Marcus Ericsson clinched another pole position, Stephane Richelmi scored his first top-3 finish, and the team scored some good points so the weekend on British soil brought concrete results. Although everything isn't perfect, DAMS is getting back into contention again and that's encouraging for the rest of the season.
After excellent free practice sessions on Friday in the usual Silverstone rain, the DAMS drivers confirmed their speed in qualifying. Marcus Ericsson set an incredible pole, his second this year, while Stephane Richelmi cinched fifth place on the grid. The Monegasque could have joined his team-mate on the front row if he hadn't been held up.
Marcus made a good start to the first race and came under immediate attack from Felipe Nasr. He protected his place, which led to the Brazilian going off the track. Race Control, though, reckoned that his defence was a bit too aggressive and he was penalised with a drive through. He rejoined in twenty-second place and fought his way up to eleventh! In the meantime Richelmi took advantage of an out-of-sync strategy to slice his way through the front-runners and clinched a magnificent second place at the flag.
On Sunday, due to two penalties imposed on drivers in front of him, Ericsson started the race in ninth spot. He crossed the finishing line in eighth place to bag the final point even though he was baulked on two occasions. In Richelmi's case a broken wing due to a contact at the start of the second race ruined his chances as he had to pit. Despite this, the overall feeling was one of satisfaction in the DAMS camp after the weekend and reinforces the team's optimism in view of the next races.
Francois Sicard, managing director: "A big bravo to the whole team. The car's obviously quick and here we've started to achieve concrete results. Congratulations to Stphane for his top-3 finish; he drove an impeccable race pulling off some great overtaking moves. Marcus also showed his speed but once again he was a bit unlucky. Adding it all up makes us think that we could have done better this weekend, although we should be happy with the points scored. Let's continue in the same vein next weekend in Germany."
Marcus Ericsson:"I still haven't got the monkey off my back! Race Control said I was responsible for the incident on the first lap so I had to do a drive through. My race was ruined. I was able to show my speed and that of the car by fighting back to eleventh. On Sunday, I was held up twice by drivers in front of me, which cost me few points. It's a pity but that's racing and I'm determined to fight for victory in Germany."
Stephane Richelmi: "I'm very happy with my first top-three finish in GP2 and I'd like to thank the whole team. It's a great boost for everybody and I hope it's just the beginning. Qualifying went off fairly well and I took advantage of an excellent strategy. We're not too far off victory, but we'll have to continue working. We've showed our level of performance and it bodes well for the rest of the year. I can't wait to race at the Nrburgring!"
Next round: Nurburgring, Germany 6-7 July.
