04/04/09
SEPANG (MAL) 3 APRIL 2009: Edoardo Mortara will start from 19th position
in tomorrow's GP2 Asia Race at the Sepang International Circuit, following
one of the closest qualifying contests in GP2 history.
While Edo's best laptime was only 0.774 away from the ultimate pole lap of
1:45.410, set by Jerome d'Ambrosio, the sheer closeness of the times saw 22
drivers covered by one second. Under such incredible competition, a time
which would normally have been good enough for the top half of the grid has
left the Italian with an uphill struggle in tomorrow's race.
Run over 33 laps, Saturday's GP2 Asia race will focus on tyre wear due to
a combination of the extreme Malaysian heat and the use of the medium
compound Bridgestone Potenza slick tyres by the championship this weekend.
With one compulsory pitstop to be made in the course of the 33 laps,
strategy will be key in moving up the field. However, after finishing this
morning's practice session in a highly promising eighth position, Edo will
be only too aware of the potential opportunities presented by the race.
EDOARDO MORTARA: I am really disappointed with my position on the grid for
tomorrow's race as I don't think it truly reflects how competitive we are.
Practice went well, and I had a good feeling with the car. Eighth position
was good, and I felt sure we could push for the top places in qualifying.
Unfortunately it rained just before the qualifying session began, and that
took some of the rubber away from the track that had been laid down by the
F1 cars earlier in the day.
The car felt OK, although it was not so good on new tyres. There was a lot
of traffic and getting a clean lap was tricky, but that's no excuse. I am
just annoyed with myself. I will work hard with my engineers tonight to
resolve the problem.
Tomorrow's race will be about taking care of tyres. The first corners here
are very tight, so I guess we'll have to hope that the leaders have some
contact in the early laps, and that we use a good strategy and look after
the tyres to bring home a result.
ARDEN INTERNATIONAL CAR #4 ENGINEER - CAMPBELL HOBSON: We're fairly unsure
what happened between practice and qualifying, so we'll go through the data
tonight and have another look. Edo was quite surprised with where he
finished up, as he said the balance was OK, no major problems at all, but
the time just wasn't there. For sure we're both surprised and disappointed,
but the important thing is not to give up for tomorrow.
We need to get a good start, and nobody knows what the weather will do so
from here anything can happen. The medium tyres in general give more rear
tyre wear, but this circuit doesn't seem to be all that bad compared to
some of the others. We'll take that and the weather into consideration and
see what we can do.
