The Briton of SuperNova didn’t have the best start from pole position, but that was the only tough moment of his race.
Adrian Quaife-Hobbs took the fourth success of his Auto GP season in Portimão, equaling the number of wins clinched by Romain Grosjean in the 2010 Championship. When the lights went off it was Facu Regalia who got away really well and took the lead, entering Turn 1 ahead of the whole pack, but he didn’t manage to build a gap; this meant that at the end of Lap 1 Quaife-Hobbs could make the most of the joint effect of slipstream and Overboost to pass him and take P1.
From then on Adrian started to pull away steadily, making the most of a set of used soft Kumhos that held on really well until lap 11, when he elected to pit. At that point his advantage on the group was around the 6” mark, and after rejoining the track he extended that lead up to 9 seconds, crossing the line with no worries.
Behind him, the fight for second place was much more exciting, with Pål Varhaug edging Sergey Sirotkin by just 0.6! The Russian had a stunning start that took him from sixth to third place, and then inherited second when Regalia went wide on lap 3. Sergey seemed set for a second place finish but his plans were spoilt by an amazing drive by Varhaug and a good strategy by Virtuosi UK: the british team decided to pit as early as lap 4 to race in clean air, and this allowed the Norwegian driver to make the most of his car’s potential. This meant that when Sirotkin also came out of the pits after the mandatory pit-stop on cold tyres, Varhaug was right on his tail and could pass him easily; Sergey tried to answer immediately and the pair was wheel to wheel for a couple of corners before the position where settled. The driver of Euronova didn’t give up until the end of the race but he had no real chances of overtaking Varhaug and had to settle for 3rd.
Fourth place went to Victor Guerin after a race-long duel with Sergio Campana: the two were close for the whole 18 laps, and a better pit-stop by SuperNova allowed the Brazilian to secure fourth spot ahead of the Italian racer. After his great start, Regalia’s pace faded a bit and the Argentinian of Campos Racing closed the afternoon in sixth place, ahead of Daniel de Jong and Chris Van der Drift. The Manor MP due closed the race ahead of a consistent Juan Carlos Sistos, already in the points at his Auto GP.
Giancarlo Serenelli rounded the top-ten ahead of Antonio Spavone, whose performances were hampered by a bad flu. Behind the Italian the pack was closed by Max Snegirev and Francesco Dracone, while Sten Pentus had to retire for a driveshaft failure.
Portimão, Race 1: the drivers’ quotes
Adrian Quaife-Hobbs took the fourth win of his Auto GP season today in Portimão, ahead of Norwegian Pål Varhaug and Euronova’s Sergey Sirotkin. Here is what they said after the race.
Adrian Quaife Hobbs
So Adrian, you equaled the record of 4 wins boasted by Romain Grosjean in 2010, how does it feel?
“Well, surely you can’t be disappointed by something like that. It feels great, we managed to win on each one of the track we visited apart from Marrakech, and there we came second, so this means that we have a very competitive package everywhere”.
The only tough moment of your race was the start, but then you seemed in full control. Tell us how was the race from your cockpit.
“I was surprised by the outcome of the start. I didn’t even use the Overboost because I felt that my start was a really good one, and when I looked in the mirrors I didn’t see Regalia and the others behind were far enough to feel safe. Then Facu appeared on my right and there was nothing I could do. Anyway I managed to pass him one lap later and I soon realized that the strategy of starting on soft tyres was paying off. We were quicker than our rivals on mediums and we managed nine laps without getting any graining, so it was just perfect. We could have gone longer with our pit-stop but as both Pål and Sergey had already done theirs earlier we decide pit not to waste our gap in case of a Safety-Car. It’s difficult to rank your wins, but I think that we did a really good race”.
Pål Varhaug
It was an hard-earned second place, grabbed with a great drive and a great strategy…
“It all started after yesterday’s qualifying, where a fuel pressure issue denied us a better starting position. We started from P5 but we knew that our pace was potentially much better, and that’s why we opted for a very early pit-stop. We didn’t want to be blocked by traffic and lapping in clean air we could unleash all our potential. It worked really well, it was a good team decision”.
