action packed race two at spa

28 August 2011

In was an eventful outing for Carlin’s GP3 team today, in the final race of the weekend at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium. Conor Daly had the podium in his sights with a fourth place grid slot but a spin on lap one saw the American cross the line seventh. Leonardo Cordeiro crossed the line 16th, despite running for the majority of the race in 11th, while Callum Macleod failed to finish after an accident on lap one.

As the lights went out, Daly made a good start away from the line initially but was squeezed to the outside of La Source by several cars including ART’s James Calado. Three abreast into the run up to Eau Rouge Daly was still in the mix, but lost out at turn five as he hit a wet patch of tarmac and ran off track while trying to make up position. Daly managed to recover and rejoined the race in ninth place.

Macleod meanwhile suffered the same fate as yesterday and was involved in contact on the first lap which put him instantly out of the race.

Cordeiro had made a great start and continued to make progress throughout lap one and put in a stunning overtaking move on lap two to take 11th place.

An excursion off track for fourth place man Tom Dillmann caused the Frenchman problems and allowed several cars past, including Daly who was elevated to eighth. Daly soon had Alex Fontana in his mirrors though who had made quick progress through the field. The two were nose to tail through Eau Rouge with Fontanta making a move past the Carlin man on the exit of the famous corner for eighth place.

Now running in ninth, Daly was pushing hard to make his way back up the field. On lap seven Adrian Quaife-Hobbs began to suffer from an apparent mechanical problem, which allowed Daly to close up on the Manor Racing driver and pass him for eighth.

Cordeiro meanwhile was doing a good job to hold onto 11th place with Ivan Lukashevich close behind him. Cordeiro soon found himself under attack however, and by lap eight was in a tight chain of cars with Rio Haryanto, Antonio Felix da Costa, Zoel Amberg and Tamas Pal Kiss behind him. At the start of lap nine, Cordeiro was having to defend from both Pal Kiss and Amberg, who nearly made contact with the Carlin man at La Source. Cordeiro stayed ahead in the run up Eau Rouge, but despite trying hard to defend, dropped to 14th.

A problem for front runner Valtteri Bottas caused the ART driver to drop down to seventh place, with Daly soon closing in sensing a another position in the offering. With two laps to go, Daly was less than a second behind and a lap later, Daly was past and into seventh place.

The fight for position continued until the chequered flag. Cordeiro was 16th but still under pressure and lost out to several cars at the final corner after outbraking himself and went on to cross the line 18th while Daly had taken seventh place, just one place outside the points paying positions.

Talking about his first lap spin, Daly said, “I just got on the wet patch while I was trying to make up position and I couldn’t stop the car. I spun round and went off track but thankfully I was able to get back in the race. From then on I was trying to make up positions but I was just learning the track with every lap. I haven’t had a lot of experience of Spa in the dry so every lap I was finding more and more speed. I’m disappointed not to have taken points, but the fact that we’re disappointed with a fifth and seventh place finish shows just how far we’ve come this season and how our expectations have changed.”

Daly, Cordeiro and Macleod will be back in racing action for the final race of the season at Monza from 10 – 11 September.