5th place at Monza Feature Race for Fabio Leimer and Racing Engineering.
Once again it was a sunny day at Monza for todays 30 lap Feature Race with the track temperature at 40. A grid penalty to Cecotto meant the Fabio Leimer, who qualified 7th, would start from 6th on the grid.
As the lights went off, Leimer made a clean start as all the cars were forced to avoid Van Der Garde who was very slow away from the front row of the grid. The Racing Engineering driver held onto 6th place but he lost a place as he ran over the curb just before the Lesmo corner but he completed the lap in 7th place just behind Razia and ahead of Nasr. Over the next few laps the young Swiss driver continued to battle with the Brazilians until he made his mandatory pitstop on lap 12, resuming just ahead of Gutierrez and Palmer.
Leimer now closed in on Razia and as the cars entered Turn 2 they made contact and Razia spun and Leimer now closed on Nasr and once again he attacked going into Turn 2 passing the Brazilian and, although the DAMS car tried to re-pass the Racing Engineering car and made contact, Leimer was able to continue in 9th place and on lap 15 he set the fastest lap of the race so far with a time of 1:34.362s.
Leimers next target was Valsecchi and by lap 18 he was right on the gearbox of the DAMS car and when the Italian missed his braking at Turn 4 Leimer moved up to 8th which soon became 5th as the remaining cars completed their pitstops. The next target for the Racing Engineering driver was Chilton who was 3.8 seconds ahead but with just 6 laps remaining it would be difficult to close the gap significantly but on lap 27 Leimer set the fastest lap of 1:33.478 in his effort to catch Chilton. Although Leimer was able to reduce the deficit to 1.7 seconds with another fastest time of 1:33.237 on the final lap he had to settle for 5th place. Nathanal Berthon made a good start but entering the first corner he was badly delayed by Van Der Garde who was slowing with a mechanical problem and at the end of the opening lap he was down in 21st position. By lap 5 the young Frenchman was up to 19th as he passed Richelmi and he was closing fast on Trummer and two laps later he made his mandatory pitstop, resuming in 21st, still just behind Trummer.
On lap 15 the Racing Engineering car got ahead of Trummer and with the pitstops now completed Berthon was lying in 15th place, 2.8 seconds behind Richelmi. For the remaining laps he continued to chase Richelmi and Canamasas and although he closed to within 0.7seconds of the Spaniard in the Venezuela GP Lazarus car he could not improve on 15th position.Sundays 21 lap Sprint Race will see Fabio Leimer start 4th on the reversed grid and with his fastest laps today and the chances to overtake at Monza he will be looking for the podium and a race win. Once again bad luck ruined Nathanal Berthons race but he will try as hard as ever to move up into a points scoring position tomorrow.
Thomas Couyotopoulo, Sporting Director of Racing Engineering:"Following an expectedly action packed opening lap, Fabio remained in the top 8 group, but unfortunately Nat lost many positions at the first chicane due to a struggling van der Garde. This ruined his race, so we opted for an aggressive strategy pitting early to gain some positions. Afterwards he fought through the field to go from P21 to P15. His pace could have been better, but we will all work on it for tomorrow. As for Fabio, he had a really strong pace throughout the entire race setting the fastest lap time on several occasions. He finished in a satisfying P5, just behind the pole sitter."
Fabio Leimer:"I am quite happy with today's race. I had a pretty good start, but was blocked by another car through the first chicane and lost two positions and another one shortly after when I cut through the second chicane. Then the first half of the race was not too exciting as I saved my tyres, but then on second stint I started to push more. The car was very, very consistent and I was able to handle the tyres really well. I made up some positions and saw, when the gap to the cars in front was too big; I pushed for the fastest lap."
Nathanal Berthon:"Today's race was the worst for me this season. I did my best and pushed all race long. Tomorrow is another day and we know what work we have to do on the car."
Superb second place for Fabio Leimer and Racing Engineering in the Monza Sprint Race.
It was another ideal day for racing at Monza today with more blue skies and a track temperature of 33. There was a clean start by all 26 cars and it was Fabio Leimer who got away from the line best, superbly out dragging one car on the straight and passing another into the first corner to take second place. At the end of the opening lap the Racing Engineering car was still in second place chasing Valsecchi with Coletti close behind in third.
Over the next 10 laps Leimer kept up constant pressure on Valsecchi, never less than a second behind the DAMS car, as both lapped within a few tenths of each other. Palmer was now in third place and Leimer was gradually able to open out a small gap over the Briton and by lap 10 the young Swiss was 1.3s ahead.
With 6 laps remaining Leimer was still just one second behind Valsecchi as he set his fastest lap of the race so far and he had now opened out a gap of 2.8 seconds over Palmer. Leimer now began to increase his pace and with 4 laps remaining he closed the gap to Valsecchi to 0.4 seconds as both men were now fighting with worn tyres after nearly 20 laps of Monza. As the cars entered the final lap both cars continued their battle but despite all of his best efforts he had to settle for second place, 0.4 seconds behind Valsecchi.
Nathanal Berthon made a slow start and was lucky not to get involved in an accident in the first corner when several cars made contact right behind the Racing Engineering driver. Over the next few laps the young Frenchman dropped to 17th but he was able to get back to 15th by lap 7 including making a very good overtaking manoeuvre on Gonzalez.
Over the closing laps Berthon was 3.5 seconds behind Calado and he was now involved in a very close battle with Razia who was just 0.2 seconds behind. Despite all the pressure from the man currently lying second in the 2012 GP2 Series Berthon refused to give way and at the finish he crossed the line in 15th, 0.3 seconds ahead of Razia.
A good weekend for Racing Engineering with a 2nd and 5th place finishes for Leimer and with a little more luck Berthon could have had better results. There is now a two week gap before the teams travel to Singapore for their first race on the Marina Bay Street Circuit
Thomas Couyotopoulo, Sporting Director of Racing Engineering:"A strong second place finish for Fabio today after a good start from P4. He drove well throughout the race and was constantly fighting for the fastest lap. This underlines the strong performance we had all weekend long. Nat had a difficult start and was additionally blocked by some drivers around him. He then picked up a good pace and finished in P15 ."Fabio Leimer:"Today I had a very, very good start and immediately took P2, sadly though I could not catch Valsecchi in the first corners. After this I tried to create a gap to the cars behind us and I pushed for a couple of laps, but we pretty much had the same speed and I didn't want to stress my tyres too much. I saved the tyres to attack at the end of the race, but Valsecchi was as consistent as I was and I pushed for the fastest lap, which I missed by only 2 hundredths of a second. Overall a good weekend and now we are ready to score more points in Singapore."
Nathanal Berthon:"I missed my start, which complicated things through the first chicane, I lost some positions there. I didn't feel comfortable with my car. This was a bad weekend for me, but I will keep on working. I would also like the opportunity to congratulate Fabio for his good weekend."
