GP2 Rounds 1 and 2, Bahrain. The Event Thread! - Page 2

Hazard · 14 Apr 2007, 16:12 (Ref:1891152)

Good racing in the midfield, but the top bunch were pretty spread out.

Aside from Glock's very aggressive start knocking Xandi off the circuit (to into a rather magnificent recovery until he retired) not much happened up that end of the field.

The two Durango's were the only significant climbers, and a sluggish Zaugg easily fought off the weak attacks from Lapierre.

Bit of a shake up and hopefully the sprint will be more active, and with more cars moving at the start(s)!

Knowlesy · 14 Apr 2007, 16:14 (Ref:1891157)

By GP2 standards that was pretty dull, but it is the first race. Tomorrow should be where the action starts!

Good win for Filippi, what's going on there?

Jackman · 14 Apr 2007, 16:20 (Ref:1891166)

http://www.gp2series.com/en/website/...ws=tcm:2-10763

**chunterer** · 14 Apr 2007, 16:39 (Ref:1891175)

Not sure what to make of any of that race?

Filippi drove a top race so hats off to him but there were so many errors forced and unforced throughout proceedings, many from people whom I would've thought knew better.

Some people made overtaking look simple, as we've come to expect from this series, but others made very hard work of it.

Compare that 5 car battle for 6th with the tremendous one for the win in the second race 2 years ago at Nurburgring and I ask myself what the hell was going on today?!

It was clear to me both ART cars had pace to be at the front but struggled to make any headway. By the time Di Grassi had dealt with Zaugg it was far too late. What was Ammermuller playing at as well?

People like Pizzonia did nothing and it was a shame that we didn't get to see what either Conway or Maldonado could achieve.

But as has been said Senna did very well and Zaugg also to keep that lot behind, but as Gareth Rees said in his Eurosport 2 commentary, other than Lucas, none of the others behind him really worried him did they?

I think tomorrow's event will be better too and I suppose the first meeting of any series doesn't usually reflect how it will look over a full season.

Sev · 14 Apr 2007, 16:55 (Ref:1891190)

I take it Conway was in that bunch of people who retired at the start due to stalling?

Excellent race by Filippi, I'd be interesting to see if he can keep this up. Never had him tagged as a great one.

Lastly, there's been some talk about Filippi's engineer; has he engineered any different teams in GP2 recently, which could explain the improvement?

Knowlesy · 14 Apr 2007, 16:55 (Ref:1891191)

In all honesty, my feeling is that the quality of the field is perhaps down a bit on 05 and 06 (it had to happen someday).

This may or may not impact the racing.

I also wish they hadn't put those chimneys, winglets and endplates on the car. It looks hideous!

**chunterer** · 14 Apr 2007, 17:38 (Ref:1891222)

Yes, I think so too. But there's a few guys who previously showed ability but perhaps weren't in the right cars in their first season in the series like Di Grassi who was a front runner in F3, so it'll be interesting to see how he goes tomorrow and for the rest of the year.

I guess the good thing is that if ART have been pegged back a bit for whatever reason (mind you we thought that last year for a while too until Lewis kicked into gear!) then it should make a more unpredictable title race to a degree.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about today was that the fastest people on track appeared to be those maiking up ground, rather than those nearer the front? I.E Hirate, Nakajima (stunning pace!) but also Senna and Di Grassi in their efforts to catch the i-sport guys who seemed to stuggle later on in the race.

Lets hope that's not because it's harder for the cars to outbrake each other, as some of the moves today smacked of driver's having got a great tow struggling a bit on the limit under braking?

Adri_tifosi · 15 Apr 2007, 10:12 (Ref:1891663)

