05/04/09
SEPANG (MAL) 4 APRIL 2009: Edoardo Mortara's luck at the Sepang International Circuit suffered another cruel blow today, as a driveshaft issue forced him out of the GP2 Asia Series race after just 100 metres.
It's the first time an issue like this has affected the Arden International team, and both Edo and his engineers spent the afternoon pondering what might have been, as they were forced to watch a topsy-turvy race, in which the team believes they would have been well placed for a top eight finish, from the pitwall.
Starting from the rear end of the field for tomorrow's 22-lap sprint race, Edo's main priority will be to further increase his race mileage and confidence in the car, before the GP2 Asia Series returns to Bahrain for the final round of the championship at the scene of Edo's debut GP2 Asia race, in which he took a podium.
EDOARDO MORTARA:
When I went out on the exploratory lap I could tell there was something wrong. The car was pulling right when I accelerated, so I knew it was serious and either a clutch or driveshaft issue. I decided to take the start in case it was just the clutch - perhaps it was too hot, and I just needed to let it cool down. However, it was a broken driveshaft and I only managed to get 100 metres off the start line before the car came to a halt.
It's a pretty bad weekend so far, and not what I was hoping for after a successful first practice. In tomorrow's race I'll be at the back, and if it doesn't rain it's going to be difficult to score points. That said, a lot of guys today had troubles and if I have good pace tomorrow and can stay out of trouble it's possible to arrive in the top ten. That is my goal for tomorrow, and I will push 100 percent.
ARDEN INTERNATIONAL CAR #4 ENGINEER - CAMPBELL HOBSON:
On the green flag lap Edo was doing practice starts and there was a problem. The lads are pulling apart the gearbox now, but it seems to be the driveshaft. It's just an unfortunate reliability problem that's never affected us before. Obviously we're all disappointed because Edo definitely had the pace to match the guys in the top eight. There were some guys up there who he is definitely quicker than, and a lot of guys dropped out, so it's really disappointing. He does know, though, that anything can happen
and you just have to push on.
Tomorrow will be more difficult, because he'll be at the back, so we'll hope for rain to mix things up a bit. That's not uncommon around here.
