Ericsson, Calado and Coletti talk about their race

GP2 Series: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to toadys GP2 Feature Race press conference here at the Nurburgring. Joining us winner Marcus Ericsson for DAMS. In second place, we have James Calado for ART Grand Prix and in third place, we have leader of the Series Stefano Coletti for Rapax Starting with you Marcus, congratulations! Awesome job today. You may not have started from pole position, but P2 on the grid was enough today for you to finally score that first win this seasonMarcus Ericsson: It does not matter where I started before, I always managed to be in a mess during the raceBut finally today, we got a race without any big drama. We showed what we can do. Im really, really pleased and happy for the team to give them the first win of the year. It feels great.GP2 Series: It all happen at the start. You had a slightly better start than your teammate from the frnt row, but then it was not really easy coming into Turn 1. How was it?Marcus: Yeah it was a bit of a mess at the start. Mine was quite decent and outran Stphane. Then I saw coming into the braking zone that Robin was on the outside trying to brake late so I was busy with him and then I saw Miutch coming really quick on the inside not braking enough. I had to avoid having a collision with him. I went quite wide but I managed to get traction at Turn 1 and keep the lead somehow (Laughs). It was a difficult first lap, but it was important to come out in the lead.GP2 Series: And then you kept it throughout the Safety Car period and the re-startsYou negotiated that pretty well.Marcus: It was quite a few laps behind the safety car but it was alright. I was keep my focus on the tyres and the brakes. And then at the re-start, I had a really good one because Stphane was not too close. I could build a good gap quickly. And, then we had to cover Nasr. We had to pit earlier than we had planned maybe. It was not planned but the team wanted to make sure we would not lose positions. After that it was a matter of keeping a good pace without taking too much out of the tyres and I think we did that really well, I was leading all the time. It was all about the team. My engineer was always telling me what laptimes I needed to do and how bog my gap was to the guys behind. It was all about waiting for the chequered flag.GP2 Series: You had traffic when you re-joined the track after your pitstop. How did that affect your tyres?Marcus: It was really critical when I exited the pits because I came out and Abt and Leal were right behind me when I came into Turn 1 on really cold tyres. It was really important for my race that I kept them behind. It was really difficult because the first sector here is all about slow corners and you need some heat in the tyres to be quick. For me, it was really difficult to keep them behind because I knew I had to do it otherwise I would have lost a lot of time. So I think that was the most critical point of the race for me. Then it was much easier.GP2 Series: That first win must be a really big relief for you this season. How do you think it will affect the rest of 2013 for you?Marcus: Its a massive relief for me because its been really tough to not get the races we should have had with the pace weve had. For me its really great to get this win and Im sure from now on that we will continue to score good points.GP2 Series: Starting from tomorrow Im sure You went medium/medium tyres today but you did only nine laps on your first set and most of them were under safety car. Thats going to let things quite open for you in terms of tyre decisions right?Marcus: I dont know (laughs)! Well see. I dont know yet. The most important for me was to get this result today because the story of the season so far in the feature races, we focused on the best strategy for today. Then we will see about tomorrow. I need to sit down with my engineer and discuss what will be best for tomorrow. Im happy with today so (laughs)GP2 Series: Thank you Marcus. Congratulations again. James, its good to see you back here. P2 today in the Feature Race must be a big relief for you as wellJames Calado: Yes. Its a little bit of pressure off my shoulders now. I mean Ive had a lot of stress and its been really hard for me and the team. So to get this resultThe atmosphere has already changed. The guys are sitting back in the garage and drinking champagne. Theyve got more enthusiasm and the body language is completely changed. So hopefully from now onwards we can keep the momentum. The car today was really good. I did not really manage my tyres because I was starting from P8. It was important to gain positions on the first two laps. I thought I was catching Marcus and I thought I had an advantage, but obviously I realised that he was holding back and I wasnt. But it was a great race: second and some points on the board finally!GP2 Series: Can you take us through the start though?James: What I remember is getting a good start. Its been really good now all races. We seem to have found a good procedure Its really hard to remember though! Its always a blur (laughs). I can remember Leimer on the inside so I picked the outside because I had an advantage. I braked later. I locked my wheel a little bit and ran wide and then I had the inside into Turn 2. I gained three places. Then the safety car came out and I could never take anymore. We kept out of trouble.GP2 Series: You decided to start on super soft tyres, but having the safety car come out so quickly into the race and you pitted on lap 8 Do you feel you could gain a real advantage from having started on the option tyres today?James: Yeah. I can see your point, but the objective was to gain positions. We wanted to pit early no matter if it was medium or super soft. We wanted to point early to gain an advantage on the others. Thankfully, the team did a fantastic job in the pitstop. It was really, really good. I came out of the pits and I could see them cheering! I knew it was good. The only unlucky thing was that when I came out on cold tyres, I locked up my brakes and completely missed the first corner and thats how Felipe passed. He was struggling today and I managed to get him on the inside of Turn 1 later in the race. Im really happy. Its nice knowing Im going on Medium tyres tomorrow because its just a nice feeling to know Ill make the end of the race (laughs)!GP2 Series: How did the medium tyres handled today?James: I was happy with the balance of the car. I dont think I want to change it for tomorrow. The feeling was incredible. The only reason I went off in the end was because I had not managed my tyres beforehand because I was fighting to gain positions so You know if I could have started at the front, I could have managed a bit better. Its looking really good tomorrow. Weve got good data for the Medium tyres and hopefully with a bit of management they will last. I think we can aim for the win!GP2 Series: Well good luck for tomorrow Stefano, P3 today after an amazing drive from P13. Tell us how you made that?Stefano Coletti: It was a very tough race! I had a tough start: I had to lift off in the middle of the straight because there was a stalled car. It was a big mess and I got passed by other cars so I was just trying to stay alive through the first lap. Then we had a very conservative strategy. I had to go as far as possible on the first stint. So I was not pushing a lot through the first eighteen laps. I pitted on lap 19 for another set of prime tyres and we were very fast in the end so I was able to catch up and overtake all those cars.GP2 Series: The final three laps were quite exciting to watch But how was it from the car?Stefano: It was very tough Robin was very fair and protecting his position very well. When I heard on the radio that I was fourth, I really wanted that podium especially after that qualifying result yesterday. And in the end, I made him in the chicane. We touched a little bit but I think everything was fair so in the end I finished P3.GP2 Series: Youre certainly not driving like you want to control your leadership, but really going all out and giving everything you have to score as many points as you can. Youre taking risks!Stefano: Yes, but I mean it is a risk, but when youre two seconds quicker than another driver, I dont think its very risky to overtake. I thought that he would give me a bit more room, but in the end he didnt and everything worked out. I think the lead is not big enough yet to start thinking about preserving it. Its better always to make it bigger and create a bigger gap to the second. Now we have a 35 point lead. I came here with 22. So Ill try to extend that lead again tomorrow with as many points as possible.GP2 Series: Do you think this was the best race of your life today?Stefano: I think it was probablyIt feels better than a win honestly. I like said, we had a really bad qualifying yesterday. We were P13 and the objective today was to finish in the top 8 and then when we saw we were fast, I was pushing like crazy in the second stint to try and get on the podium. And going from P13 to P3 is a great result and its important for the championship because the other two behind me did not score a lot of points today.GP2 Series: You went Medium/Medium today Thats going to make it really interesting for tomorrow!Stefano: We dont have much tyres left for tomorrow, yes (Laughs). Its okay. I took the points today so Im happy with that.