GP2 Manager - 2005: Silverstone Free Practice & Qualification Results PG36 - Searching for a new manager!

BCN

Well it was a mixed result for us in pre-season testing, hopefully we gained enough knowledge of the car to pave the way for a succesful year. It looks like Viso and Sharp will be sharing the 2nd seat throughout the season.

Practice results we are slightly disapointed. Lyons is pretty much where we expected him to be but Sharp needs to improve Sharply.

In future, our 3rd driver will take part in the practice session along with Lyons.

Also welcome back Reve, peace be with you and your friend's family

Rainy Qualifying at Imola
At shis afternoons qualifying session it was raining all the time. It started raining about half an hour before the session started and didn´t stop or get any weaker throughout the whole session. In the end Heikki Kovalainen managed to grab the first GP2-Series 2005 pole-position just 0.029 seconds ahead of Nico Rosberg. Franck Montagny, who finished the practice session in 16th showed us, that he is an awesome rain driver by starting from 3rd position tomorrow. In 4th and 5th position are ART Williams drivers Björn Wirdheim and Yuji Ide. Nelson Piquet Jr. finished 6th, while GP2-Series Asia Cup runner up Gary Paffett comes in 7th in front of Asia Cup champion Adam Carroll. The unthankful last place went to Enrique Bernoldi of Red Bull Racing Jr., his teammate Alexander Wurz only managed 12th after his great practice session.





Both races will be up either tomorrow or tuesday dependin on my free time.

pycku schrieb:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hmm am I the only one that saw that on the
> screenshot Wurz's time is 1:25.061, while below it
> on the timetable it is 1:25.062. So the rest are
> 0.001 slower than it is written :D

Ehm... oops



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/06/2011 06:11PM by Reve-san.

Racing Engineering
Top 10 for Kamui

Kamui jumped in the car and secured a 9th place in only his first session around the imola circuit, and we're pleased for him. Puts him in a good position for points tomorrow and a possible sprint race pole.

Another bad session for Benoit and he will sit out the next grand prix to give Lopez a chance in both practice and the race unless he can score some points tomorrow.

Sauber GP2

Awesome performance from Heikki, hope we can hold that place in the race!

Disastrous qualification for DSR. Valencia wet session gave us a sign but we didn't work on that direction. Obviously we have some problems when raining and that is something we have to solve as soon as possible.
What we can do now is to think of a good strategy and pray for a dry track when racing. If in perfect condition, we are sure we can fight for points and who knows - maybe with the grid rules we can even start from pole position race 2

ART Williams

While we were not very pleased after the test session, the team did an incredible job for the wet qualifying. Although we had not chance to collect good data for a rain setup before, the drivers gave good feedback and 4th and 5th is kind of a perfect starting position. This gives very good hope for solid points in the first race and a starting position not too far back for the second race. We still hope that tomorrow it will rain, too, as the car seems to be a lot faster in rain than in dry conditions, but either way we will fight for at least a podium in one of the two races.

We're also very satisfied with the new Renault motor. In the pre-season tests, the Renault teams worked very good together to help Renault build an engine, which should be, at least, on eye level with the Mercedes engine. I hope that the Renault teams will go on to work together that good!


GPGSL : Team Owner of 'Maverick Track Performance' (MTP)

Great performance from both drivers, it's put us into a great position to clinch for the win in tomorrow's race!

Red Bull Racing Junior Press Release

After a great practice session, it is disappointing that we are starting so far back, and Bernoldi's place in the team is already under threat from Pavlovic. Hopefully Wurz will salvage some points from this weekend.

________________________________________________________________
GPGSL
Christel VXR: S12 onwards | Wins: 3 | Poles: 3 | Fastest Laps: 2

Yet again, slightly disapointed in our times. Looks like Viso could be taking over from Sharp rather soon!

Imola Feature Race
Welcome everybody to the first 2005 GP2-Series Feature Race here in Imola. Yesterdays qualifying saw the young finn Heikki Kovalainen grab the pole just a few tenths ahead of Nico Rosberg. Let´s hope for a good and entertaining race. All five lights are on



And we´re off!





And Bruni at the back of the fiel is braking wrong. I hope nothing bad happens from this.



Well everyone is driving on.



Nearly everyone here is trying to overtake or defending his position. But where is Nico Rosberg?



He´s at the front! Nico Rosberg overtook Heikki Kovalainen off cam. He is leading the Imola Feature race!



