Fourth place for Lopez at Nurburgring
Jose Maria Lopez scored a good fourth place in the Saturday
GP2 race at the Nurburgring, despite struggling with a difficult
car.
Meanwhile fellow Renault Driver Development squad member
Lucas di Grassi had a frustrating afternoon that resulted
in an 18th place finish.
Lopez qualified his Super Nova entry in fifth place, and
made a great start. He immediately got up to third, and moved
up to second later on the first lap. There was nothing he
could do about leader Lewis Hamilton, and after the pit stops
unfolded he had dropped to third behind Alex Premat, who had
run longer before stopping. Handling problems made life difficult
for Jose, and then on the very last lap he lost his podium
spot to Adam Carroll, and had to settle for fourth. He will
thus start the Sunday race from fifth.
Lucas qualified the Durango car 20th, and made a good initial
getaway. However, the driver in front stalled, and mindful
of his crash on the grid at Imola, Lucas had to slow and swerve
around the stationary car. That cost him momentum and some
valuable places. He made his pit stop at the first opportunity
on the second lap, but a marginal speeding offence earned
him a drive through penalty. At the end of the race he was
slowed by severe brake problems.
Jose Maria Lopez (Super Nova): ‘I
had a very good start, and I managed to get up to second.
From the first lap I had a lot of understeer, and as soon
as we changed tyres it was a disaster. I got more grip in
the rear, and the front was undriveable. I was pushing hard
the entire race, and I was a little bit lucky because there
was some trouble behind me. Then on the last lap Carroll managed
to pass me, although I did everything I could to keep him
behind. Tomorrow, we'll see. If we can improve the car, we
can fight for a podium finish.'
Lucas di Grassi (Durango): ‘I had
a good start, but the guy just in front of me stalled, and
I had to lift to not hit him, so a few people passed me. We
pitted on the second lap, and the stop was OK, so I went out
in the same position I was in before. Then I got a drive through
penalty, I think for being 1km/h too fast leaving the pits.
Then the brakes started to fade, and in the last few laps
I had no brakes at all, the pedal was going to the floor,
so I lost a lot of time. We still need to find some pace in
the car. Everyone is working very hard, and we decreased the
gap from Imola, where we were further from pole. But still
we're a little bit lost regarding set-up. I'll push as hard
as possible on Sunday, but it won't be very easy to score
points.'
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