Race 2

1. Nicolas Lapierre DAMS 23 laps 43m 30.252s
2. Timo Glock iSport +3.183s
3. Luca Fillipi Super Nova +6.686s
4. Borja Garcia Durango +8.416s
5. Mike Conway Super Nova +10.178s
6. Kazuki Nakajima DAMS +11.089s
7. Michael Ammermuller ART +12.259s
8. Bruno Senna Arden +22.427s
9. Andy Soucek DPR +25.857s
10. Javier Villa Racing Engineering +26.720s
11. Vitaly Petrov Campos +32.661s
12. Roldan Rodriguez Minardi Piquet +38.977s
13. Jason Tahinci FMSI +46.473s
14. Sakon Yamamoto BCN +77.896s
15. Xandi Negrao Minardi Piquet +1 lap
16. Pastor Maldonado Trident +1 lap [Rtd]
17. Adrian Zaugg Arden +3 laps
Rtd Giorgio Pantano Campos 15 laps completed
Rtd Kohei Hirate Trident 12 laps completed
Rtd Sergio Jimenez Racing Engineering 10 laps completed
Rtd Karun Chandhok Durango 7 laps completed
Rtd Ho-Pin Tung BCN 3 laps completed
Rtd Antonio Pizzonia FMSI 2 laps completed
Rtd Lucas di Grassi ART 0 laps completed
Rtd Andreas Zuber iSport 0 laps completed
Rtd Christian Bakkerud DPR 0 laps completed

Fastest lap:Timo Glock iSport 1m 44.172s lap 8

strider · 15 Apr 2007, 10:17 (Ref:1891667)

Much more overtaking in today's race, even if the first corner was rather messy.

Very good effort by Mike Conway, after Bruno Senna's stand out performance yesterday. Bruno recovered well today as well after the enforced pit stop.

Note to Mr Haven, btw: the unfortunate Ho Pin Tung won the Recaro German F3 Cup last season, not the F3 Euroseries. Paul di Resta won that, but has been steered by Mercedes into the DTM.

**chunterer** · 15 Apr 2007, 10:21 (Ref:1891670)

Cheers for that adri!

Well that was much more like it wasn't it? Superb scraps all the way through the field and perhaps a slightly more accurate picture of form. Apologies to Ammermuller about my remark yesterday - he did well today with that injury, saw his hand coming off the wheel a few times on tv.

Hats off to Lapierre, good controlled race from the front. Perhaps he's one of those guys who excels with a clear road in front of him?

Tell you what, both DAMS cars are fast!!! I was thinking that their livery is very similar to last years ART livery - is there something we should be told? Nakajima absolutely flew in both rounds.

Good jobs from Conway and Pantano until he broke and Senna largely unnoticed stormed through after his first lap tangle.

Martin and Gareth's E2 commentary was spot on today (i'll forgive Mr Haven for a few naming errors, but hey it was early!) Also amusing interpretation of what some people were upto out there. I think it was the best commentary yet by the 2 of them?

There was still an impression that some of the drivers were behaving in a 'short cut to avoid the traffic jam' mentality - incredible acts of madness in some cases!

Nothing wrong with the racing element though, relief all round!

Knowlesy · 15 Apr 2007, 10:48 (Ref:1891699)

Line of the day was Martin, labelling a driver a "drag queen" for drafting effectively.

Much better race, even though that "average driver" kind of controlled the lead battle rather comfortably.

I thought Conway was great today, what might have been. Did he smile post race I wonder?

Hats off to Senna too, I think he'll surprise this season. And Glock is still favourite for me.

Also, did anyone notice how the one move across the track rule was totally abandoned?

Adri_tifosi · 15 Apr 2007, 11:18 (Ref:1891734)

Thank you chunterer

Good race and good start for Supernova , i think is another contender , they have two very good drivers

Bad result for ART , and bad luck for Senna

Martin Haven · 15 Apr 2007, 21:58 (Ref:1892553)

Quote:

Originally Posted by strider

Much more overtaking in today's race, even if the first corner was rather messy.

Very good effort by Mike Conway, after Bruno Senna's stand out performance yesterday. Bruno recovered well today as well after the enforced pit stop.

Note to Mr Haven, btw: the unfortunate Ho Pin Tung won the Recaro German F3 Cup last season, not the F3 Euroseries. Paul di Resta won that, but has been steered by Mercedes into the DTM.

Knew it was something with farty engines and yewropeans...

thanks for that...

Thanks, too, for the comments... it wasn't the earliness of the hour, more the beginning-of-the-season-ness of the races - makes identifying in an instant with W I D E shots quite tricky... was a little easier in race 2, hence it flowed a little more...

plus, the timing screens worked!!

**chunterer** · 16 Apr 2007, 08:55 (Ref:1892774)

Award for most worrying peformance of the weekend must surely go to one A Pizzonia of Brazil.

