The Insider - GP2 Series

PIRELLI PAGEGP3Charles Pic fought offall challengers in SpainFabio Leimer began Race 1at the back of the field, butwon Sunday’s sprint raceRACECARD // SPAINPIC AND LEIMER REIGN IN SPAINRACE REPORT SPAIN // RACE 1 WINNER: CHARLES PIC // RACE 2 WINNER: FABIO LEIMERAfter a thrilling openingweekend in Turkey, the GP2Series moved on to Barcelona.Jules Bianchi believed he hadtaken pole on Saturday, until hewas hit with a grid penalty fornot slowing under yellow flags,and so Giedo van der Gardetook P1 on the grid.The Dutchman kept his leadat the start from second-placedSam Bird as the safety car wasdeployed after a startline crash.Van der Garde held his nerve atthe restart, and from that pointon it became a question of tyrepreservation. Bird’s tyres beganto fall off and when he pitted,the Addax team respondedto bring in third-placed driverCharles Pic. It proved an inspireddecision as he jumped ahead ofBird, and when Van der Gardeexperienced a slow stop, Pictook over the lead.Despite another safety carintervention, Pic was neverreally troubled and so the racefinished in an Addax one-two,with Bird third.Fabio Leimer had foughtthrough the field to ninth inrace one, but this becameeighth and reverse grid polefor Sunday when fourth-placedfinisher Romain Grosjean wasdisqualified for a technicalinfringement. Following a safetycar for another startline crash,Leimer won by over ten seconds,with Dani Clos second andMarcus Ericsson third.Van der Garde now shares thechampionship lead with SamBird, as GP2 heads for Monaco.Q&ACHARLES PICBARWA ADDAXCharles, congratulationson a rather surprising win...how was it for you?My start was okay, I conservedmy position during the firstfew laps until Sam’s tyresbegan to degrade, I then triedAWAYFROM THETRACKGIEDO VANDER GARDEDJ AND FOOTBALL FANThis year, I moved toValencia. It is a fantastic cityand it’s good to be closeto the team, but it is also agreat place for a driver totrain. You can run along thebeach, and there’s also animpressive gym which hasall the latest facilities on theriver, which is now dry.Away from racing, I enjoyspending time with mygirlfriend and my dogs.My big passion is footballthough, and I go to watchmatches as often as possible.I support Ajax and went tosee them beat FC Twente towin the championship – itwas a huge thrill to be there.I love progressive housemusic and I used to DJ abit too. I also love movies.I think maybe my favouritefilm is ‘The Hangover’. Thesequel comes out soon andI can’t wait to see it!I just try to enjoy life. It’svery important, because youonly live once.to overtake him but it was veryhard! I preferred to save my tyresand he decided to pit, so theteam had the right strategy tostop me directly, and we passedhim during the pitstop. Afterthat Giedo had a problem in hispitstop so we passed him. I wasn’texpecting to be in first position!Were you waiting for Sam topit, or did you plan to come in?No, it was not planned before theBird is the word: Sam teststhe Mercedes in Abu Dhabirace: it was the team who choseto stop me one lap after, andagain it was the right strategyand the reason I passed him.You had another restart laterin the race: any concernsabout the guys behind?No, I was focused on saving mytyres, especially because thefront was a problem in highspeed. I had to keep the naturalbalance, and we did it.MERCEDES BOSS TIPS BIRDTO MAKE BIG IMPRESSIONThe link between the GP2Series and F1 shows no signof abating, with several 2011drivers under the wing ofFormula 1 teams. One suchdriver is Sam Bird, who testedfor MercedesGP in Abu Dhabiat the end of last season.“After a strong performancein the 2010 GP2 season, wedecided to use Sam for our2010 Young Driver test,” saysMercedesGP Team ManagerRon Meadows. “Sam was arookie driver, yet he racedincredibly well considering hislack of experience.“Sam adapted to drivingour car really quickly. He hasa very good understandingof what is necessary. He is avery smart young man, alwaysasking questions about howhe can improve and for thatreason he has a better technicalunderstanding than mostyoung drivers of his age.”With inaugural GP2champion Nico Rosberg in histeam, Meadows keeps a keeneye on the GP2 Series, evenarranging a test for MichaelSchumacher when he waspreparing for his return to F1.“The GP2 series is a fantasticcategory to train young driversfor Formula One,” he says. “Theracing is so competitive. It goeswithout saying that this is avery important year for Sam ashe will be one of the favourites.“We have every confidencethat he will be challenging forthe GP2 championship title,but there are many gooddrivers this year so he will haveto fight at every race.”ASK THE EXPERTSTHOMASCOUYOTOPOULORACING ENGINEERING“This race was very importantfor Racing Engineering becausewe are a Spanish team and Daniwas at his home track. You alwayswant to do well at home, butultimately it is just a normal race.There are only the same amountof points to be taken here asanywhere else.The track has not changedtoo much during the last fewyears, but this year they slightlymodified Turns 7 and 8. Generally,it is hard on tyres which is whyPirelli chose the hard compound,but it also has fast, medium andslow corners so you have to finda good compromise.You need to carry speedthrough Turns 1, 2 and 3 andgood braking stability arrivinginto the final complex. Also youneed good traction for that finalsector and the lead onto the mainstraight. It is difficult to find theperfect balance, so set-up wiseand through driving you canmake a real difference.You always want to do wellat your home race, but everyoneknows the track very well andthey are all pushing hard, soBarcelona was never going tobe an easy weekend.”FABIO LEIMERAfter starting his seasonupside down in Turkey,qualifying in Spainwent no better and hestarted Race 1 last. Buta storming race throughthe field saw him takereverse grid pole and awin on Sunday.ADDAXThe team always excels inBarcelona and 2011 wasno exception. A one-twoin Saturday’s race wasrich reward, but Sundaywas less fruitful. Van derGarde was taken out atthe first corner, and Pichad to stop to repair adamaged front wing.RACINGENGINEERINGAfter disappointing pacein Turkey, Barcelona wasa shot in the arm. Localhero Dani Clos recordedtwo points finishes anda podium in front of hisfans on Sunday.ROMAINGROSJEANThe championshipleader coming into theweekend, Grosjean hadsome bad luck in Spain.Disqualified from Race1, he began Race 2 fromlast place, but the manof the race only narrowlymissed out on the points.LOTUS ARTJules Bianchi’s weekendstarted with having poleposition taken away, andfinished in hospital aftera big crash at the start ofRace 2. Esteban Gutierrezcollided with MichaelHerck in both races.MORENEWSCLICK HERE FORGIEDO’S PROFILECLICK HERE FORFULL INTERVIEW