Di Grassi on GP2 podium in Spa - 15 SEP 2007
Lucas di Grassi finished third in the Saturday GP2 race at
Spa, and in so doing closed the gap on series leader Timo
Glock, who scored only a point for fastest lap.
Renault Driver Development squad member di Grassi qualified
the ART car a solid fourth, and made a superb start to charge
into second by the first corner. He ran behind Nicolas Lapierre
until both men came into the pits together on the eighth lap.
Lapierre managed to get out ahead and on his out lap Lucas
also lost two places to drivers who had already pitted and
whose tyres were up to temperature.
He thus ran fourth for a while until Adam Carroll spun off
and put him up to third. Meanwhile Glock stalled at the start
and spent the race focussing on earning the point for fastest
lap, so overall Lucas gained five points on his rival –
overnight Glock has 79 points and di Grassi 73. The Brazilian
will start the Sunday sprint from sixth place, but Glock will
be down in 17th and will have a hard time making it into the
top six.
‘We had a bit of trouble with traffic in qualifying,
and it was a bit of a mess! But the important thing was I
qualified in the front two rows. I might have fought for the
pole, but I was pretty happy to be in front of Glock. The
car was very, very good, but we were struggling a little bit
of speed on the straights. It's always a compromise.
‘The start was good again, getting from fourth to second!
The beginning of the race was quite OK, the car had a very,
very good balance. The pit stop decision was made in a bit
of a hurry, because the team called just before the chicane,
and when I saw Lapierre coming in I thought for one second
if I should stay on the track or not. But in the end it was
a team decision, and I didn't know if something was going
on elsewhere on the track, so I came in.
‘After the pit stop we lost a couple of places. I knew
that Timo was far behind, so I had to manage a little bit
how much I could risk, and how many points I could get. So
I was trying to make the most points I could, and I ended
up on the podium. It's a good result and I'm very satisfied.
Tomorrow I start sixth. It should be a good race because there
are some slower guys ahead, and I hope I can take more points
from Timo because he will start far back.'
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