Yesterday at Monza the Racing Engineering drivers suffered mixed fortunes with Javier Villa suffering from technical problems whilst his team-mate Marcos Martinez had a trouble-free run and showed he is really getting to grips with GP2 racing.
Free Practice saw Javier plagued again with gearbox problems which saw him only manage seven laps, less than half the number of his competitors, setting a time which left him in 23rd place, over two seconds off the pace. The Racing Engineering team is currently working flat-out to determine the exact cause of the problem.
Meanwhile Marcos concentrated on running for as many laps as possible and at the end of the session he was a very promising 16th, less than half a second away from a place in the top seven. For Qualifying Marcos once again continued to lap at a good rate finally finishing in 16th position on the grid and again his fastest lap was less than half a second from a top ten position. Javi was looking for a good run in Qualifying to make up for his disappointing earlier practice and initially things looked very promising as he took a second off his morning time.
However before he could improve further he began to suffer from a problem, unrelated to the Free Practice fault, with the sensor in his gearbox, this meant that he had to take care with his gear changes and, understandably, meant that he was unable to push for the fast time needed to move him further up the grid and he will start tomorrow’s race in 17th place. Both drivers are confident that they will be able to progress through the field in tomorrow’s Feature Race and Javi is famous for his ability to make up places in Saturday’s event so keep a close eye on him tomorrow.
Alfonso de Orleans-Borbon (team principal): “Marcos did a great job, he’s getting better and better with each outing and I’m sure he will go well tomorrow. Javier had another technical problem with his gearbox in Free Practice which prevented him from running for the full 30 minutes. For Qualifying a sensor problem caused him some difficulties with his gear changes. We are all confident that things will improve tomorrow and once again Javi will show his pace with a drive through the field.” Javier Villa (driver car 14): “From the beginning of Free Practice I could see what direction to take the car in but the gearbox problem stopped my practice early. The car was better for qualifying and I lowered my time by a second but then the sensor problem with my gearbox began and I had to drive with more caution, being very careful with my gear changes. I’m sure things will be OK for tomorrow and I can push hard in the Feature Race.”
Marcos Martinez (driver car 15): “I’m very happy with my qualifying position. Free Practice went very well and I finished 16th and my car was behaving very well. I’m feeling better and better in the car, more confident all the time. Tomorrow my objective is to finish the race and gain more experience. I would like to thank the Racing Engineering team for all their hard work.”
