No joy for RDD drivers in Turkish sprint
Lucas di Grassi and Jose Maria Lopez were both out of luck
in the Sunday morning GP2 sprint race at Istanbul.
Both Renault Driver Development squad members were hampered
by problems outside their control, and finished outside the
points.
After his strong fifth place on the Saturday race Lucas started
fourth, and ran in fifth position for much of the race. However
he eventually got bumped out of the top six as he began to
experience gear selection problems on downshifting. By the
end of the race the Durango car had slipped back to ninth.
Jose started from ninth place having finished in that position
on Saturday. He was hit twice by other cars in the early laps,
receiving a big tyre mark on his sidepod in the process, and
lost some momentum. He struggled with understeer for much
of the race, and eventually finished 11th with the Super Nova
entry.
The final two races will take place at Monza in two weeks'
time, and both men are hoping to finish the season on a high.
Lucas di Grassi: ‘I had a good fight
with Piquet, and I could maybe have finished fourth or fifth.
But then I had a problem with the gearbox. After a while it
wouldn't go down to second and third properly, so I was losing
pace, and there was nothing I could do. In the last few laps
I only had fourth and sixth, so it was very hard. What matters
for me is results, so it's very frustrating. It's been a very
quick season, and there's only one more weekend. I know Monza
from testing, and it's quite a simple track.'
Jose Maria Lopez: ‘I made a good start,
and passed Premat. But as I've said before there are a few
drivers around who don't understand racing! We arrived to
the uphill section and I was behind Hamilton. I turned in
and Filippi hit me on the rear wheel with his front wheel.
In that kind of corner you can't pass. Then I tried braking
inside Porteiro, and he just closed the door, even if he saw
I was coming, so I got hit again. When I was alone I had some
good speed, but then I had massive understeer in the high-speed
corner, and I couldn't really turn in the left corners. The
only place I could pass was on the straight, but I was slow
in the last sector, so I never had the speed to pass someone.
Hamilton past me like a rocket! He braked so much later, I
don't know how it was possible.'
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