Race 2
#26 Giacomo Ricci, DNF
#27 Chris Van der Drift, 4th.
Trident Racing scored a second straight points finish in today`s GP2 Asia Race 2 at Shanghai, scoring 4th place with Chris Van der Drift. The New Zealander proved his potential top-status again by staying among the leaders all-day long. Van der Drift also took 7th place in standings, at his first experience in a major open-wheel race. On the other hand, Giacomo Ricci experienced another bad break by ending his day early due to a contact with Carlos Iaconelli. Trident Racing will now be focusing on the next race, scheduled to take place at Dubai on the first weekend of December.
Chris Van der Drift
“I started in second place, but ended up in 4th: that might sound like a bad race, but I`m really pleased for how we ended up today indeed, mainly because of the rebound since the bad start in Qualifying. At the beginning, I tried to keep third place, but I really couldn`t do much against Villa, who was really strong today. I`m glad of how I kept Jerome D`Ambrosio behind, avoiding any kind of mistake and taking a valuable point finish for myself and the team. The car also showed an impressive progress since Race 1, though I reckon our rivals should have improved as well.”
Giacomo Ricci
“I had a pretty decent start, then I missed braking point at the last corner on lap 1 and went slightly long. I couldn`t avoid touching Iaconelli but it was a classic race incident: I tried to push the braking limit, and he closed the door. I even tried to rejoin after the hit, but the steering wasn`t straight anymore and a suspension was bent, so I had to join the DNF list early. I think we really deserved a better result, since we worked really hard during the whole weekend. I hadn`t tasted a GP2 car in 6 months, and I had never driven the model used in the Asia Series. I think the overall experience was quite positive, and I hope It will lead to a good season.”
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Managing Director
“Trident Racing closed its first weekend of the 08-09 GP2 Asia Series season with a points finish captured on Race 2 by Chris Van Der Drift. The New Zealander showed an outstanding maturity in dealing with the assault of some more experienced drivers. After letting Villa pass by, as the Spaniard was on a faster pace, he kept DAMS` Jerome D`Ambrosio behind for the following 12 laps, despite the Belgian driver has already entered a full season. It`s a great result for a rookie like Chris, who was attempting his first GP2 race at Shanghai and play the right cards for a ride in the 2009 Main Series. Trident Racing ended the first race of the season with 5 points, a better score than the one achieved by Harald Schlegelmilch and Ho Pin Tung during the whole 2007-2008 championship. The overall performance improved significantly between Race 1 and Race 2, and we feel we`re still missing something in comparison to the other front runners. I want to ask our staff one more effort to be on top since the beginning at Dubai, since qualifying will be vital in order to fight for a place on the podium. Giacomo Ricci made a good start, and tried to be aggressive since the beginning. Unfortunately, an involuntary contact ended his day early, preventing him from scoring a well-deserved top-10 finish. Trident Racing, set to be strengthened by the arrival of Riccardo Corbari, will be now focusing on the upcoming GP2 Main Series tests at Jerez and on the next GP2 Asia race at Dubai”.
