For  Racing  Engineering  the  second  meeting  of  the  2007  GP2  series,  to  be held  this  weekend  at  Montmeló ,   is  a  special  one   as  the  races  at  the Catalonian  track  will  be the first of the two events scheduled this season in Spain  so  motivation  will  be  at  a  high  for  the  team  to  perform  at  its  best  on home  soil  and  in  front  of  their  fans  and  their  main  sponsors.

At Montmeló  the 2007 GP2 start its long European season paired with the F1 schedule   after   starting   three   weeks   ago   in   Bahrain.  

There   mechanical problems,  with  externally  supplied  components,  caused  problems  in  the practice  sessions  with  the  result  that  both  the  Racing  Engineering  drivers, Javier  Villa  and  Sergio  Jimén ez,  couldn’t  achieve  the  results  that  their  race pace showed were within their reach. The target at the Catalonian track will therefore be to look from the start for a good qualifying result in order to allow Javi and Sergio to fight for good positions in the races. The  two  young  Racing  Engineering  drivers  arrive  at  Montmeló   in  a  positive frame of mind based on some solid reasons. For Villa it will be a race in front of his fans, with the extra motivation that means as a large number of them are expected to arrive from his homeland of  Asturias to cheer him from the always  packed  Montmeló   grandstands. 

Javi  expects  to  make  good use of the experience gained here last year, when he finished both races, to be in a position to race in the top half of the field. Equally for Sergio this will be one of the few chances he will have this year to race on a track he already knows from his season in Spanish F3, so this time he won’t need to waste the brief practice time available in GP2 weekends learning the track, and instead he can immediately focus on setting the car up in order to push for the best possible  lap  times  and  show  again  both  his  potential  and  his  continued progress at the wheel of the GP2 Dallara.

The circuit of Montmeló  is one of the best known tracks to the GP2 teams as it is usually the site for some of the preseason practice sessions. The main change this year at the track located near Barcelona is the new ‘chicane’ built on  its  final  part  where  before  there  was  a  double  downhill  right  hander heading   to   the   main   straight.  

This   is   a   really   important   layout   change regarding car setup as the long and fast corner is now a slow sequence that will  allow  the cars to enter the main straight far closer, as now the  reduced downforce caused by the car in front will be of far less significance, allowing for more overtaking chances at the end of the straight. In turn this will mean that top speed will be really crucial and in order to get as much as possible without  compromising  the  car  balance  it will be very important to work hard with the different setup possibilities allowed by the new aerodynamic package of the GP2 Dallara.