As the championship's summer break is now over, teams and drivers of the 2013 GP2 Series were back on-track this weekend for round 8 of 2013. And it's a special one at Spa-Francorchamps, one of the most renowned venues on the schedule in terms of excitement and driving pleasure.
The weekend entered its central stages today with the running of Race 1, but the results for Trident Racing were behind expectations. Ricardo Teixeira finished in 21st position followed by his team-mate Nathanael Berthon. While Teixeira was slowed down by a gearbox issue in qualifying, Berthon had enjoyed a flying start in Belgium by scoring a valuable sixth place.
Unfortunately, the Frenchman saw his chances to fight for a top results due to a tough start. On the other hand, Teixeira tried to make up positions, but having to start from the back of the pack conditioned his run.
The GP2 Series weekend at Spa-Francorchamps will be rounded out tomorrow with Race 2, scheduled for 10:35 AM. Berthon and Teixeira will be taking-off from the 11th row.
Nathanael Berthon
“Unfortunately, my start wasn't one of the best and that conditioned my whole day. Once at the first corner I found myself in the middle of an hard fight and I was rear-ended by another car. The impact changed the car's balance and from that point on everything became incredibly hard. In the second half of the race we decided to put the soft tires on but soon they started to fade out and I was forced to stop again. It's been a day in which things didn't play out as we hoped, but we'll try to regain some ground in tomorrow's Race 2”.
Ricardo Teixeira
“My weekend started in the worst possible way as I missed the qualifying session due to a gearbox sensor issue. Starting from the back of the grid, my race has been incredibly tough. Before the pit-stop I suffered from the wear of my soft tires but while I was able to set a constant pace after pitting, the laptimes weren't optimal”.
GP2 Series, Spa-Francorchamps Race 2
Trident Racing completed their trip at Spa-Francorchamps today as the Italian team lined-up for Race 2 of the eight round of the 2013 GP2 Series. At the end of the day, Nathanael Berthon cruised to a 13th-place finish. Ricardo Teixeira completed his day in 24th after having been assessed a drive-through penalty from the race stewards.
With the Belgian round of the series now in the history books, Trident Racing is starting to prepare for their home race set from September 6 to 8 at Monza. For the whole team it will be a chance not to miss as they will be lining-up in front of a friendly crowd.
Nathanael Berthon
“Again, the start hasn't been one of my best, but I still managed to recover 10 positions. The car did not respond as we expected, and I believe this was due to the changes made after Race 1. Yesterday, the aerodynamics were compromised in a contact and maybe the data collected pushed us in the wrong direction. After the good weekend of Budapest, we had hoped to increase our points tally in standings, but it didn't end up our way”.
Ricardo Teixeira
“At the start, the rear tires spun more than expected and I lost a lot of time. In addition of that, at the first corner I saw my team-mate Berthon's car on my right and to avoid contacts I veered from the ideal line, losing more time. Despite that issues, I managed to gain some ground on Nathanael but the team told me I had to come back for a drive-through. The decision came for having made contact with De Jong. The contact actually happen, but De Jong braked earlier than usual to let Haryanto go and I really had not many chances to avoid him. After the penalty, and the balance issues following the contact, I just tried to make my way to checkered without further problems”.
