Borja Garcia had all the ingredients to repeat his excellent resultfrom Turkey, but unfortunately a maneuver from an overeagercompetitor destroyed Borja’s work over the weekend. Neel Janifinished Saturday’s race in 7th position, and will start from thefront row on Sunday.
The impressions Racing Engineering’s Borja Garcia left during thefew laps were of a tough fighting spirit on the high-speed circuit ofMonza, leading to yet another outstanding performance from theyoung Spaniard. Making up positions during the first two laps andcoming into the pits for the obligatory tyre change in lap 3, Borja wasfirst of the drivers to have stopped, and was running well. But all this changed quickly when Alexandre Negrao tried to pass the faster Racing Engineering driver on the outside of the Parabolica.
This attempt resulted in both cars being offthe track and out of the race. Such an incident is always painful for adriver, but in Borja’s case it hurts twice as much: not only wasNegrao, who hadn’t pitted, not a direct competitor of Borja, but nowBorja has to start Sunday’s race from a frustrating 19th position.Neel, on the other hand, was fighting different battles. Although theSwiss driver’s result may appear nothing spectacular given hisprevious achievements, he looked back over an all but easy race, ashis car was not ideal for Saturday’s race.
However, he finished in the points and secured a position on the front row of Sunday’s race, handing him the opportunity to bring home Racing Engineering’s second victory this season.
After the race Neel Jani commented: “The car was difficult to drive today because I had more oversteer than in free practice and qualifying. I mainly concentrated on surviving, finishing in the points, and securing a good grid position for Sunday's race. Our race strategy and pit stop was good, and I think with some changes in set up we can race at the front of the field tomorrow.”
A disappointed Borja Garcia said: “My car was brilliant today and Ifelt that a lot was possible. I opted for a very early pit stop, whichallowed me to run as first of all the cars passing by their pits so far.
However, on lap 5 Negrao took me out of the race at the Parabolica.This was a really unnecessary move from his side, as we weren'teven direct competitors with him not having had his compulsory pitstop. I am a bit upset, as I am convinced I could have finished in thetop 5 today. Well, it's racing and things change quickly, and now I notonly didn't make it to the points, but also have to start Sunday's racefrom a difficult 19th position.”
Alfonso de Orleáns-Borbón added: “Well, I think we have chosen theright race strategy for both our boys, and they were leading the fieldof drivers who have already pitted. However, Borja's very promisingrace found a sudden end in the Parabolica, and as for Neel it's notreally what we all expected. But starting from the front row tomorrow,together with some adjustments on his car, should make him be alikely contender for victory.“
