Racing Engineering Spa GP2 Review

Brilliant second place for Julián Leal and Racing Engineering in the Sprint Race at Spa Francorchamps

The weather was cool for the 18 lap Sprint Race with a track and air temperatures of 19° and 16° respectively, the circuit was damp in several places and there were heavy grey clouds overhead but all the cars were starting on slicks with most cars opting for using a worn set of the hard compound Pirelli tyres as the softer option would be unlikely to last for the entire race.

Fabio Leimer made a good start from 5th to gain a place into La Source but during the course of the opening lap he lost places to Quaife-Hobbs and Coletti, who was on the soft compound Pirellis, to cross the line 0.2 seconds behind Coletti and 1.0 seconds ahead of Dillmann. Although Fabio was losing ground to Coletti by lap 3 he was able to keep the gap to Dillmann at just over one second and three laps later saw the Racing Engineering car still in 6th position, 1.4 seconds behind Coletti and lapping faster than the Rapax car and 1.8 seconds ahead of Dillmann.

By lap 9 Fabio had closed right in on Coletti and he out-braked the Monegasque driver on the inside into Eau Rouge to take 5th place and he quickly opened out a gap. On lap 11 Fabio set his fastest lap of the race so far to show how well he had conserved his tyres and he was now 7.4 seconds behind Richelmi and 4.0 seconds ahead of Dillmann. With just a few laps remaining Fabio concentrated on holding onto his position and with none of his rivals in a points scoring position it was important for the young Swiss to finish the race without incident.

Julian Leal made an excellent start from 3rd on the grid to pass Richelmi into Eau Rouge and by the end of the opening lap the Racing Engineering car was 2.6 seconds behind Calado and 1.1 seconds ahead of Richelmi. Over the next five laps Julian kept the gap to Calado at about 2.5 seconds and he was pulling away from Quaife-Hobbs who was now 3rd. The young Colombian now began to close the gap to Calado and on lap 8 he had moved to within two seconds of the ART car but Quaife Hobbs was now just 1.7 seconds behind.

Julian continued to close on the leader and by lap 10 the gap was now down to 1.3 seconds and he had opened out the gap to Quaife-Hobbs to 2.6 seconds. He continued to lap faster than Calado and with six laps to go the Racing Engineering car was now just 0.9 seconds behind. Julián continued to apply pressure and with four laps to go he was right on the gearbox of the British driver but Quaife-Hobbs was catching the battling leaders.

With just two laps to go Julián was still pushing hard and looking for a place to pass Calado while Quaife-Hobbs had dropped away a little as his rear tyres were starting to wear but although the Racing Engineering driver was able to close within 0.4 seconds he had to settle for a superb second position at the flag.

An excellent race weekend for Racing Engineering with both drivers scoring points in both races and Julián Leal finishing on the podium for the first time in his GP2 career. In the Drivers’ Championship Fabio is still 3rd but now just one point behind Nasr and seven points behind the leader, Coletti and Racing Engineering are up to 3rd in the Team Championship. The Spanish team now return to their Sanlucar de Barrameda base to prepare for the next round of the 2013 GP2 series at Monza in two weeks’ time.

Thomas Couyotopoulo, Sporting Director of Racing Engineering:"A very good result today for Julian Leal today with a well-deserved second place. He drove well from start to finish showing a strong and stable pace finishing only 4 tenths of a second behind Calado. Fabio scored again, which was the target, even if we were hoping for better results. Considering the potential of his tyres, it was hard for him to do more today. Fabio was able to close in on Nasr and Coletti in the championship battle, but it's all really tight now. Overall the team and car performance was strong in qualifying and both races and we will work hard to continue like this in the next events."

Fabio Leimer:"The start was not great, but OK. I already started yesterday's race with this set of tyres, so they were already under quite some stress yesterday, but they were fine. I took P4, but on the straight Quaife-Hobbs was much faster and passed me. When I was in 5th, I saw that the cars in front on new tyres were too quick for me, so I took off some speed in order to make it to the end with this set of tyres. In the end, I am satisfied with P5 and also as I made up points again in the championship. Now it's a really close battle for the title and I think the last three events will be very interesting."

Julian Leal:"Before anything I would like to thank my team for the good work this weekend. I started from 3rd position in race 2 and a good start was crucial. I managed to have a good one and was in second place after the first corner. After that I had a really good pace during the entire race and towards the end I was closing in on Calado. But when I pushed to reduce the gap, my tyres were suffering more and I was therefore controlling the pace during the closing laps to not risk second position. I am very happy with the result achieved. We worked hard to get here and the objective is to become better in qualifying to achieve even better results."

