The 24-year-old Styrian drops out in first round at second run in Istanbul
Following yesterday’s excellent performance which had been rewarded by third place at the first GP2 run in Istanbul, Andreas Zuber (Piquet Sports) had planned to score points at today’s sprint race, as well. But this time around luck was no lady for the 24-year-old Styrian. At the start he already had problems getting his car in motion at all. "It had to do with the clutch.
At the moment we have problems with this. My teammate, Pastor Maldonado, encountered the same troubles. But I’m sure that we will solve these difficulties", explains Andreas Zuber. Two turns later the end came on the following straight. Adrian Valles (Spa/BCN Competicion) crasehd into Zuber’s car from the side. "Valles also had clutch problems. I didn’t stand a chance and took off. So that was it for me", says Zuber.
When Andreas Zuber had long since been back in the pit box again, a dangerous incident happened during the 12th lap. Two dogs had strayed onto the circuit. One of these collided with Bruno Senna’s (Bra/i-Sport) car.
The Brazilian got off with a scare but had to retire from the race. Just before this incident Romain Grosjean (Frau/ART) had overtaken Vitaly Petrov (Rus/Barawa Int. Campos) with a bold manoeuvre and taken the lead. After the subsequent safetc car phase the Frenchman secured an unchallenged victory.
Andreas Zuber will now focus on the next runs in Monte Carlo on May 23 and 24. Until then the clutch problems should be solved, as well.
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2nd GP2 run in Istanbul
01. Romain Gosjean (Fra) ART 41:53,377 7 points (fastest lap)
02. Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Barawa Int. Campos +8,019 5 points
03. Sebastien Buemi (Sui) Arden +8,447 4 points
04. Giorgio Pantano (Ita ) Racing Engineering +9,697 3 points
05. Mike Convay (GB) Trident Racing +11,508 2 points
06. Ben Hanley (GB) Campos Team +17,647 1 point
GP2 overall standings after four runs (driver ranking)
01. Giorgio Pantano (Ita ) Racing Engineering 24 points
02. Romain Gosjean (Fra) ART 19 points
03. Sebastien Buemi (Sui) Arden 14 points
04. Andreas Zuber (Aut) Piquet Sports 13 points
05. Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Barawa Int. Campos 12 points
06. Alvaro Parente (Por) Super Nova Racing 11 points
07. Bruno Senna (Bra) iSport International 11 points
08. Kamui Kobayashi (Jap) Dams 8 points
13. Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Piquet Sports 2 points
- Andreas Walk, Armin Holenia, Martin Meyer-
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