Logically he drives the fastest lap.



Let´s have a quick look on the standings after this first lap.







Rosberg is already 1.4 seconds ahead of Kovalainen



And Rosberg sets another fastest lap.



Piquet Jr. is now attacking Adam Carroll for 5th.



But he doesn´t get through.



Ouh, someone is off track.



It´s a DSR car and I think he is loosing some positions.





Rosberg is driving another fastest lap.



Oh, it seems like Carroll is braking wrong.



That did cost him nearly a second.



And it seems like Lyons had lost a whole bunch of time somewhere!



Meanwhile Tréluyer is battling Sharp for 21st.



But nothing comes from it.



There are flames! What is going on?!



It seems like someone´s car is burning. But who is it?



It´s Rosberg! Something similiar happened in the Asia Cup as well, if I remember corectly!



Very sad for Rosberg, as he was able to pick up a lot of points in this race.







Winner of this event is Kovalainen, who is now leading again.



As well as Wirdheim, who got into second.



Bruni is extremely close to Hernández.



And Hernández runs a bit too wide. This opens the door for Bruni.



Will he get through? He does have the better line.



Yes, he does.



And there are a lot of red cars catching up to Hernández now.



Monfardini is the next to try his luck.



But he doesn´t succeed.



And there´s a threeway here, involving Lyons, Prémat and Gene.





In the end, noone was able to overtake.



25 laps to go, let´s have a look at the standings again.







Prémat ran a bit wide here as well now.



But nothing comes from it.



Except loosing a bit of time.



Pantano challenges Doornbos for 10th. Will he be the first one to overtake at this points?



No...



And what´s that? It looks like Ide lost control of his car and therewith some positions.



Will Doornbos get through as well?



No, Ide stays 8th.



Doornbos trys again.



But the only thing happening is him loosing time.



Mondini now challenging Wurz at a well known position.



But this is looking close!



Meh...



Something interesting happening: Piquet challenging Carroll for 4th!



But he didn´t get through.



And leading man Heikki Kovalainen now starts the pit stops by getting in first.



And after him lots of drivers do as well.

















Yuji Ide is now leading, but he will get in really soon as well.



Marc Gene back here is attacking Heikki Kovalainen, who got out in 7th position after pitting.



But he isn´t getting through.



And now one lap after his teammate Doornbos is getting in as well.





And a lot of drivers are doing the same.

















Kovalainen now back in first, and he has a good lead on Wirdheim.



As Pit-Stops are over, let´s have a look on the standings again.







16 laps to go, and Piquet drives a new fastest lap.



Bruni now challenging Pantano for 11th. Will we finally see an overtake without driver mistake?



We don´t...



Montagny won 0.1 seconds on Wirdheim.



Another try. Mondini challenging Monfardini for 13th.



Another fail.



And Marc Gene running wide.



Too wide! He spins!



And rejoins in last position.





Wow, Montagny seems to be fast. Only about 1.8 seconds to Wirdheim. Will he catch up with him in the last 11 laps?



10 laps and 1.7 seconds. If he won´t get quicker, he won´t get him.



Nevermind, he lost some time again.



And what´s that. Is that a BCN car smoking?



What the, Hernández driving straight and smoking!



Is this it?



Indeed it is. Very bad, as he will now start 21st in tomorrows sprint race.



And here we see the BCN car again. It is Lyons, smoking as well.



And he´s out. 20th place for him tomorrow.



Meanwhile Kovalainen is still leading. This is looking to become a great start into the season for him.



5 laps to go, and Piquet Jr. is only 1 second behind Montagny.



Let´s have a look at the standings one last time. If things stay like this, Gary Paffett will start tomorrows sprint race from pole.







Well and here we go. Only two close turns more to go and Heikki Kovalainen wins the first GP2-Series race.





He is on his way to the victory!



And Heikki Kovalainen wins this race after a bit more than 56 minutes of an not so entertaining race. This track definetely lacks possibilities to overtake.



Anyway, Björn Wirdheim comes in as second.



And Franck Montagny completes the podium by finishing third.



Piquet Jr. comes in 4th and Wirdheims teammate Yuji Ide finishes 5th.





Asia Cup champion Adam Carroll finishes 6th.



While Kamui Kobayashi and Gary Paffett are the last ones to get some points. Gary Paffett therewith will start from pole tomorrow, with Kamui Kobayashi on second place. And this is really good for them, on a track with no real overtaking possibility.







