GP2 Series. Great Britain
 GIORGIO
PANTANO STRENGTHENS HIS LEAD AFTER A GREAT WEEKEND IN ENGLAND
The Repsol driver ends the weekend at Silverstone in the
British Isles with a victory and a third place. Javier Villa
sufered in the rain, finishing thirteenth yesterday and retiring
today Sunday
Race 1
Giorgio Pantano got another splendid victory, this time at
Silverstone. The Italian driver showed a fantastic combination
of speed and intelligence to win and so increase the lead
he has at the top of the World Championship. His teammate
Javier Villa finished thirteenth yesterday, but set the third
fastest lap of the race. Demonstrating that the young Spanish
driver is on the way to finding the good form he had last
season.
Fortunately for all the participants in the GP2 Series, the
threat of rain was just that and the race began with blue
skies, with the drivers making a clean start of this weekend´s
36 lap long race. Pantano got off to a great start from fifth
position, moving up one place right at the beginning as he
took advantage of the slow start made by Grosjean who also
got in Zuber`s way. The Racing Engineering driver knew how
to make the most of the situation. On the third lap he gained
another position when the leader up to that point, Senna,
made a mistake at Store, going off the track and losing several
positions
Giorgio then began an interesting battle with his championship
rival, Grosjean, the two fighting for the second place but
soon after Senna also joined them.
The leaders had planned a very similar pit-stop strategy;
Pantano stopped on lap 16, and one lap later Grosjean did
the same returning to the track with the Italian`s Dallara
tucked in behind the ART. Giorgio then began to attack Grosjean,
the car sponsored by Repsol clearly demonstrating that it
is faster. Unfortunately, a car retired in Vale brought out
the yellow flags in one of the places where Pantano seemed
to have a better chance of overtaking. Finally, when the two
entered Abbey, Grosjean left a small gap, and although a car
could hardly fit in the space, Giorgio made a dive for the
inside and moved up to second position, with the two car touching
tyres during the maneouvre.
The Repsol driver was now just 3.7 seconds behind the leader,
Di Grassi, and he soon began to cut the gap and on lap 30,
when the two came out of Stowe, Pantano stuck to Di Grassi`s
car and when entering Club feinted to the inside. Di Grassi
was covering the move but Giorgio took him on the right and
so got the lead. The fight for the victory ended at that moment;
on the remaining laps Pantano extended his lead and when he
crossed the finishing line got his second victory with the
Andalusian team.
What Javier Villa had to do was to make the best he could
after starting from 13th position on the grid. From the start
he was blocked in behind Tung and with Petrov just behind
him. Javier tried to overtake Tung but was not able to get
the better of the Chinese driver. As the cars ahead of him
made their pit-stops Villa moved into better positions, even
leading for a lap and a half before making his obligatory
tyre change. Although he returned to the track in front of
Petrov, he lost his position on the following lap when he
span because his tyres were still cold. On lap 23 Villa was
behind Vallés and attacking him trying to overtake
and move into sixteenth position. On the next few laps he
fought his way up to thirteenth position after taking advantage
of several of his rivals` problems. That would be his position
at the finishing line, setting the third fastest lap of the
race.
Race 2
Giorgio Pantano has become the big favourite to win the 2008
GP2 Series title after adding a new podium in the sprint race
at Silverstone today. The Racing Engineering finished third
in a very complicated race because of the rain. His teammate,
Javier Villa, was one of the victims of the bad weather, he
was not being able to finish after spinning out almost at
the end of the race.
As the weather forecast predicted rain fell today at Silverstone,
and the track was totally wet when the race began. The first
lap made it more than obvious that the conditions were tremendously
complicated and that the key would be not to making any mistakes.
Giorgio Pantano interpreted the situation perfectly, winning
no fewer than five positions on the first lap moving up to
third place at the end of the first lap, after starting eighth,
the position that the inverted GP2 grid had put him after
yesterday's victory.
