Atech CRS GP continued to notch up points with eighth place in the second GP3 round supporting the British Formula 1 Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday, July 8. After a solid free practice session netted second fastest for Tamas Pal Kiss, and 11th in Saturdays opening race, it was GP3 rookie Fabio Gamberini who stole the show on Sunday, finishing eighth to collect his first championship points on his debut appearance.
It proved an equally encouraging second race for American Ethan Ringel, who recovered from an engine problem that had plagued him throughout practice and qualifying, with a storming drive up to 12th before his tyres went off.
The typically unpredictable British weather and the teams subsequent tyre choice played a crucial role in the outcome of the results at the Northamptonshire venue. Fridays practice was held on a dry track, and allowed Pal Kiss to cement his early season pace with the second fastest lap, after leading much of the session. In qualifying the Hungarian was unable to make the most of his new tyres, catching yellow flags on his flying lap. He was later given a ten-place grid penalty after being adjudged to have ignored the caution flags, putting him 21st on the grid for race one.
The opening 14 lap race later that day was held on a damp track, leaving the team with the difficult decision of which tyres to use. With minutes to spare, the team elected to send out all three on slick, dry weather tyres.
At the lights a superb getaway from Pal Kiss allowed him to quickly dispose of four cars on the opening lap. Over the remaining 13 laps, the Hungarian drove a controlled race, chasing and passing six cars to place 11th at the mid-point. Despite a concerted effort to challenge for eighth and the coveted pole spot in Sundays reversed-grid race, the 21 year-old was forced to end his charge, crossing the line just adrift of tenth.
Gambarini drove a steady race to get to the flag on his GP3 debut, the Brazilian only signing to drive on the eve of the event, and after an eight-month absence from racing. A promising start by Ringel came to an abrupt end on lap two when he was left stranded at Stowe as the tricky conditions caught him out.
In Sundays race, the trio all started on wet tyres, but before the completion of the formation lap, Gambarini dived into the pits to change. This was to prove a crucial decision; as the track dried the 19 year-old was able to carve his way through the field to finish eighth and collect his first point.
Pal Kiss had an equally good start, jumping up to seventh from 11th but in the wet conditions lost significant pace on the grooved wet weather tyres as the track dried and he slipped back to 19th. After a frantic pit stop to change to slick tyres, he posted the second fastest lap of the race and the outright fastest second sector time on the final lap of the race, and finished 14th.
Ringel elected to stay out on his wet weather tyres for the duration of the race, posting competitive lap times to get up to 12th until the track dried and his tyres went off, eventually finishing 17th.
Tamas Pal Kiss: I decided to start the second race on wet tyres and it seemed to be a good idea in the beginning. My start was perfect once more, and for a moment I was seventh, but was able to run consistently in eighth. But then the track started to dry and that was the moment my race turned into a disaster. I started to suffer a lot on the wet tyres, so I had to pit and change to slick tyres. It was one of those weekends when everything goes wrong and we had some really, really bad luck this time. I hope next time we will have the same amount of good luck!"
Ethan Ringel: It was a big decision yesterday as to which tyre to race on. We finally decided on wets since there was only one dry line and some wet patches on that line. But when we got to the grid, we realised that dry tyres was the way to go, so we switched. It was my first time on dry tyres in damp conditions.
Today the conditions were similar, so I expected the same. This time we chose rain tyres, it started to drizzle and had it rained properly, it would have been fun, since while most drivers were on wet weather tyres, I posted the best sector time. The conditions did dry out favouring dry tyres today but it was a fun race anyway as I got as high as 12th. As the race went on my tyres went off as expected but by then I already had a good race.
Fabio Gamberini: It was a very hard weekend specially because every session was held in different weather conditions! Before the start today we were not sure which tyre we should choose as the conditions looked very changeable. I was little bit too late making the decision to switch to slicks on the formation lap, and I couldnt warm them up very well so at the beginning it was very hard to control. But later on when I felt the grip was coming I started to push. It was very good to finish in the points. I have to say thanks a lot to Atech CRS GP for inviting me and for giving me their attention over the weekend. Hopefully I can stay in the championship and continue to improve over the following races.
