Andreas Zuber drops out at second GP-run in Barcelona just short of the finish line Collision with teammate Maldonado prevents scoring of points The second day on the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona didn't go as planned at all for Andreas Zuber (Piquet Sports). Due to his third place yesterday the 24-year-old Styrian took up the sprint race over 26 rounds on Sunday from sixth starting position. At the chaotic start Zuber didn't get away ideally and lost two places - and even one more to Piquet Sports-teammate Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela) during the first lap. While Romain Grosjean (Fra/ART) and Kamui Kobayashi (Jap/Dams) at the top broke away it was especially Sebastien Buemi (Sui/Arden) in third place who held up the rest of the field. Zuber: "I got stuck behind Maldonado. I could have gone much faster but wasn't able to get past him." Until lap 22. Andreas Zuber started a risky but fair manoeuvre to overtake Maldonado and managed to pass his teammate. This won him sixth place - the equivalent of one point. During the next lap Giaccomo Ricci (It/DPR) spun and couldn't get off the course immediately so that the safety car took over. When the race was on again the very next lap Maldonado tried to squeeze past Andreas Zuber's car with all might, whereby the cars touched each other rather violently. "That was really brutal the way my teammate tried to overtake me. It caused severe damage to the whole right side of my car", said a disappointed Andreas Zuber who had had to retire because of this. But Maldonado also had to come to the pit and finally to give up, as well. Following the safety car-phase leader Sebastien Grosjean unfairly tried to shove Kobayashi off the course to keep his lead which earned him a drive-trhough-penalty. Thus the Japanese was able to win the race. At this point an obviously furious Andreas Zuber was already in the pit lane: "I am frustrated, of course. I absolutely wanted to score points and had already reached sixth place when my teammate's mistake destroyed everything. But at least we saw that we are fast. And so I'll put my foot down hard once more in two weeks in Istanbul." 2. GP2-run (sprint race) in Barcelona 01. Kamui Kobayashi (Jap) Dams 40:27.229 6 points 02. Sebastien Buemi (Sui) Arden + 1.176 5 points 03. Giorgio Pantano (Ita ) Racing Engineering +1.962 4 points 04. Bruno Senna (Bra) iSport International +2.808 3 points 05. Davide Valsecchi (It) Durango RAcing +3.501 2 points 06. Javier Villa (Spa) Racing Engineering +8.480 1 point 12. Romain Gosjean (Fra) ART + 23.558 1 point (fastest lap) GP2-overall standings after one race (driver ranking) 01. Bruno Senna (Bra) iSport International 11 points 02. Alvaro Parente (Por) Super Nova Racing 10 points 03. Giorgio Pantano (Ita ) Racing Engineering 9 points 04. Kamui Kobayashi (Jap) Dams 7 points 05. Sebastien Buemi (Sui) Arden 7 points 06. Andreas Zuber (Ö) Piquet Sports 6 points 07. Romain Gosjean (Fra) ART 5 points 08. Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Barawa Int. Campos 3 points PR:event Press Team Andreas Walk, Armin Holenia, Martin Meyer Tel. +43 699 17030110/+43 664 201 27 00/+43 699 17030114 |
