DPR's strong teamwork comes to the fore at Silverstone

Soucek’s car also needed an engine change and the DPR crew worked long into the night to replace it, only to find that a second change was needed. The pressure was on for DPR to complete the necessary workload in time for the No.21 car to be ready for the grid of this morning’s race. Strong teamwork from the DPR crew ensured it was out on track, with just minutes to spare.

The two retirements resulted in the DPR cars lining up at the back of the grid for today’s 24 lap sprint. From these positions and with the short race distance it was always going to be tough for Bakkerud and Soucek to make it into the top ten. However, both drivers were aiming to run at a good pace and improve on their start positions.

At the green flag Bakkerud make a strong start, but Soucek wasn’t able to make the most of opportunities in the opening lap. As the field settled down, both drivers found good rhythm and were lapping consistently, with Bakkerud running in 18th place and Soucek in 21st as the race reached its final few laps.

A move by Adrian Zaugg on Bakkerud two laps before the end pushed the Dane off track as well as himself, allowing the DPR drivers’ team mate through and dropping him back down the order. At the chequered flag Soucek was in 20th place, followed home by Bakkerud in 21st position.

Soucek said after his Silverstone experience, "I didn’t get a good start and I didn’t make up any position, then my pace wasn’t as strong as it should have been. I seem to be fighting the car all the time; it’s not working for me and in synergy as I want it to be. We have to find a solution. The boys had to change two engines last night and worked so hard, all through the night, so I really wanted to do well for them today. I wasn’t able to push as hard as I wanted to, but sometimes it just doesn’t go your way."

Bakkerud said of his race, "It was better today, although not a lot better. Another race under my belt, so I guess that’s a positive. The car was okay, it was an improvement from qualifying, but when you are starting so far back it makes it much more difficult than further towards the front. "At the end Zaugg got down my inside on the pit straight, outbraked himself and then gave me a little tap and we ran wide, he didn’t gain any places and I lost two. We didn’t have any data from yesterday, which would have helped us a lot, but we made the best of the situation."

Rounds 10 and 11 of the 2007 GP2 Series take place in two weeks time at Nurburgring, supporting the German Grand Prix from 20-22 July.

- Alison Hill -