Fabio Leimer takes 4th and Julian Leal 6th for Spa Feature RaceThe rain that had affected the Formula 1 qualifying had stopped as the GP2 cars lined up on the grid for the 25 lap Feature Race but there were still a lot of grey clouds and the air and track temperatures were much lower than yesterday’s qualifying at 19° and 22° respectively and the circuit was still damp and slippery. Both of the Racing Engineering cars started on the hard Pirelli compound.

As the lights went off Fabio Leimer lost a place to Calado as the cars braked into La Source but he was able to keep Ericsson behind to hold onto third place and at the end of the opening lap he was 1.8 seconds behind Calado and 0.5 seconds ahead of Rossi. Over the next three laps the gaps changed little and then on lap 4 De Jong had an accident at the top of Eau Rouge resulting in the Safety Car being deployed.

Racing resumed on lap 5 and Fabio was immediately pushing Calado hard and the young Swiss was challenging the ART car into Eau Rouge and using the slipstream Fabio was able to make the pass and move up to 2nd. The Racing Engineering car soon opened out a gap over Rossi who had gained a place when Calado pitted. On lap 8 Fabio was 3.5 seconds behind Bird and 2.5 seconds ahead of Rossi and on the following lap he took his mandatory pitstop fitting another set of hard Pirellis and resuming the track in 13th.

Fabio found himself delayed in traffic as he bought his tyres up to the correct temperature and he lost a place to Ericsson when the DAMS Car pitted. On lap 11 Fabio was 1.4 seconds behind Ericsson and 4.1 seconds ahead of Richelmi but he lost another place to Rossi following the Caterham car’s pitstop. With 10 laps to go Fabio was lying 11th with several cars ahead still to take their mandatory pitstops and he was starting to close in on a battling Ericsson and Rossi, the gap between the three cars was 1.8 seconds but the Racing Engineering car lost several seconds after making contact with Ghirelli who had yet to pit.

By lap 18 Fabio was lapping at the same speed as two cars ahead but the time he had lost in traffic meant that he was just less than four seconds behind in 5th with one car ahead still to pit. With the laps running out Fabio settled for 4th place at the finish to gain valuable points on his two main rivals Coletti and Nasr as both men finished outside the top ten.

Julián Leal made a good start moving up to 9th place despite contact with Berthon, he then lost a place to Frijns to be 10th at the end of the opening lap but following the Safety Car deployment he was able to pass the Hilmer Motorsport car to regain 9th position. By lap 8, as cars began to make their mandatory pitstops, the young Colombian was up to 5th, 1.6 seconds behind Rossi and 0.8 seconds ahead of Coletti.

The Racing Engineering car continued to gain places as the team opted for a late pitstop and on lap 14 he briefly lead the race before making his stop, resuming the track in 10th. By lap 20 he was up to 6th, just 1.4 seconds behind his Racing Engineering teammate and, although his lost a place to Dillmann on the penultimate lap, a late pitstop by Trummer meant that he crossed the finishing line in an excellent 6th place after a hard fought race.

Thomas Lassus, Race Engineer:"Fabio was able to score some good points today, which was important for the championship. We missed a bit of pace at one stage of the race and lost some positions after the pit stop. But overall it was good that we scored the points for 4th. Julian was on a different strategy, so the two cars had different plans to follow. This worked quite well as Julian improved his pace before the pit stop and jumped some cars. We have a good set of tyres for Julian's car tomorrow, so we hopefully we can get the first podium for Julian tomorrow."

Fabio Leimer:"The start was not so good today as my side of the track was still a bit damp while the other side was completely dry, so I had less traction. In turn 1 it became very tight as I was on the outside and Ericsson was actually already ahead, but I had better traction, because the exit of turn 1 was still quite wet, so I regained third position. After this I was managing my tyres and when there was the safety car, we decided to pit earlier. The second stint was OK, even though I had a slight crash with Ghirelli. I was lucky not to go off and be unable to finish the race. Therefore, I have to be happy I was able to finish in 4th as there wasn't much missing and I would have been out of the race. In the end we made up points again in the championship and with a good race tomorrow we are in a position to make up even more points."

Julian Leal:"I had a very good start and passed several cars. Then it took me some time to get on the pace, so the first part of the race was a little bit difficult when I was fighting with Frijns. He overtook me, but I took back my position after the safety car period. After this I kept to the pace of the cars in front of me, tried to not make any mistakes and wait for the pit stop. The pit stop went well and our strategy was the correct one for today. I was able to overtake a lot of cars and even with softer tyres I had a good pace towards the end and kept P6."


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