but was completely harmless on flat out sections I lowered the wings. Anyway, I was really afraid of the rivals in front. To my surprise, at the very start I passed most of them. The only guys to beat were Zuber and the leader - Soucek. Zuber wasn't a big rival to me as after two laps he finally let me pass him. Now there was Soucek to overtake. My problem was that due to my aerodynamics changes I was more twitchy and wasn't as confident in the curves. Finally, I passed Soucek at Hangar Straight and took the lead. If you now think that I pulled away, you can't be more wrong. That was one of those races during which you can't stop watching the mirrors. What was happening behind me can be called as 'Dante's Inferno'. Soucek was swapping positions with Zuber, Senna and Grosjean. What I saw in the mirrors was a cluster of 4 cars constantly charging and leaning to left and rightThe situation was like that up until 2 laps from finish. It was when Soucek's engine fell apart while Grosjean got a couple of metres of advantage over Senna and started pushing me. I was really afraid that he'd ignore 'team orders'...and he did!!! He passed me in the final lap at Abbey. I got extremely furious and started frantically pushing forward to get what is mine...I won the race at Woodcote by 0.002 sec in front of Grosjean. Senna was third only 2.3 sec behind us. I'm extremely happy that our team made a 1-2 finish but the style in which we did it leaves much to be desired. Such things shouldn't happen between the drivers of the same team. One more thing: Pantano finished 9th which means he scored no points over again
I'm now 15 points ahead at the half of the season.
Anyway, I think it was the most exciting and absolutely blood-freezing event. Generally I prefer winning hands down or losing like a complete newbie - I don't want to take part in such thrillers anymore.
The winner - Kosewski, 2nd - Grosjean, 3rd - Senna
Round 6 - Hockenheimring, Germany
Feature race:
That's a pity that the track was changed into a slow and curved one. Because of that I had to spend the whole practice session only on memorizing the layout. It didn't pay off in the qualifying as I came 14th. Unfortunately, Pantano won the pole position in front of Maldonado and Di Grassi.
The race start was a successful one to me. Passing was quite easy and I soon found myself in third position behind Di Grassi as Maldonado, traditionally, crashed out. I passed Di Grassi in lap 7 and now I was already 12 seconds behind Pantano who was simply flying around the circuit. Di Grassi lost it to Senna and now I had to concentrate on keeping 2nd position. Luckily, Senna was fast but not too fast. I established a safe 5 second advantage which didn't change until the end of the race. When crossing the finish line, Pantano was 43 seconds ahead which really proves his domination here in Germany. He took all the points as he started from the pole, won the race and set the fastest lap. Now I'm only 10 points ahead of him.
The winner - Pantano, 2nd - Kosewski, 3rd - Senna
Sprint race:
I had three objectives for the race: 1) keep Pantano behind, 2) pass Senna in front, 3) take the lead as soon as possible. When it comes to task #1, I managed to do it quite easily as I blocked Pantano's way while other rivals slowed him down successfully. Task # 2 - Senna made it to the left of the track. I made use of slipstreaming and passed him early in lap 1. Task # 3 - I soon pushed myself into 2nd position and now I was driving 2 seconds behind Petrov. I thought he'd be an easy rival but he kept pushing for the following 5 laps and only then did I manage to tighten the gap and take the lead. Now there was no real rival to me. I became preoccupied as Pantano who meanwhile established himself in third set the fastest lap. Luckily, he got outperformed by Di Grassi one lap later only to be beaten by Maldonado who kept setting the fastst lap times lap after lap actually up until the end of the sprint. Meanwhile, Senna developed a transmission failure and retired. It was a pity as he was pushing Pantano which would have provoked Pantano's mistake. At the end of the race Pantano must have had some problems with his car as he pitted and eventually, finished the race in 5th. I won the race and I'm generally happy about the outcome of the weekend. I lost only one point to Pantano and now I'm 14 points ahead.
The winner - Kosewski, 2nd - Petrov, 3rd - Zuber
Round 7 - Hungaroring, Hungary
Feature race:
The qualifying session started in heavy rain. I made a couple of laps on hard wets but I was way slower than the rest. Luckily, monsoons once again proved their quality. I set the pole position outperforming Senna by 1.3 sec. third position for my teammate - Grosjean.
