The seventh round of the 2013 GP2 Series entered its crucial stages on Saturday at the Hungaroring with the running of Race 1. At the Hungarian venue, sitting just a few kilometers away from Budapest, Trident Racing went on-track with a new driver pairing featuring Nathanael Berthon and new driver Ricardo Teixeira, Angola-based man made his comeback to racing afer missing the first part of the season.
Berthon drove an aggressive and consistent race that enabled him to round out the top-8 after starting from the 13th spot. The Frenchman was thus able to score his first points-paying result of the season, which will also hand him the pole position for tomorrow's Race 2. Teixeira also provided the team with some good feedback. Despite the fact that he made his return to racing in one of the most physically-challenging events of the season, he displayed a good level of fitness as he held a strong and flawless pace to end up in 19th.
Nathanael Berthon
Today I had a confidence level with my car unlike in any other race of the season. The start hasn't been sensational, but I stayed around the top-10 in the first half of the race before the pit-stop. In the second part of the race, my tires were in better shape compared to many rivals, and I managed to go on the attack, improving up to the 8th position. I'm very happy and I thank the team for the great job done here in Hungary. Now I will be focusing of tomorrow's race 2 as I hope to take full advantage from today's result.
Ricardo Teixeira
I'm wasted, but I did it! It hasn't been easy for me to be back to an open-wheel car after so many months of absence, and I had to regain the right confidence with it in a race with 35 degrees of atmospheric temperature. I was quite concerned at the start because I stalled my engine during the formation lap. They pushed me back to the pit-lane and I got off to a late start compared to the others. Overall, my laptimes proved pretty good and I managed to recover the ground lost at the start. When I battled with Ghirelli, I made a mistake and I was forced to pit earlier than expected. So I had to keep the Soft tires on for longer and it hasn't been easy. I'm quite satisfied and I hope to round this weekend off in style.
