Sprint Race:

Points today for Jordan King and Alexander Rossi in the Red Bull Ring Sprint Race.

 Once again it was cool and cloudy with air and track temperatures of 13° and 32° respectively and there was a possibility of rain for today’s 28 lap Sprint Race. Following yesterday’s Feature Race Alexander Rossi was starting from 3rd on the grid and Jordan King from 12th. All the cars were running on the Pirelli P Zero White medium compound tyres.

Alexander made a fast start but pole man Yelloly was slow away and as they entered the first corner the two cars made contact as the American moved to the outside of the Hilmer car and Alexander had nowhere to go and he ran wide dropping back to 13th place. The Racing Engineering car soon passed Marciello and Binder to lie 11th on lap three and three laps later he was looking for a way past Visou and on lap seven he used DRS to overtake the Rapax car for 10th. His next target was Pic who was one second ahead and within two laps he was right on the gearbox of the Campos Racing car and on lap 12 he was ahead and in 9th place.

Alexander’s next target was his teammate Jordan who was 3.7 seconds ahead as the cars approached the halfway point of the race. He was now one of the fastest cars on the track and with eight laps remaining the young American was now involved in a tense battle with Markelov and Jordan with only 1.4 seconds between the three cars but he was unable to make up any further places and he finished in 9th, just outside the points. However a post-race disqualification to Markelov saw Alexander promoted to 8th, the final points scoring position.

Jordan made a clean start although he lost a place on the opening lap but he quickly began to make up positions and on lap two he was up to 8th and he was setting some very fast times taking the fastest lap of the race so far on lap seven with a time of 1:16.411s. The Racing Engineering car was now closing on Gasly but the two cars were very evenly matched, however Jordan continued to push and he gradually closed the gap and on lap 15 there was just 0.7 seconds between the two cars.

As the race entered the closing laps Jordan was still close to Gasly but he had a delayed Markelov and Alexander right behind him and he couldn’t afford to make any mistakes. The young Briton continued to put pressure on Gasly but as the final laps ran out he had to settle for  7th at the flag 0.3 seconds behind the DAMS car.

This was a race of what might have been for the Racing Engineering drivers, Alexander’s first lap incident prevented him from taking a potential race win and although Jordan was fast through the race starting from 12th on the grid was too much of a handicap. The teams will now travel to Silverstone in two weeks’ time for round five of the 2015 GP2 Series.

Alfonso de Orléans-Borbón, President of Racing Engineering:"What a pity about the first corner incident for Alexander as I think we would have otherwise seen him on the podium again for sure. He dropped back to 13th and a strong pace allowed him to get back into 8th and at least take one point. Jordan, on the other hand, had a strong race once more, fighting his way up to 7th and also setting the fastest lap time of the race, allowing him to score two additional points. Overall it was not the weekend we were hoping for, but we will work hard to be back on the podium in Silverstone."

Jordan King:"The first lap was very good from 12th to 9th. Then I had a bit of a gap to close on Gasly and doing so I set the fastest lap, which is a nice bonus. There was a bit of a fight with Markelov, which changed the race a bit as passing him sooner would have meant I was closer to Gasly during the closing laps. I eventually got closer to him, pushing for P6 and had only one lap to get past, which I actually did, but he regained his position. Overall this was very positive, even though there is still a lot for me to work on, especially the starts. But speed, overtaking and race pace are positives to take from this weekend and I am looking forward to going to my home race and putting everything together towards getting a podium position."

Alexander Rossi:"I had a good start off the line, but unfortunately you can’t always control others around you and I got hit in my rear right tyre which caused me to almost spin in turn 1. I recovered in 13th, but by then the race was already compromised. The car was good and Sit’s a shame because we should have been able to get a lot of points.” Feature Race

Alexander Rossi drives a strong race today at the Red Bull Ring to finish 6th. The rain that had affected the F1 practice and qualifying sessions had disappeared although it was still cool and cloudy with an air and track temperatures of 14° and 29° respectively with the threat of rain in the air for today’s 40 lap Feature Race. Following yesterday’s GP2 qualifying Jordan King was starting from 11th place on the grid (including a three grid penalty he had received after his accident in Monaco) and Alexander Rossi was right beside him in 12th. Jordan was starting on the Pirelli P Zero White medium compound tyres with Alexander on the P Zero Red Supersoft compound.

