The Brazilian driver made a slingshot getaway from P3
Curitiba, Race 1: the drivers’ quotes
Antonio Pizzonia completed his dream comeback in the single-seater scenario with a dominating flag to flag win in the first race of the Curitiba Auto GP weekend.
The Brazilian driver made a slingshot getaway from P3 and made the most of a bad start by front row-runners Adrian Quaife-Hobbs and Chris Van der Drift to take the lead, then drifting away lap after lap: his gap on the followers grew at a pace of nearly one second per lap and got as big as 6” before the mandatory pit-stop, allowing him to control Pål Varhaug’s comeback in the second half of the race. The Norwegian driver also got a great start from P4 and kept second place for the whole race. In the early stages he had to fend off attacks by Adrian Quaife-Hobbs, but as the laps passed his pace got better and better, allowing him to build a little gap on the brit. Then a really quick pit-stop by the Virtuosi UK crew launched him back in contention for the win, as he exited the pits just 1” adrift from Pizzonia. Pål tried his best to give the home hero an hard time, but Antonio’s pace was just too quick for him to try an overtaking move.
Sergey Sirotkin was third after a great start and a late pit-stop strategy that gave him the chance to run in clean air in the late part of the race, closing with a big gap on fourth placed Daniel de Jong. The young Dutchman drove an aggressive race, posted the fastest lap and gained the upper hand in a duel with team mate Chris Van der Drift, who finished 5th six seconds adrift. The kiwi driver had his share of worries in keeping Adrian Quaife-Hobbs at bay: the championship leader had the chance to seal the title today but after the start more bad news came for him: a problem with the rear-right wheelnut at the pit-stop meant that the SuperNova crew lost 15” in the tyre change and, even if Adrian pushed as much as he could to recover, Van der Drift’s good defensive drive stopped him in P6. As a consequence the brit still needs to gain 5 points on Varhaug if he wants to close the title fight in Brazil without risking surprises in the last round of the championship in Sonoma.
Rafael Suzuki crowned a very good Auto GP debut with a P7 finish after running as high as 5th in the early part of the race, and closed the race ahead of Francesco Dracone and Michele La Rosa, the latter grabbing the first points finish of his season.
Curitiba, Race 1: the drivers’ quotes
Home hero Antonio Pizzonia won an amazing Race 1 in Curitiba: the former F1 driver led the race from flag to flag and crossed the line ahead of Pål Varhaug and Sergey Sirotkin. Here is what they said after the race.
Antonio Pizzonia
One year and a half after your last single seater race you won on your Auto GP debut: how does it feel?
“It’s incredible: one year and a half had passed since my last single seater race and I had driven single seaters just twice in the last three years, so I didn’t imagine to be so quick straight out of the box. I expected to need more time because I’m not used anymore to a car so light, with such powerful brakes and so much power and downforce. Frankly, I expected to be one second off the pace at the beginning and then close the gap session after session, but it went much better than that, I immediately felt at home in the car. I have to say thanks to the guys of Ombra Racing who did a great job throughout the weekend, the car was really good”.
The start was one of the deciding moment of your race, how did you managed to be so quick off the line?
“The start, together with the pit-stop, was the moment that worried me the most before the race because I had no chance to practice. I asked the regulars for some advice but when I tried a start at the end of qualifying and it was awful, so I was really worried.
Today it was different, the grip on the track was much better than on Friday and everything came together naturally. Then I just pushed as much as I could in order to build a gap because I wanted to be safe in case of pit-stop issues, but luckily everything went well at the tyre change”.
Pål Varhaug
Today your rival could clinch the title but things went in the opposite direction, are you still thinking about the championship?
“Frankly after Portimao we were so far behind that I didn’t even bother checking the points anymore, but now I know that the maths still give us a tiny chance. It’s good to know that the fight is still open, but I’m still very far behind so I’m not really thinking about the championship. Obviously I will do my best race after race, hoping to keep the battle going as long as possible”.
Tell us about your race, did you think that catching Pizzonia was a possibility?
“The start was very good, but the first part of the race wasn’t easy: my strategic choice was an early pit-stop, on lap 4, but obviously being second already at first corner we had to change it. I was on new softs at the rear and used mediums at the front so in the early part of the race I was really struggling a lot with understeer, and that’s why Quaife-Hobbs managed to put pressure on me. Then lap after lap the balance got better thanks to tyre wear and I was able to pull away a bit, and the Virtuosi guys really made a good job at the pit stop sending me out on Pizzonia’s tail. I thought that trying a move was possible but Antonio was really quick and on the penultimate lap I did a mistake at the new chicane that costed me a lot of time, closing any possibility”.
Sergey Sirotkin
You were the last driver to stop: how the late tyre change strategy did develop?
“Well we aimed at being able to drive in clean air in the second part of the race and that’s what happened, but in the end it didn’t make a big difference because I was lapping more or less on the same pace as the two in front”.
You seemed more competitive than on Friday, did the team make any changes on the car?
“Well we completely lost a practice session due to that gearbox issue on Friday, and that hampered us a bit in terms of finding the right setup. So we were a bit behind, but luckily we managed to catch up in time for the race. The car was feeling much better and I’m sure that in Race 2 it will again be a bit better, because after this race we’ll have more data to work on.
source: Auto GP, autogp.org
SIROTKIN PUSHES TO 3RD PLACE AT CURITIBA
Euronova Racing’s Sergey Sirotkin finished in 3rd place in today’s Auto GP event held at the Brazilian circuit of Curitiba; after a race where the young Russian pushed to the maximum for every one of the 23 laps.
The Lukoil backed driver qualified in 5th place – the best performance he felt he could get from the car after losing valuable running in free practice due to a gearbox problem. When the lights went out the front row pair of Quaife-Hobbs and Van Der Drift were slow To get away, and along with Pizzonia and Varhaug, Sirotkin got the jump on them and headed into the first corner in 3rd place. A lap later he was demoted to 4th by Championship leader Quiafe-Hobbs but Sirotkin remained on the tail of the British driver. Their battle was ended on lap 11 when Quaife-Hobbs pitted promoting Sirotkin to 3rd. A lap later Varhaug pitted from 2nd and then race leader Pizzonia pulled in for his new rubber on lap 15 leaving Sirotkin in the lead. The Euronova team had put medium compound tyres on Sirotkin’s car at the start of the race which allowed the Russian to run until lap 19 before pitting. With Quiafe-Hobbs out of the picture due to a slow pit-stop Sirotkin, clearly enjoying himself, pushed to the limit and drove as hard as he could to catch up to Pizzonia and Varhaug and exited the pit-lane a handful of seconds behind them. When the chequered flag came out he was just 5 seconds behind the winner, Pizzonia.
Sergio Campana joined Euronova Racing for the Curitiba event, replacing Antonio Spavone in the number 14 car. A good run in the opening free practice session saw the Italian amongst the fastest runners but in the second session disaster struck and a big crash at the final corner forced him to sit out qualifying while his car was repaired. Campana lined up on the last row of the grid for today’s race and was intent on fighting his way through to the front of the field. Unfortunately he was struck by an intermittent gearbox problem which denied him the opportunity to show his speed and he was unable to run at a representative pace. After his pit-stop he was in 10th place and still fighting but on lap 14 he ran wide whilst passing Dracone for 9th and lost control of his Lola, damaging the front wing, and retiring from the race.
Tomorrow’s race will see Sirotkin start from 6th on the grid due to the reverse grid regulations whilst Campana will start from 10th.
source: www.euronova-racing.com