Lap Charts













Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/2011 10:49AM by Reve-san.

Coloni Motorsports

An OK race for us, with both drivers gaining positions with the pit strategy. We now look forward to the second race, and hopefully some points.

---

Joseph Gilson :: Southern Cross Racing :: Race Driver

Great coverage of the race! Well done Reve in getting this underway!

Red Bull Racing Junior Press Release

Poor race in the feature, however with Wurz slightly higher on the grid for the sprint race may give us a chance at some points. We have pretty much written off Bernoldi's weekend now, we will need to see a vast improvement from him in Barcelona.

________________________________________________________________
GPGSL
Christel VXR: S12 onwards | Wins: 3 | Poles: 3 | Fastest Laps: 2

Sauber GP2

We're very proud with the first victory in the GP2 championship ever! Too bad that Doornbos couldn't snatch 8th place

DSR statement

Deyan Rangelov was furious after the long race in San Marino:

"Disastrous debut for DSR. We hoped for a much better start of the season. Unfortunately it seems we will leave Imola with no points. Only a miracle can save the day for us.
I'm thinking of a reorganization as some engineers may lost their positions. I'm ashamed by both of our drivers. The good point is that we can't drop much more, so from now on we can only improve. Maybe some rain drops will help us, too. To be the last from Ferrari-engined teams is the worst thing. We Bulgarians have a saying that you can learn what the day will be when you see it's morning. I hope that is not the case for the remaining of the season. From now on we double our efforts and I hope we can get some positive results as soon as possible. "

Marc Gene was sorry for his stupid mistake: "Premat and I were very enthusiastic after the practice session. Then that rain ruined our qualification and we started the race full of ambition to get some positions. I over-strained and made a stupid mistake, I'm sorry for that. Tomorrow I'll drive with no pressure and we'll see if that helps"

Alexandre Premat was disappointed with the result: "First of all I want to apologize to our boss and our fans. I know we had the speed and to finish 15th wasn't the thing I was expecting. Unfortunately I made a stupid mistake on the second lap and that cost me a lot. I feel really bad and I promise that I'll give everything next time."

DSR Racing Team wants to thank Reve-san for the good coverage of the race.

Racing Engineering press release
Solid Race - looking forward to sprint race

The team are pleased to have got the season off to a positive start with points in the first feature race - it would have been nice to have got a few more, but Kamui's finishing position does put him on the front row for the sprint race, and a chance of the win.

Pitstops are still an area of concern with Kamui losing a place, but Benoit's crew did help him to make up a position. Hopefully this race weekend will teach him a little more about competing at this level and he might make up a few positions tomorrow, although with a number of fast cars behind him his defensive driving may be tested more.

The team would also like to congratulate the race organiser on his excellent coverage. Good work reve-san.

Wow. Not happy.

"Asia Cup champion Adam Carroll finishes 6th.

[imghttp://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n566/Reve-san/Imola%20R1/gpx_1463.jpg][/img]"

That pretty much sums up our day. Awful race, time to file yet another lawsuit at Mercedes, as that image of Rosberg's car will have been burned into my brain for the rest of my life.
Hoping for a miracle at tomorrow's race.

Yet again another rubbish race for us! We'll have to battle through the pack now. Disapointed in the Mercedes realibilty too.

Good coverage Reve-san!

ART Williams

We are delighted with Wirdheim's second place! That boy is the future! He already shew impressive performance in F1 tests last season and I think Williams has done a very good job signing him. With this impressive performance, he will have a save race seat if he can keep this level! For the sprint race tomorrow, I don't expect a big improvement from him, although Ide has shown that overtaking isn't impossible here and a good strategy can help you gain some positions.

Ide however spoiled his race at the start! Finishing 5th is a very good result for him, too. But considering that he went from 5th to 9th at the start...consider what would have been possible! At least he will start from a rather good position tomorrow, maybe another podium will be possible...this time for Yuji.

We're also very pleased with both the speed and reliability of the new Renault motor. If they can keep this level in comparison to the other engine suppliers, this could become a really successful season!

Finally we also want to state that we are very pleased with the coverage of the race. It was very entertaining despite very little overtaking.


