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27/07/14 No luck today for Stefano and Lello in the Hungaroring Sprint Race.
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Following the post-race penalties applied to both Racing Engineering drivers Stefano would now start from 18th position on the grid and Lello would be on the row behind in 19th with both men facing an uphill struggle to get into the points in today’s 28 lap Sprint Race. It was cooler today than it had been for yesterday’s Feature Race with air and track temperatures of 24° and 34° respectively although the weather forecast was predicting a chance of rain.
As the lights went off Lello made a superb start moving up to 13th and he passed De Jong further in the lap to start lap 2 in 12th place. By lap 5 Lello was still in 12th, 0.6 seconds behind Evans and 0.4 seconds ahead Negrão, the young Italian was now looking for a way to pass Evans and on lap 11 he dived inside the Russian Time car for 11th. Lello quickly closed on Dillmann and on lap 15 he had closed to within 0.6 seconds of the Frenchman and he was one second ahead of Evans but the cars were so closely matched that it was very difficult to find a chance to overtake unless the car ahead made a mistake. With two laps to go Lello was able to pass Sorensen, who had been passed by Dillmann, to take 10th and on the final lap he moved up to 9th as he passed a spinning Dillmann.
Stefano got away well gaining several places into the first corner to lie 17th and he was able to pass De Jong and Izawa to lie 15th. On lap 2 he passed Cecotto despite the Trident car giving him no room and the two cars banged wheels. Stefano was now involved in a huge battle with the gap from the 2nd placed car to Stefano in 15th just nine seconds and on lap 8 the Racing Engineering car passed Markelov for 14th position. Two laps later he was up to 13th at the expense of Negrão but he was given a drive-through penalty for the overtaking manoeuvre which he took on lap 14, resuming in 22nd position and leaving the very disappointed Monegasque with no chance of scoring any points.
Despite his problems Stefano did not give up and on lap 19 he set his fastest lap of the race so far with a time of 1:33.149s and he was quickly closing the gap to Sato and Trummer who were about four seconds ahead of him. Two laps later he was up to 13th at the expense of Negrão but he was given a drive-through penalty for the overtaking manoeuvre which he took on lap 14, resuming in 22nd position and leaving the very disappointed Monegasque with no chance of scoring any points.
It has been a very disappointing weekend for Racing Engineering and its two drivers, both Stefano and Lello were very quick over the entire weekend but incidents during both races prevented them scoring the points that they deserved.
There is now a four week break until the GP2 Series resumes at Spa Francorchamps on the 22nd of August and Racing Engineering, Stefano and Lello will be ready to fight for wins again. |
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Team Comments:
Thomas Couyotopoulo, Sporting Director of Racing Engineering: “A strong race today from Raffaele today finishing in P9 after starting from P19, it was a very good recovery. Fighting through the field didn’t show our real potential today, but Lello has done some nice overtaking manoeuvres, but this weekend he paid the price of yesterday’s mistakes. Stefano had a tough race in the field; he was pushed off the track in the chicane by Cecotto, but was later on found guilty of a slight contact with Negrão at turn 1. He therefore received a drive through penalty and retired a few laps from the end due to damage on his car following the incident with Cecotto.”
Rafaele Marciello: “I had an OK start today, but was able to overtake some 5 cars. My opening laps were also good as I was able to overtake some more and I was in P12. It was difficult to overtake today, but I managed to get by Evans and Sorensen to finish the race in P9. Overall it was a bad weekend but we will be back in Spa.”
Stefano Coletti:: “It was clear that starting from P18 wouldn’t be an easy job today, especially here in Hungary where it is so difficult to overtake. I tried my best, but I had damage on the car from early contact with Cecotto and could not make it to the finish line.” |
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