Ahead of Pantano the Brazilian Senna and Di Grassi took advantage
to get away from the rest after several mistakes were made
by several of the drivers behind them, this turned into quite
a large gap between the leading two and the rest of the field.
For several laps Pantano tried to catch them up, only three
seconds behind the two leaders, this is how he set the fastest
lap at the beginning. But after going off the track a little
on the seventh lap the Racing Engineering driver realised
that he was taking too many risks and he opted to think more
of the championship than on today's race. Moreover, with a
Silverstone expert, the British driver Mike Conway, close
behind him staying in third place was not going to be easy
and so Giorgio concentrated on protecting his podium finish
and on adding some important points so that he could stay
at the top of the overall classification. Something that the
driver with the Spanish team was able to do after driving
safely and consistently to the end of the 24 laps, he even
got closer to the driver classified second, Di Grassi, who
he had gradually stalked down, at the chequered flag he was
just one second and a half behind the Brazilian.
Javier's Villa race was not so brilliant. Starting in the
middle of the group after his thirteenth place yesterday,
the Spanish driver was unable to drive in good traffic conditions
and with good visibility and so exploit all his potential.
After being stuck behind Vallés for several laps, he
was finally able to overtake him on lap 12, Villa was blocked
by Buurman on the following laps, and when he tried to find
a gap to get past him he ended up spinning in the slow area
towards the end of the Silverstone circuit and he had to retire
when he was 11th .
With today`s third place, Pantano continues to be the clear
leader of the overall GP2 Series, with a lead of 11 points
over Bruno Senna. Giorgio is also the driver with the most
victories and podiums so far this season, a clear demonstration
of his talent and of the excellent preparation of the Racing
Engineering cars, since the Andalusian team has extended its
enviable record for reliability.
Quotes
Giorgio Pantano >>
>> Race 1
"Everything worked perfectly and I have to give special
thanks to the team because the car I had in the race was fast
and for the quick tyre change. This is really sensational
for me, for the team and for everybody; it was a fantastic
race."
>> Race 2
“From 8th to 3rd is really good given the conditions.
I decided to maintain my position and not take any risks,
especially on the final ten laps when it began to rain again,
so I had to make do with third position. I want to thank the
whole team as we have had a great weekend."
Javier Villa >>
>> Race 1
"I am very pleased with the race itself. I was getting
good sensations from the car and I could clearly see that
the problem was on the straights.
That means that you have a lot of confidence for the next
few races, because the mechanics and engineers have been doing
a great job all year and they all deserve a great result,
I hope it comes in Germany."
>> Race 2
"It was a difficult race and I never felt comfortable.
For me it was complicated, as I have had few wet races. On
the first part I lost a bit of time, and even though towards
the end I went faster it was not enough."
Official Results
>> First Race
1. G. PANTANO (RACING ENGINEERING)
2. L. DI GRASSI (CAMPOS) at 4.060
3. K. CHANDHOK (iSPORT) at 10.280
4. S. BUEMI (ARDEN) at 15.114
5. R. GROSJEAN (ART) at 18.842
13. J. VILLA (RACING ENGINEERING) at 50.712
>> Second Race
1. B. SENNA (iSPORT)
2. L. DI GRASSI (CAMPOS) at 8.598
3. G. PANTANO (RACING ENGINEERING) at 9.420
4. M. CONWAY (TRIDENT) at 17.784
5. V. PETROV (CAMPOS) at 23.390
NC. J. VILLA (RACING ENGINEERING)
>> Overall Classification
1. G. PANTANO (RACING ENGINEERING) 49 Points
2. B. SENNA (iSPORT) 37 Points
3. S. BUEMI (TRUST TEAM ARDEN) 25 Points
4. L DI GRASSI (CAMPOS) 24 Points
5. R. GROSJEAN (ART GRAND PRIX) 23 Points
20. J. VILLA (RACING ENGINEERING) 3 Points
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