Lopez on the podium at the Nurburgring
Renault Driver Development squad member Jose Maria Lopez
scored his first GP2 podium of the year with a good drive
to third place in the Sunday race at the Nurburgring.
Meanwhile fellow RDD man Lucas di Grassi had an eventful
race that finished out of the points.
Lopez started his Super Nova car from fifth on the grid,
and instantly gained a place when Ernesto Viso failed to get
away at the start of the formation lap. At the start he passed
Alex Negrao, but lost a spot to Adam Carroll. However, he
stayed behind the British driver and passed him in a good
move at Turn One at the start of lap 13.
In the closing laps he got by Hiroki Yoshimoto to claim third,
crossing the line just 3 secs behind the winner. Having earned
fourth place in the Saturday race Jose moves up to eighth
in the championship.
From the back half of the grid Lucas had a tough job on his
hands and the Durango car inevitably spent much of the race
in traffic. He ran 11th for a while, but didn't have the speed
to take advantage of the traditional passing spot at the first
corner. He didn't give up, although a last lap effort to gain
ground ended up costing him places. He admits that the team
has yet to get the full potential out of the car.
Jose Maria Lopez (Super Nova): ‘We
thought a lot about yesterday, and we made some changes, and
it seemed that the car worked. I struggled a bit with understeer
at the beginning, but after half of the race it got better
and better. I felt very confident for the first time in a
long, long time, and I just pushed, and I was able to pass
Carroll. I think we deserve this third place. Maybe second
was possible if I hadn't lost some time in the beginning.
It's good to go to Barcelona with a good amount of points,
especially after a bad weekend in Imola. The main thing here
was to score, and if the car keeps going like this, we can
do well.'
Lucas di Grassi (Durango): ‘I had
some clutch problems at the start, but some people stalled,
so in the end I gained. I was behind other cars for a lot
of the race, but I didn't have the pace to pass Glock and
Fauzy in the beginning. Then Glock spun, and in the confusion
Monfardini passed me, and I was behind him for the rest of
the race. On the last lap I tried to overtake him, and I ended
up losing two places! But it changes nothing, 11th or 13th.
We're just struggling for pace with the car, and we need to
work a little bit more to catch up. Barcelona is next. I have
never raced there, but in the winter GP2 test we were in the
middle of the field most of the time. If we can start at least
10th it will be an improvement.'
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