Ocean Racing Technology matched the pace of the best teams in the GP2 Asia championship this weekend on the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain when its two drivers, Yelmer Buurman and Fabrizio Crestani, after being struck down by bad luck in the first race, carried out a remarkable second round proving that Ocean Racing Technology has the potential to score points and fight with the best of them.
The water pump on Yelmer Buurman's singleseater left him with no choice other than to abort the start of the feature race and he was therefore left to start from the back row of the grid for the Sprint race. 26th at the start, the Dutchman took the chequered flag in 13th place while his teammate Fabrizio Crestani, moved up nine places to finish the event in 17th. For Buurman, the Bahrain weekend left him with mixed emotions: "The second race shows that Ocean Racing Technology is heading into the right direction. Despite the overtaking and the fact that I had to race with so many cars around me, I was on the same race pace as the guys in front. The car was really competitive but and I am also disappointed that I stopped on the starting grid of the Feature race. Without that, I'm sure I could have put us into the top 10 and it would have opened new horizons for the second race. But we did show what we are made of and our potential."
Meanwhile, for teammate Fabrizio Crestani, a lot of progress was made since his debut in the GP2 Asia Series. The Italian driver had a great start and made up five positions before being involved in an incident at turn 3. The DNF also forced him to start the second race from the last row, alongside his teammate!
However, Crestani proved that he has matured by not making any mistakes and as a result made up several places. "It was not that bad. I keep on gaining experience and there's no point in crying over spilt milk. The second race showed I'm not yet at the same pace as Yelmer (Buurman) but I was more focused on how to make up positions and I did not want to push the car to the limit because I needed to save my tyres. I want to keep improving, I know I can be faster."
Despite the hitches encountered on Friday for Ocean Racing Technology, everything indicates that the team is on the right track and Tiago Monteiro definitely appreciated all the work put in from every member of the team in order to open up their future prospects. "I like what I saw this weekend. All the team's elements are communicating well and we are starting to see the fruits of our labour. It is clear that had we succeeded in getting a decent result in race 1 the entire weekend would have been different. But we know we can be fast in a very competitive championship and it is encouraging to see that once again we could count on our two drivers. Buurman is very mature, and despite his lack of experience, Crestani is very committed."
The next races in the GP2 Asia series will take place in Qatar on February 13. They will be also very important for Ocean Racing Technology as they have already stated that the Asian races are a fundamental platform to prepare for the Main Series.
