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During the Monza
weekend water was a major problem for
Dubai-resident Andreas Zuber who races under a
UAE licence with FMSI and for the rest of the
field as heavy torrential rain disrupted the GP2
series' penultimate round. In Portimao,
(Portugal), after the morning rains and a session
on half wet track, the sun was back for the
afternoon qualifying session where Andreas qualified in 12th position.
As Andreas returned to racing action for the
Portimao weekend - the only stand-alone event of
the season that GP2 is visiting for the first
time - the track was wet again for the start of
the first Friday practice session.
A time of 1.55.208 saw Andreas in the mid-field
classification after 8 laps in the first session.
An improved time of 1.52.941 gave Andreas the
eleventh best time after 12 laps. The session was
shorter than planned and red-flagged three
minutes before the end following a collision
between Addax's Vitaly Petrov and Johnny Cecotto
Jr at the hairpin. Later, for second free
practice, the track was drying and Andreas
finished in sixth with a lap of 1.35.833.
This weekend Andreas's new helmet from Bell was
again not painted and as dark as last week in
Monza. Andreas had to replace the helmet that was
stolen from his truck at Spa round and there was
no time to have the paintwork redone.
"I arrived at Portimao very happy that the
Algarve track would be new to all of us and we'd
have a level playing field," said Zuber. "The
track is interesting. The qualifying session
started in sunny conditions. I was quick right
from the start and consistently bringing my time
down as the track improved too. With ten minutes
left in the session the team finalized some set
up and I was out again, but there was lot of
traffic. I pushed in the third sector and
finished seventh. In the end, the times kept
falling and there was too much traffic and I only
made it to P12 with 1.31.673, just 0.8s off the pace.
"The morning free practice sessions were
dedicated to learning this short circuit,
possibly the shortest of our season's calendar. I
was happily surprised as it has a beautiful
layout. What makes it interesting and a lot of
work is a succession of many elevation changes
requiring high traction on the uneven track
surface. So during the free practice sessions
with the team, we needed to think primarily about
working on the aerodynamics set
ups. The first session began with light rain but
for the second session the track was dry and our
times quicker. What I also noticed is that many
of the slow corners offer overtaking spots so the
race should be really interesting tomorrow and
points are really important to get in the races." |
