WTCC - Curitiba (Brazil) JAS Motorsport - Ryan SHARP wins Indipendent race in Curitiba

GIOVANARDI: A SUCCESSFUL BUT UNLUCKY COMEBACK

Sweet and bitter Curitiba for JAS in Brazil for the 5th event of the WTCC, where Ryan Sharp claimed a win (second time this year after Brands Hatch) and a second place in the Indipendent Trophy: he is now more and more challenging Tom Coronel and his Seat Leon for the Indipendents title.

However all the attentions were drawn by Fabrizio Giovanardi for his 'spot' presence in the WTCC at the wheel of the Honda. Fabrizio, although he seated in the Accord for the first time in Curitiba, fulfilled the expectations and topped the timesheet in the 1st free practice, in front of everybody. Unfortunately his weekend did not progress the way it started: the italian claimed the 9th place in Qualifying and in race 1 he could not push due to a mechanical failure which prevented him to attend race 2.

"Qualifying 9th isn't bad but considering I was fastest in free practice and it felt easy, it is a little disappointing" says Giovanardi "I think we had some problems with the car in qualifying and there wouldn't have been time to fix it so I had to compensate with my driving but still couldn't lead the pace. After this morning's session it feels like I had all the toys and someone took them all away after qualifying.

In race 1 I was hit at the start and then I suffered a progressive decrease of engine power with oil leakage on the rear tyres which made the car very difficult to drive. I struggled to finish the race but there was no point to continue in race 2, as the engine would have not made it. Overall I am quite pleased, this car performs extremely well and it could have been a top contender here without these problems".

Ryan Sharp, still second in the Indipendent Trophy, is growing race by race, and in Curitiba was consistently within 1" from the pace, claiming an outstanding 6th position in the warm up. "I have had a really great weekend" says the Scotsman "I feel we’ve made a big step forward both with myself and the car with the help of Fabrizio Giovanardi. Now feel to belong to this championship and we know the car is fast in Mexico so I am looking forward to that. From now on I have to aim to be in the top 10 and challenge Tom Coronel a bit more"

The performance of Giovanardi in the free practice, easily achieved without a deep knowledge of the car, has fired the enthusiasm of the team. "Giovanardi has finally proved the real potential of our car" says Alessandro Mariani "The Accord and JAS Motorsport deserve much more that what we have got so far. As expected Fabrizio with his experience and speed showed us the areas for improvements and the performance of Ryan confirmed the progress achieved.

So we are satisfied and confident for Puebla although we are quite frustrated as in Curitiba there were the conditions to achieve an outstanding result".

Next Race: Puebla (Mexico) July, 29-30, 2006

-Jas Motorsport -