Alexander made a good start making up several places and as the lap finished he passed Pic for 8th but almost immediately there was debris on the track which caused the Virtual Safety Car to be deployed. Racing was soon underway again and Rossi was soon pressuring Haryanto and he was quickly past and into 6th on lap four and two laps later he out-braked Gasly into Turn 2 to take 5th. Using the Supersoft tyres to the maximum the Racing Engineering car pulled away from Gasly and on lap eight the young American took his mandatory pit stop , switching to the P Zero White medium tyre, and he returned to the track in 19th but 4th of the cars that had pitted.

Alexander set the fastest race lap so far on lap twelve with a time of 1:17.333s and the four men, Vandoorne, Sirotkin, Matsushita and Alexander, who had already pitted and were effectively fighting for the lead were separated by just over three seconds. On lap seventeen another fastest lap of 1:16.898s saw him close the gap to Matsushita to just 0.4 seconds and on lap twenty two he passed the Japanese driver in a fantastic manoeuvre to lay 3rd of the pitstopping drivers as he now chased Sirotkin. As the race entered the last six laps Alexander was two seconds behind Sirotkin and 0.4 seconds ahead of Matsushita who had the advantage of DRS and on lap 35 the ART car took the position and two laps later Lynn, on Supersoft tyres, moved ahead as Alexander suffered from a braking problem and, as he slowed further, he dropped another place to Markelov to finish 6th at the flag.

Jordan found himself in a traffic jam as the cars started and he finished the lap in 13th but he gained a place as he passed Negrao and he soon closed on Markelov and Evans and by lap twelve the Racing Engineering driver was involved in a big battle with the gap from 5th to 9th just three seconds. As the race approached the halfway distance Jordan set a set of personal fastest laps and he closed the gap to Evans to 0.7 seconds. By lap twenty four the gap was unchanged but the young Briton had pulled out a 2.6 second gap over Marciello and on lap 26 he passed Gasly to move up to 5th and once again he was right behind Evans.

On lap twenty nine Jordan took his mandatory pitstop changing to the P Zero Red Supersoft tyres resuming in 14th position. With five laps to go he was in 12th but involved in a tough battle with Gasly but he was able to keep the DAMS car behind him as the race finished.

A mixed race for the Racing Engineering team with Alexander driving a strong race to gain six places and he will start tomorrow’s Sprint race from 3rd on the reversed grid and he must be one of the favourites to win. For Jordan the places lost at the start cost him a chance of a better finish but he will be pushing as hard as ever tomorrow. Alfonso de Orléans-Borbón, President of Racing Engineering:"Given Alexander’s starting position, finishing 6th is actually not bad. However, being in a position to finish on the podium it’s obviously a bit of a disappointment when you drop back. Alex had a great race with some fantastic overtaking and starting tomorrow’s sprint race from third is another great chance to score good points. As for Jordan, he was a bit slower at getting away at the start, but drove a good race also showing us some great overtaking. Sadly he did not score any points today finishing in 12th, but with a similar performance I am sure he can make it into the points tomorrow."

Jordan King:"My start was not very good off the line and then i was a bit cautious on the first lap. I think the race pace was good and I had some really good overtaking manoeuvres. It’s a shame the DRS didn’t work every time it should have as this cost me a bit of time when I could have gotten past people. It was a quite good race, but I was stuck in traffic and I think I could have done better, if I was in clean air."

Alexander Rossi:"Starting from 12th it was always gonna be a difficult race and we knew that on the option-prime-strategy we needed to make the first laps count. Which I was able to do with a good start and overtaking quite a few cars before we did the pit stop. After pit stop I was in a quite good position and it looked like third place was possible. However we had an issue with the braking towards the end of the race which cost us three positions. But anyways it was a good recovery from Friday and we look to go forward again tomorrow.”