charging Senna out of Istanbul sprint

Stray dog wrecks Brazilian’s suspension as strong finish looms

Bruno Senna’s troubled Turkish weekend continued in the second GP2 Series at Istanbul Park. After a promising start, during which he rose from 15th to sixth and set a string of fastest laps, he was poised to challenge Trident driver Mike Conway for fifth place when he struck one of two stray dogs that had wandered onto the track. The impact wrecked his front-right suspension and obliged him to park his stricken car in the pits. The Brazilian came to Turkey as joint series leader, but circumstances beyond his control condemned him to a blank weekend and he has slipped to sixth in the standings, albeit with 15 races still to go.

Bruno Senna“The race was going really well up until the incident with the dog. I made a good start, kept out of trouble and seized every opportunity that came my way without taking any risks. The car was really good and I knew we could score some useful points.“I was following Mike Conway quite closely when he suddenly moved to the right. I thought he had a problem so I went to the left… and that’s when I saw the dog for the first time. It ran right, so I went left, but then it turned again, hit my wheel and that was that. I couldn’t believe it.”