The race was completely different from what we could see in the qualifyings. The day was sunny without a single cloud in the skies. I made a poor start as Zuber and Senna both passed me. While I managed to fight Senna back I was unable to catch Zuber who started pulling away. Senna was charging from behind but in lap 4 he missed he braking point and crashed out right behind me. A while later I saw Pantano retire after problems with his suspension. I was happy because he was 22nd in the qualifyings while in the race he managed to push himself into 6th position. After 15 laps, Zuber was already 20 seconds ahead while I had Petrov around 1.7 sec behind. He kept pushing but the distance between me and him wasn't decreasing so I didn't have to look in the mirrors too often. However, he amde a similar mistake to Senna's and dropped a lot of positions due to running wide. He rejoined the race in 6th position which he kept until the finish of the race. Meanwhile, Petrov's 3rd position was taken by his teammate - Di Grassi. He was charging extremely hard but some 10 laps from finish the gap stopped melting and I thought I'd be 2nd in the race. However, he made the final passing attempt in the final lap, in the final sector...he succeeded. I came third in the race and still can't get over the fact I got robbed of my well-deserved 2nd position. It looked as taking a candy from a kid. He just passed me and I did nothing :/. Anyway, it's another 8 points (6 plus 2 for pole position).
The winner - Zuber, 2nd - Di Grassi, 3rd - Kosewski
Sprint race:
I started from 6th and knew that if I passed the rivals I'd be unbeaten. Indeed, I did so and took the lead. In lap 3 I saw Pantano retire after oil leak and I was even more happy because it would have been another race in which I'd increase the lead. However, in lap 4 I got a puncture and retired, too. From now on Maldonado kept extending the lead in front of Di Grassi and Petrov from Campos team. What a pity that a stupid mechanical issue has ruined my race.
The winner - Maldonado, 2nd - Di Grassi, 3rd - Petrov
Round 8 - Valencia, Spain
Feature race:
The qualifying session was a completye disaster. I came 22nd after a pretty twitchy drive. Pole for Zuber in front of Senna and Chandhok.
As for the race, I made a quick start and gained some positions until in lap 7 I crashed out at the final curve. Zuber kept the lead from start to finish and made an impressive win in front of his teammate - Maldonado. The classificatin of the race more or less resembles the qualification stadings. That was one of those boring races without passing at all.
The winner - Zuber, 2nd - Maldonado, 3rd - Pantano
Sprint race:
I sparkled from 17th and soon found myself in 8th. I had Zuber in front and Maldonado behind. In lap 4 Maldonado pushed me off which lead to my retirement. SOucek, the leader, once again didn't withstand the rpessure and crashed out. Pantano, starting from 6th, took the lead with Buemi behind. He kept the lead until finish and drastically tightened the gap in the championship standings. I'm now only 9 points in front.
The winner - Pantano, 2nd - Buemi, 3rd - Di Grassi
Round 9 - Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
Feature race:
The qualifyings took place in heavy rain. After first lap which let me claim 17th position I decided to go flat out where possible and changed to monsoons. This time I was much faster and ended up in 6th position. Unfortunately, Pantano took the pole position and it all didn't look good at all to me. He was heading for another victory. The race day was sunny and I thought it'd be a good race for me as on dry tarmac I always outperform the rivals. However, at the start of the race I got pushed off by Roldan Rodriguez and landed off the track without the front wheels. The race was over for me while Pantano kept pulling away in 1st burying my chances to win the GP2 championship. He was in front of Grosjean and Senna. Those two drivers were actually the ones who still could threaten Pantano. Indeed, Grosjean soon levelled with the Italian which resulted in a contact between both drivers. As a result, Pantano retired from the race. I watched this and couldn't believe my eyes. I was in 7th heaven
Once again I wouldn' lose any points to Giorgio. In lap 27 Senna retired leaving Buemi in 2nd position. Grosjean kept extending his lead while petrov was charging and initiated a battle for 2nd but he eventually lost it to Buemi. A great job was done by Davide Valsecchi who started from 15th but finished the race in 7th earning his first points of the season.
The winner - Grosjean, 2nd - Buemi, 3rd - Petrov
Sprint race: I was starting from 22nd but this time I was more lucky at the start of the race. In lap 4 I was already in 3rd position and clearly the fastest on the track. Conway and Valsecchi got stuck behind which helped me to make a margin and stay close to the top drivers who were Petrov and Rodriguez. I soon passed them and now nothing could stop me from winning. This time Grosjean didn't repeat his great success from the feature race and finished 6th. Pantano who started from 15th failed to finish the race once again after a fight with Valerio in lap 11. However a few laps before he set the fastest lap which wasn;t improved until the flag. This sprint wasn't a particularly interesting race as nothing actually changed until the very end. What I'm really happy about is that now I've extended my lead in the championship to 12 points over Pantano. Well, everything seems to be down to Monza now. This will be a real showdown.
The winner - Kosewski, 2nd - Petrov, 3rd - Rodriguez
Edited 13 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/2010 10:21PM by abdelkader.