26/04/09
SAKHIR (BAH) 26 APRIL 2009:
Edoardo Mortara has finished the final race of the 2008/2009 GP2 Asia Championship in 16th position, having been forced to start the contest from last place.
Edo's race started from the back of the field after the stewards judged him to have been at fault for the collision in Race 1 which saw both he and rival Alvaro Parente eliminated. Although video replays appeared to show what could be argued as a racing incident, Edo took his penalty with good grace and set about charging through the field on Sunday morning.
In sweltering conditions Edo made up ten positions from his grid slot to finish the race in 16th. But with team-mate Luiz Razia taking the race win from the reverse grid pole position, Edoardo was disappointed that the incident on Saturday had cost him a potential front row start alongside Luiz today.
EDOARDO MORTARA:
I started at the back and it was difficult, especially at the start with the contact which happened right in front of me. I had to run wide around Turns 1 and 2, and although I made up a few positions it was difficult to get to the top ten with all the mess. The race was good but it was difficult to overtake. I don't think many people were able to today.
Now we look to the main series. It's going to be hard and pretty tough but the performance is there. In qualifying I'm having problems so I need to understand what to do and I need some more experience in GP2 so that I can improve my qualifying. For sure my contact with Parente didn't help as without it we would have been starting at the front today, but I am building my confidence for the main series and starting 19th yesterday and running in the points showed what we can do.
Finally, while I would have loved to start at the front today and raced with Luiz for the win, it is great for the team that Luiz took the victory. The boys have worked so hard in Asia, and they deserved this win. Obviously I would have liked to have given it to them, but I hope the next win for the team will come from me.
ARDEN INTERNATIONAL CAR #4 ENGINEER - CAMPBELL HOBSON:
We thought something might happen at Turn 1 with an accident but Edo found his way through that fine and went on to make up ten places. Race two in Bahrain was exactly the same as last time we were here in that after five laps nobody really overtook anyone. You can't expect to start at the back and finish on the podium in race 2, but Edo did a good job today.
Looking to the main series we've tested in Barcelona recently and we will move on from there. The Asia series and what's happened in terms of how your weekend can turn from bad to good and vice versa is all good learning experience for Edo, and if he can take that into the main series and move on from there, we should do OK.
