After the great results that Racing Engineering have achieved in recent Sprint Races it was inevitable that there would have to be a morning when things didn’t go according to plan and Sunday at the Istanbul Park circuit was that day.

Both  Javier  Villa  and  Marcos  Martinez  were  hoping  to  build  on  promising  races  in yesterday’s Feature Race where, Javier in particular, had shown an excellent turn of speed. In fact Javier set the third fastest race lap of those drivers that only made a single pit stop. Today’s  race  got  under  way  in  very  warm  conditions  and as the lights went off and the cars headed towards the first corner there was a certain amount of chaos as one car  spun  in  the  middle  of  the  pack. 

Javi  lost  a  couple  of  places  to  run  15th  while Marcos  made  a  good  start  but  lost  several  place  during  the  opening  lap  and  was down to 18th. Unfortunately for Marcos it was a short race as he spun off on the 5th lap as he tried to make up some places and ended up in a gravel trap and was unable to continue. Javi  found  himself  involved  in  a  battle  with  Tung  and  Risatti  whom  he  had  just overtaken  but  the  young  Spaniard  and  the  Chinese  driver  soon  pulled  away  from Risatti and were three seconds ahead after 10 laps.

For the next 9 laps Javi fought hard to pass Tung, he was seldom more than a few tenths behind the red BCN car but  the  GP2  Dallara  in  the Telefónica  and Repsol colours just wasn’t as quick as it had been in Saturday’s Feature Race. With four laps to go, as Javi continued to push hard, he was unable to avoid a spin and he was out on the spot. Whilst  it  was  not  the  result  that  the  Racing  Engineering  Team  was  hoping  for there are some positives to be taken,

Javi showed once again, in the Feature Race, that he is as fast as any other driver out there and Marcos got some valuable mileage and is adapting well to GP2 racing.

Alfonso de Orleans-Borbon (team principal):

“As Javi was really fast yesterday, to be honest, we were expecting more. The car today wasn't as fast as yesterday and pushing hard, he spun off towards the end of the race. As for Marcos, he had a good start and was out there to gather more experience. In the end he faced the same fate as many others and he spun off. Therefore all the great work the mechanics did this weekend was unrewarded but we head for Monza and hope everything returns to normal.”

Javier Villa (driver car 14): “It wasn't easy today. We were not as strong as yesterday and I was driving much more on the limit, I didn't have the same rhythm as yesterday. Towards the end of the race I was pushing and made a little mistake, which resulted in me going off the track. The only positive thing from this weekend is that we have a really good race rhythm. I hope that in Monza we will be in front again.”

Marcos Martinez (driver car 15): “I wasn't able to finish today's race due to spinning off the track. It wasn't a good race as my objective was to finish it, something I didn't achieve. Now I am looking forward to Monza and hope that things will go better there.”