Torrid race for Carlin at Spa

28 August 2010

A drama filled race at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit this afternoon yielded a disappointing result for the Carlin team in round 13 of the 2010 GP3 Series. Despite lining up on the grid fifth and eighth respectively, Josef Newgarden and António Félix da Costa failed to finish, while Dean Smith who started 30th and last, crossed the line 10th in a race which finished behind the safety car.

Promising qualifying performances from da Costa and Newgarden this morning had left the Carlin GP3 squad confident of a strong points haul this afternoon. Despite qualifying second, da Costa was later penalised - alongside 14 other drivers - for setting his fastest time in qualifying under yellow flags. Da Costa's penalty put him eighth on the grid this afternoon, while team mate Newgarden made up several positions as he benefited from other drivers' penalties and lined up in sixth place. Smith, having crashed on slick tyres in damp conditions started 30th.
As the lights went out at the start of race one, Newgarden immediately saw any hopes of front running finish disappear, as he stalled off the line. The young American was then clipped by a car behind, putting him into immediate retirement.

With Newgarden out of the race, Carlin's main hope for a strong finish lay with F3 Euro Series winner da Costa, who was seventh in the opening stages, while Smith had already climbed to 22nd and avoided a multi-car pile up which created the first safety car period of the race.

As the race entered a steady rhythm, the Spa-Francorchamps circuit played its favourite trick - throwing the race into chaos with a sudden heavy downpour. Several drivers took excursions off track, including da Costa and all seven front running drivers who aquaplaned on the pit straight. While most drivers managed to recover, da Costa was collected by another car as he tried to rejoin the track. Da Costa's retirement meant Smith was the only remaining Carlin driver left on track.

With conditions on track now extremely wet, Smith was forced to pit for grooved tyres and following a quick stop by the Carlin mechanics, rejoined the track in a strong position. While the majority of the field had dived into the pits for wet tyres, the front runners were still on slick tyres and a safety car was called on track. As the rain continued conditions deteriorated further, forcing officials to finish the race behind the safety car. Having avoided any incidents, Smith crossed the line in a well driven 10th place despite the race only featuring two racing laps.

Reflecting on the race Smith said, "It was a really difficult race to be honest. Once it started raining my only aim was to keep the car on track. The team did a really good stop and got me back out on track on wet tyres. Considering where I started, finishing 10th is a fairly positive result, but it's frustrating that the race wasn't restarted as we would have been in a really strong position to pass the drivers in front that were still on slicks."

Race two will conclude the running for the GP3 cars at 09.25 local time tomorrow.