Newgarden clinches seventh in Monza

11 September 2010

Josef Newgarden took seventh place in a dramatic GP3 feature race in Monza this afternoon. The 19 year-old American fought hard for seventh, having dropped to 11th on the first lap and will consequently start tomorrow's reverse-grid race from second. Lucas Foresti endured a tough race to finish 20th while Dean Smith was unable to finish after contact with another car on lap one.

Having qualified seventh for race one this afternoon, Newgarden was the lead Carlin car on the grid, while Foresti lined up 18th and Smith 26th. As the lights went out Newgarden made a good start off the line, but team mate Smith saw his race end early when he stalled on the grid and was hit by Alexander Rossi from behind. The British racer managed to limp round one lap, but returned to the pits with bent rear suspension and retired from the race.

Newgarden meanwhile had managed to hold seventh off the line, but was forced wide at the first chicane. With no room to get back on-line, Newgarden was forced over the top of the kerbs and consequently lost out to several drivers and had dropped to 11th by the end of lap one.

Newgarden fought back however, and made back places as other drivers made mistakes, before passing Tomas Hegewald and Mirko Bortolotti to climb to sixth place. The young American moved back to seventh however as Bortolotti took back the place, as Newgarden struggled with a flat spotted front right tyre.

Still seventh, Newgarden was just on the edge of the battle for the lead, which featured the first six cars in a fight which saw the lead change several times. The young American set the second quickest lap of the race and managed to close in on the leaders, and was nose to tail with fifth and sixth placed men Bortolotti and Roberto Merhi in the final stages. At the chequered flag, Newgarden was just 4.8 seconds behind eventual winner and champion Esteban Gutierrez, while Foresti crossed the line 20th.

Speaking about his race, Newgarden said, "I had an ok start, but braked late going into turn one and was on the outside with nowhere to go. I had no choice but to go over the kerbs which lost me quite a few places. Then I had a fairly good race, I passed a few people and had a good battle with Bortolotti. Seventh is an ok result for today and obviously it puts us second on the grid tomorrow.

"I think it will be a tough race tomorrow, we saw today there was lots of passing and slip streaming. Hopefully I'll be able to get a good start and pull away to break the tow or at least keep in with the front runners. I'm aiming for a win or at the very least a podium."

Trevor Carlin added, "Today was an eventful race, and one of mixed results for the team overall. Josef did a great job and raced well and was clearly fast as well. It would be a great for both Josef and the team if we could secure a good result tomorrow in the final race of the season. Josef has developed and improved massively this year and really deserves a top result tomorrow."