Then you and Sergey gave us the best moment of the race, a wheel to wheel battle for second place.
“He came out of the pits just in front of me and I knew that he was on cold tyres: in the first corners I was going to have a big advantage and so I did my move, and it worked because he braked really early. After that for a couple of corners it was a tough but fair fight, and I managed to keep him at bay. Just the last few laps were really difficult, because my tyres were gone. Luckily I managed to keep a good pace and he couldn’t get too close”.
Sergey Sirotkin
The start was the key moment of your race, tell us how did you pass from P6 to P3.
“I knew that starting from sixth place a podium finish would have been difficult unless I managed to pass some of my rivals at the start, and so I was really focused when the lights went off. I got off the line really quickly and then passed three cars on the inside before Turn 1. I was a bit lucky when Regalia went wide allowing me to take second place on lap 3, overall I would say that the first laps were really good”.
And then came the fight with Varhaug. Did you feel that there was any chance of keeping him behind?
“Maybe it would have been possible, but the problem is that I didn’t see him. On the straight the car shakes so much that you see nothing in the mirrors. So I was just surprised to see him besides me under braking, I tried to close the door a bit but it was late. Then I did my best to fight back but in the first lap on cold tyres it was too difficult, I was having a lot of wheelspin. I tried to save my tires to attack him in the last laps and actually I was a bit quicker than him in the late part of the race, but it wasn’t enough”.
source: Auto GP, autogp.org
AUTO GP RACE 1 – SIROTKIN TAKES PODIUM FINISH IN PORTIMAO
Sergey Sirotkin finished on the podium in the first of this weekend’s two Auto GP races at Portimao this afternoon; claiming 3rd place after starting from 6th on the grid. His Euronova team-mate, Antonio Spavone, finished in 11th place having started from 13th.
The Portimao race weekend started with a two hour official test on Thursday in which Lukoil driver Sirotkin set the third fastest time. Spavone, fresh from the GP3 race which supported the Monaco Grand Prix last weekend was 13th fastest. Yesterday, two half hour sessions of free practice were followed by qualifying. The session was red-flagged at mid-distance and when the pitlane re-opened with fifteen minutes to go Sirotkin and Spavone were 5th and 9th fastest respectively. On his second run Sirotkin improved his time but then bizarrely ran into a large piece of astroturf which lodged in his suspension and he was forced to return to the pits prematurely, therefore qualifying in 6th place. Spavone suffered bad luck too. His drive shaft broke leaving him stranded in the second section of the track for the remaining minutes of the session and as a result the young Italian qualified in 13th place.
The start of today’s 18 lap race saw Sirotkin make a supurb getaway when the lights went out, rocketing into 3rd place behind Regalia and Quiafe-Hobbs. Quiafe-Hobbs slipped past Regalia on the opening lap and Sirotkin followed him through on lap 4 to move into second position. The Russian made his pit-stop at the end of lap 8 and exited just ahead of Varhaug who had made an early stop, but the Norwegian took advantage of Sirotkin’s cold tyres and passed him on the back straight. Once the pit-stops were finished Sirotkin was in 3rd place behind Quaife-Hobbs and Varhaug and at the chequered flag was just just 0.6 seconds behind the Virtuosi driver.
Spavone, celebrating his 18th birthday today and fighting a virus, maintained 13th place at the start and had moved into 11th place by lap 4 when the first pit stops were made. At one third distance he came up behind the Campos driver Snegirev and the two began a close dice which would last until the final lap. Spavone stopped on lap 13, as did Snegirev and the two exited the pits, just as they had entered; nose to tail. For the remaining laps of the race Spavone put the Russian under pressure and on the final lap was able to find a way past his rival to take the flag in 11th place.
Sirotkin will start tomorrow’s race from the 3rd row whilst Spavone will line up on row 6.
source: euronova-racing.com