GP2 R2, Imola - The Event Thread

[Go_For_Pole]

Kind of surprised there is no thread about this yet, probably due to Bruni taking pole, not as exciting for Brits compared to Hamilton (j/k).

Seriously though, I do remember posts mentioning what a disaster Trident would be Good also to see Lopez on the front row, this year he managed to carry the winter speed into the races.

Good to see Carroll and RE on the up, the promise of Valencia's warm up session carried over. Still no luck for Glock and with Yoshi doing so well you have to wonder how long does it take for a talented driver like the German to adapt to GP2 cars. Time is running out for him

Notice how second year drivers (with the bright exception of Hamilton, another sign he IS mega) are all in the front now that the series is visiting a known track again. In my opinion that will be the norm from on and that makes the point advantage that Piquet gained in Valencia very, very important.


1. Bruni Trident Racing 1:32.691
2. Lopez Super Nova International 1:32.941
3. Hamilton ART Grand Prix 1:32.990
4. Premat ART Grand Prix 1:33.138
5. Yoshimoto BCN Competicion 1:33.342
6. Piquet Jr. Piquet Sports 1:33.402
7. Carroll Racing Engineering 1:33.450
8. Lapierre Arden International 1:33.519
9. Ammermueller Arden International 1:33.602
10. Piccione DPR 1:33.626
11. Porteiro Campos Racing 1:33.713
12. Viso iSport International 1:33.733
13. Pla DPR 1:33.892
14. Filippi FMS International 1:33.955
15. Valles Campos Racing 1:34.048
16. Gommendy iSport International 1:34.116
17. Zuber Trident Racing 1:34.181
18. Negrao Piquet Sports 1:34.21
19. Perera DAMS 1:34.230
20. Monfardini DAMS 1:34.369
21. Glock BCN Competicion 1:34.371
22. Grassi Durango 1:34.405
23. Fauzy Super Nova International 1:34.697
24. Tahinci FMS International 1:35.397
25. Hernandez Durango 1:35.583
26. Villa Racing Engineering 1:35.861

[flexible-flyer]

di grassi was docked back to last on the grid for having an illegal car so that will put a smile on young villa's face. campos are getting better and better. now porteiro is ahead of valencia's hero, valles!

im happy to see adam at in the top ten in quali but being honest, i expect him to go backwords in this race. i dont think racing engineering have improved that much. i think its just that carroll knows the track a bit better than some of the other guys. just look at villa, he is no slouch yet he is last. but i hope they prove me wrong.

[Daisy]

Is there any livetiming on the internet of GP2? It's only on Eurosport 2 and I don't have that channel.

[DanFlag]

Can I catch the race anywhere live on the internet?

[flexible-flyer]

no hope. eurosport arent even doing live timing on their site. all i know so far is that timo glock stalled at the start. euosport are showing bikes on both their channels and gp2 will not be shown until 4pm apparently.

[Mekola]

For live timing, try French Eurosport website: www.eurosport.fr

[flexible-flyer]

thanks alot, mekola.

[flexible-flyer]

heard di grassi done a villeneuve at villeneuve, but he is ok. hamilton jumped his start but he has got away with it without getting punished. i think i should shut up for anyone who doesnt want spoilers!

[strider]

You're right, he jumped the start by miles!

[Daisy]

I heard Hamilton was disqualified because he overtook the safetycar?? What happend there?

[strider]

It's a bit complicated to explain. Basically Lewis was given a drive-through penalty for jumping the start and not long after that:

The action was intense the length of the field, with Lucas di Grassi making a stunning getaway to sit 14th from last on the grid by lap four. His run was not to last long however, as he ran deep into the Villeneuve chicane on lap eight, and slammed heavily into the barriers as he tried to get back on track. With debris scattered across the circuit, the Safety Car was deployed.

The top nine drivers all took their chance to stop. Lewis Hamilton was out first, using the opportunity to take a drive-through penalty for jumping the start. Exiting the pits, he saw the Campos Racing cars passing the Safety Car as it waited to pick up the leader, and the Briton followed them through. It would prove a costly mistake. He pitted on the next lap for new tyres, but as the safety car came back to the pits, Lewis was black flagged for passing it after his initial stop.

I hope that makes it clear! His first visit to the pits put him in the lead (sort of), because he had not yet had his compulsory stop. So when the back markers were waved past the Safety Car he should not have followed them through. If the team was in radio contact with him, they should have told him that, or he should have asked.

