More disappointment for RDD drivers in Imola sprint
Sunday at Imola brought more bad luck for the Renault Driver
Development guys as both Lucas di Grassi and Jose Maria Lopez
got involved in incidents, although at opposite ends of the
race!
Both men had to start near the back after their retirements
on Saturday, and that proved costly for Lucas. In the middle
of the grid Adrian Valles failed to get off the line, and
Lucas was completely unsighted as the driver immediately in
front of him swerved out of the way at the last second. Lucas
hit the stationary Valles and spun to a halt with most of
the left side of the Durango machine wiped off. Fortunately
he was perfectly OK.
Meanwhile Jose made a good start and gained some places off
the line before the start accident brought out a safety car.
After that he moved up from 15th to 11th with some good passing
moved before getting caught behind Adam Carroll. On the penultimate
lap an attempt to get by ended in contact, and while he was
able to drive the car back to the pits, he dropped back to
19th.
The next race is at the Nurburgring in two weeks' time, and
it will be the first time that Lucas has sampled the full
circuit.
Lucas di Grassi (Durango): ‘It's a
shame because I had a really good start. I got close to the
guy in front, Sergio Fernandez. I was just behind him and
when he saw the stalled car he moved, and when he moved I
was in the line of the car. I tried to steer away, but there
wasn't time. I had just enough reaction to change the direction
a little bit, so I hit him with the left side. The car is
a big mess, but these things happen when you start so far
behind. The good thing is we can fix it, I'm OK, and we're
looking forward to the next race. Last year I had a pole and
a second place in the F3 Euroseries at Nurburgring, but only
on the short circuit, so I know the half the track! Durango
won there last year, but the cars are very different now.'
Jose Maria Lopez (Super Nova): ‘It
was good race, because here it's very difficult to pass, especially
when guys are braking earlier and trying to slow you down
in corners! I made a good start, and the car was good. I managed
to pass some cars, but I got stuck behind Adam Carroll. Near
the end I tried a move and it didn't go well! I went inside
him at Tosa. I was half a car in front, but he closed me a
little bit, and I was inside. I touched him a little bit and
broke something in the car. We had the speed this weekend,
but we didn't have the luck to score points. Last year Nurburgring
was OK for me, and this team was good as well there.'
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