What's going on with this guy? He drove like a total novice in race one spinning off and locking his brakes all over the shop and I couldn't believe him harpooning Pantano during one of the SC periods on Sunday. He is much much better than that and I fear people will be talking about his top line single seater career in the past tense by the end of the season?

Mekola · 16 Apr 2007, 09:44 (Ref:1892790)

That's one of the risks than F1 veterans are doing in a series like GP2: You could battle and win a championship like Roberto Moreno did in 1988, or suffer the consequences like Norberto Fontana did in 1999.

Go_For_Pole · 16 Apr 2007, 10:25 (Ref:1892823)

The racing was a bit crazy, wasn't it? Kind of like a touring car race, only way too dangerous. Who was the genius that sent Tung on the wall?

strider · 16 Apr 2007, 10:46 (Ref:1892829)

I'm fairly sure it was Kazuki Nakajima. I was quite surprised he stayed in the results.

Russfeld · 16 Apr 2007, 11:03 (Ref:1892840)

If Tung wasn't swerving back and forth like a drunkard on the pull, maybe he wouldn't have got run into.

Go_For_Pole · 16 Apr 2007, 11:24 (Ref:1892856)

You are right but then again a lot of them did the same and he was the only one ending up in the wall so obviously Nakajima has a share of blame. Regardless it was poor driving all the way, Petrov driving people off track, Trident's duo banging wheels, all kind of things.

Jackman · 16 Apr 2007, 12:31 (Ref:1892903)

Nakajima bashed into Ammermuller in race one despite being a lap down, with the German's wrist heavily strapped and being very close to having to pull out of race two as a result, and then clattered into Tung in race two, causing massive damage to his rival's car and forcing another restart. He was hauled before the stewards are handed a ten place penalty on the grid for the next race, and was probably lucky not to get worse.

Maldonado drove like a tool all weekend too, barging into a few drivers in race one before nerfing his teammate off in race two (Hirate's got a wrist brace on as well now) before later running so wide after missing his braking point that he ended up cutting back on track two corners later: he was pretty lucky not to get more than a dressing down from his team boss.

Obizzz · 16 Apr 2007, 12:42 (Ref:1892919)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jackman

Maldonado drove like a tool all weekend too, barging into a few drivers in race one before nerfing his teammate off in race two (Hirate's got a wrist brace on as well now) before later running so wide after missing his braking point that he ended up cutting back on track two corners later: he was pretty lucky not to get more than a dressing down from his team boss.

Sounds like good old Maldonado to me

Yes he's quick but one has to question his behavior on the track

**chunterer** · 16 Apr 2007, 13:41 (Ref:1892983)

Guys, this is a really entertaining thread!! Some amusing and I have to say pretty accurate comments going on!!

Look like we've got a few loose cannons roaming about this year already. I guess a few boll****** and they'll start to settle down a bit.

Mind you the entry list reads a bit like a who's who of hard men/hard racers on the upcoming ladder this year!

Zuber, Glock, Negrao, Pizzonia, have all been good boys at overdriving in the past and are now joined by Maldonado, Zaugg, Bakkerud, Soucek and Nakajima who have all showed that they don't like to or don't know how to give ground in a scrap!

I'm not for a minute saying that they're all going to be banging into each other all the time but it's going to be pret-t-y entertaining this year methinks!

Obizzz · 16 Apr 2007, 14:38 (Ref:1893031)

Quote:

Originally Posted by chunterer

I'm not for a minute saying that they're all going to be banging into each other all the time but it's going to be pret-t-y entertaining this year methinks!

Now if I only could see the action.. damn them for showing the races at Eurosport 2 which I don't have access to

Go_For_Pole · 16 Apr 2007, 15:37 (Ref:1893095)

Quote:

Originally Posted by chunterer

Mind you the entry list reads a bit like a who's who of hard men/hard racers on the upcoming ladder this year!

Trouble is the hard newcomers are making the wiser guys behave like them, like Villa and Senna entering carelessly the track after they got the Petrov treatment.

Race to Win · 16 Apr 2007, 16:57 (Ref:1893174)

Well done to Mike Conway in race 2, to get 5th from 24th was brilliant.
Interesting how race 1 was the thinking race and race 2 the destruction derby.
Fillippi showed well, super nova did a good job
Glock showed I-sport will take some beating
Senna surprised most after his testing form
Lappierre finally got a win but will he now progress
Overall great racing, pity F1 is not the same!

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