[Boro]

the tv race director was HORRIBLE. no fault to eurosport as they just get whatever coverage from the locals, but the tv didn't show a lot of the action

when it didn't show bruni lapping by himself, it was monfardini in the mid-field.

bleh.

[flexible-flyer]

well done to isport and viso for finally winning a race!

[Knowlesy]

Yes, great drive.

Great race, come to think of it, some lovely moves!

[strider]

Really classy moves from Viso and Piquet. Good to see.

Lewis did well, too, to come through the field, but we saw nothing of that.

[trevisio]

Great racing from Viso & Piquet, thats what it's all about for me

[Martin Haven]

Imagine if Alonso had that kind of grip - he and Michael would have been wheel to wheel for about the last 20 laps!!

To those who DID see the Saturday race - apologies... there WAS a pit-stop sequence behind the safety car, honest! It just got lost as an ad break...

The TV direction is out of our hands... as is live timing... we didn't even have it in the booth as the race was shown delayed... that made race 1 VERY hard to follow!

Hope Sunday made up for it though...

GREAT stuff from Piquet and Viso, among others...

[Dutton]

I saw the Saturday race this morning at 4am, but no sign of the sprint race. Hopefully some channel, sometime, will show it.

The Saturday one was thoroughly entertaining when we saw the action, but it got a bit tedious watching Bruni circulate on his own endlessly!

The whole SC thing was interesting to try and understand...

[Go_For_Pole]

Filippi also did a good job, didn't he? If it wasn't for Monfrandini in the first race (he was 8th at the time of impact if I am not mistaken) he could have had a podium in the second race. Obviously coming from a - relatively - easy championship, with no experience of the car or the tracks GP2 visits and having a crap team mate will all give him a year from hell, but take some of these away and the potential is obvious.

Piquet is showing consistency that wins championships, definately not there last year. His points advantage is not big at first sight but I dare say that his only realistic challenger for the title will be Lapierre, all the others are either inconsistant or too far back already.

Ahhh and last year's ART advantage has gone missing, whoever finds it please return ASAP to the - as of now - winless team ))

[Alienman_69]

Some nice racing and overtaking. I think they should move GP2 to the afternoon and move F1 to the mornings, I see racing in GP2 and I see a train in F1. lolol
Piquet is showing great pace, agressive enough, taking calculated risks but never forgeting about the bigger picture, winning the championship. He now looks mature and focus, I think his in the right path to the boring F1. lol
Hamilton on the other hand, making a lot of rookie mistakes, passing the safetie car? what was he thinking? His 1 year behind Piquet, lets see if he can make that in a few races, but it looks like if he doesnt wake up quickly, Piquet will be far gone when he does.
Was looking at the drivers birth dates and Hamilton is actually 25 days older than Piquet. lol

[chunterer]

I missed the live feeds as I was in Germany but based on the ITV highlights I saw on Saturday the series is arguably more open then in its inception year!

Ok so he probably had circuit knowledge and good engineers but where did Bruni find that pace, fantastic!

Mind you he looked like a potential titlist early on last year and then faed away as others got to grips with set ups etc..

Lopez should have done better from 2nd on grid, that was a poor performance and hopefully will kick start him inot finishing better at the next 2meetings, both of which he did rather well at last year.

Lewis obviously got a bit carried away in his efforts to impress but he is such a quick driver, maybe it'll be a 2 year gig for him, too early to say i think.

And Viso, shall we label him 'Little Juan' ???

He ain't half reminiscent of JPM in the way he drives, positions his car, the opportunism that he capitalises on and and the swift but clinical way that he gets past people. Fantastic ability he has.

Lapierre blew what could have been a podium or 3th in race 2 which was silly but i still see him as a title contender.

Piquet looked solid and at this stage he's got to be title favourite. However his ultimate pace is a little up and down, but that won't matter if he keeps winning one race and finishing strongly in the other will it?

As Go For Pole says, currently ART's 'advantage' is nowhere to be seen, which is what i predicted might be the case!!

[Mekola]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Ok so he probably had circuit knowledge and good engineers but where did Bruni find that pace, fantastic!

Is to remain that main engineer on Trident Racing is Sergio Rinland, the same who was at Coloni with Bruni at the start of 2005. Isn't casual that best Bruni performances in Coloni Motorsport were at first half of last GP2 season.