GPGSL : Team Owner of 'Maverick Track Performance' (MTP)

Imola Sprint Race Results
Welcome everybody to the Imola sprint race. Yesterdays Feature Race saw Heikki Kovalainen win the race in front of Björn Wirdheim and Franck Montagny. Today Gary Paffett will start from pole position in front of Kamui Kobayashi and Adam Carroll. I hope we will see some overtakings today, except for the start.

There are only a few seconds left until the race starts.


And we´re off.


Kamui Kobayashi has a good start and might take the lead!




This is really looking good for him, while Adam Carroll looses a lot of places!


And Alexandre Prémat braking hard for... no reason it seems.


Tréluyer now looking to overtake him, as does Bernoldi.


And at the front Björn Wirdheim tries to overtake yesterdays winner Heikki Kovalainen back.


And it looks like he got through, while there are some more fights going on.


And here we have the japanese youngstar Kamui Kobayashi, leading the grid.


While Marc Gene is trying to overtake Nico Rosberg who started from last due to an engine problem yesterday.


He´s not getting through and forces Hernández to brake hard.


Heikki Kovalainen tries to overtake Wirdheim for 7th.




And he´s through!


And here we have a fastest lap from the leader.


2 laps done - Let´s have a look at the standings.






24 laps to go and Kamui Kobayashi drives another fastest lap.


Ide, who got into 3rd place at the start lost some time on Paffett.


While Lyons trys to defend his 13th place


With success.


What the f***?! Did Rosbergs engine blow up again?!




Wow. I would be really pissed off, if I were Rosberg.


With 20 more laps to go, let´s have another look at the standings.






And while nothing much is happening - Did I ever tell you that I freaking love Franck Montagnys helmet? I mean, it´s awesome!


But let´s get back to the race. Kamui Kobayashi still leading in front of Gary Paffett and Yuji Ide.


If nothing changes from here, ART Williams will have an awesome weekend with both days having an driver on the podium.


And Hernandéz tries to overtake Marc Gene for 20th!


But as you already thought, it didn´t work.


Yuji Ide is getting closer to Gary Paffett. Can he catch up with him in the remaining 13 laps?


Prémat now challenging Tréluyer for 18th.


But nothing comes from it.


Gary Paffett is 1.555 seconds behind Kobayashi. Cheers!


Seems like Ide will not catch up with Paffett...


Oh, Mondini off track!




And he spins, while trying to get back!


And he is rejoining last.


Pantano breaking wrong, but nothing happens from it.


Only 10 laps to go in this kind of boring race. Let´s have another look at the standings.






Sharp braking wrong in the same turn Pantano did brake wrong.




Ide is now 1.3 seconds away from Paffett. I don´t think he´ll get him, but I wouldn´t mind beeing wrong.


Pantano is braking wrong once more.


Oh, Paffett catches up on Kobayashi! He´s less than a second behind him!


While Wurz is exactly 1 second behind Wirdheim. Cheers?


4 laps to go, Hernández challenges Gene.


And he´s not getting through. Seriously, this track was not made for overtakings.


Still Hernández is not giving up that easily.


But he didn´t get through.


We are in the final lap, and Kobayashi managed to stay first, 1.2 seconds in front of Paffett.


Kobayashi is just a few more corners away from his victory.




This should be it.


And it is! Kamui Kobayashi wins the 2005 Imola Sprint Race after 137.9 km!


On second place lands Gary Paffett.


ART Williams driver Yuji Ide finishes 3rd.


Frank Montagny finishes 4th, one place behind his position from yesterday.


Adam Carroll and Nelson Piquet Jr. complete the point finishers for this race.











Please note, that the Driver and Team standings will always be available on the first post.

DSR Statement

It was a horrible debut for the team. In a weekend that started so well and everybody expected to be point-pretenders we were among the slowest teams.

Mr. Rangelov was smashed: "I paid so much not to see us on the bottom. I don't accept that these are our limits. I can't pretend nothing happened, maybe I'll think once again if it is worth spending so much on motorsports if no results are coming. The only positive thing is that we're negotiating with a major sponsor so I believe this team has a bright future. What can I say about my drivers - Premat seemed to get his setup all wrong and it became from bad to worse. And Gene was at least constant all weekend - constantly slow and 19th. I'm too disappointed so I won't upgrade DSR website until there's something positive to put on."

Both drivers refused to comment the situation. It is believed that their race-engineers have been fired the minute the sprint race finished. It seems there are problems in the team but nobody is quite sure if it's a crisis or just a quake.