Barcelona Race 1

Saturday, 8th May, 2010

Marcus Ericsson and Josef Kral finished in 11th and 12th positions respectively at the end of a dramatic first race in the 2010 GP2 Series Championship. A chaotic opening lap saw three of cars battling for the lead make contact at the first corner, with the rest of the field having to take evasive action. Marcus in particular needed great reactions not to get involved, although it did cost him a couple of positions in the process after making a strong start. Josef also got off the line well and had moved up six places after the first couple of corners.

Both Super Nova drivers showed strong pace in the first part of the race and whilst other cars behind pitted early, Josef and then Marcus made their mandatory pit stops a third of the way into the race, in order to optimise their tyre strategy. There was also rain forecasted during the race, which also suggested it was better not to take an early pit stop. This allowed Razia, Leimer and Valsecchi to leap frog the Super Nova pair, leaving them in 10th and 11th after all the cars had pitted. Unfortunately both drivers struggled for pace and lost ground to the leading pack. In the last few laps both drivers succumbed to Sam Bird who charged from the back of the field after being caught up in the first corner incident.

Marcus Ericsson - Car 6
Race Classification: P11
“After a good start I had to lift off because Turvey pushed me more and more towards the grass. Then going into turn one I saw cars spinning in front of me and had to avoid them by going over the kerb, which damaged the floor of my car. After that I had big issues with hesitations on the throttle, which hurt us a lot. Anyway, we did all of the laps and I got good experience. Tomorrow is a new day!”

Josef Kral - Car 5
Race Classification: P12
“I had quite a good start but with a bit too much wheelspin. In the first corner I chose the right way through and gained some positions. After a decent pitstop I was behind Marcus but due to understeer I couldn’t stay with him through the fast corners when I got close. Overall I have to say that I am satisfied because I moved up from 18th on the grid to 12th position at the finish. The most important part of tomorrow’s race is the start because there are no pit stops, so hopefully I can score some points.”

David Sears – Team Principal
“Both Super Nova drivers had problems during their first race in GP2 Main Series but still managed to bring the cars back in 11th and 12th places. They will have learned a lot more from today’s experience and hopefully tomorrow we may be able to score some points and build on our results from today.