MORTARA PREPARES FOR GP2 ASIA FINALE

SAKHIR (BAH) 23 APRIL 2009: Edoardo Mortara returns to the scene of his GP2 Asia Series debut this weekend at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, half an hour's drive from Bahrain's capital city Manama. The Bahrain International Circuit is the only track on the 2008/2009 GP2 Asia Series to host two rounds of the championship, and with three months having passed since the previous race weekend at the 5.412km circuit, those who fared well there in January will be raring to go. 

Edoardo is one such driver, having scored a famous podium in his very first race. On the back of a disappointing weekend last time out in Malaysia, Edoardo is hoping for a return to form at a track on which he has already achieved success this season. 

EDOARDO MORTARA:

First of all, I want to add my congratulations to all the good wishes being sent to Christian Horner and the Red Bull Racing F1 Team

after their first F1 victory in China. Arden International is Christian's GP2 team, and so I am really happy for him. Also as a spectator and a fan of Formula 1 it is great to see new teams winning. F1 is definitely much more exciting and interesting this season and that is really nice to see. With Christian's success in Formula 1, it is up to us at Arden to keep the good results coming in GP2 as well. 

After a bad weekend in Malaysia where I was maybe a little bit too optimistic, I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do here in Bahrain. We have a decent idea on which direction to take because we went pretty well here last time and we will try to repeat that. I have more experience now with the car so it should be better. 

The most important thing at this track is to get your braking right and carry speed through the corners. There are some corners where getting your braking point right is really hard, like the double left hander at Turn 9 and 10 where you have to brake in the middle of the corner, which is a big challenge. We have to be competitive at every circuit and that is what I am hoping for this weekend. 

ARDEN INTERNATIONAL CAR #4 ENGINEER - CAMPBELL HOBSON:

We're feeling really good about this weekend. We were fast here last time we raced at the track and Edo qualified fourth, so we want to be back up there, if not a bit better.

Driverwise the higher temperatures will have an effect, but for the car it's all about the brakes and making sure they're OK before we go out there. There was a lot of wear on them last time, for all the teams, and we'll need to watch that in the race. 

We found out a few small things that went wrong in Malaysia that Edo can improve on, particularly in qualifying, so we've been through all of that
and he knows what he needs to do. Also there was an issue with the positioning of the pedals, which could have explained his brake problems, so we've sorted that out too. 

I think there are a few tenths that Edo can find, but it's all about getting the perfect lap together in qualifying. If he can do that there's no reason why we can't be up there. After the disappointment of Malaysia, he's pumped up for this one. You're always going to have a bad weekend somewhere, and you can't get pole and a podium every weekend, but he's been on the simulator between the races and his confidence is back up.


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