The Austrian rounds mark the mid-point of the competitive 2012 season, in which Newmarket’s Huff has secured seven podium finishes and victory during his racing debut at the Slovakia Ring. His results to date put him third in the drivers’ standings, only 30 points behind current leader and Chevrolet team-mate Yvan Muller.

“Salzburgring isn’t somewhere I’ve raced before, but we’ll be doing the usual thorough preparation to make sure we’re ready for the new challenge,” said Huff. “Former WTCC racer Michel Nykjær has raced here in the European Touring Car Cup with Chevrolet, so I will be utilising his track knowledge.”

Despite the unknown, Huff is resolute that successes will continue in Austria and during the second half of the season. It’s this determination that has secured him runner-up places in the WTCC Drivers’ Championship for the past two seasons, and this year he is again focused on taking the fight to the wire.

“At this point in the championship, there’s still so much that can happen,” added Huff. “This time last year Yvan was behind me in the points but went on to win the title, so the tables can easily turn. My main aim for Austria and the remainder of the season is to get our qualifying performance back on track so that we’re at the front of the grid, and to follow this up with two trips to the podium.”

While Juncadella would love to extend his championship lead, Carlos Sainz (Carlin), the currently second-placed driver, will try hard to close the gap to his compatriot. Sainz’ team, Carlin, has fond memory of Brands Hatch: three years ago, the circuit located not far from the team headquarters was the venue of the only Carlin win in the Euro Series to date – courtesy of Brendon Hartley. Meanwhile, Juncadella also can look back on a Brands Hatch success: in 2011, as Euro Series rookie, he secured a podium.

In addition to the regular Formula 3 Euro Series entrants, there will be four guest drivers contesting the 2012 season’s only Euro Series event on British soil: the two Britons Harry Tincknell (Carlin) and Geoff Uhrhane (Double R Racing) as well as Jazeman Jaafar (Carlin) and Fahmi Ilyas (Double R Racing) from Malaysia.

Tom Blomqvist (ma-con Motorsport): “I’m looking forward to my home event in England. I have fond memories of the short Brands Hatch circuit as I succeeded in securing my British Formula Renault 2.0 title there, in 2010. And I’m particularly delighted as my grandpa will make the trip from New Zealand to Brands Hatch to attend the race weekend. He is a kind of my lucky charm. Whenever he witnesses me racing on site, things are running particularly well, for me.”

Already fielding cars in the AirAsia Renault UK Clio Cup and Total Quartz Ginetta GT5 Challenge this year, the Wednesbury squad has been hungry to restore itself at the forefront in Ginetta’s flagship GT Supercup championship and is confident of doing so with Breeze and Orton back onboard.

Kings Lynn-based Breeze, of course, raced with TCR in the championship during the previous three years and was Vice-Champion in 2010 and 2011. Budget restrictions ahead of the new campaign initially dictated a move elsewhere in the paddock but the 32-year-old is now back in the TCR fold.

“It feels like coming home”, said Breeze, “I’m really looking forward to being back with TCR and I want to get back to winning ways. I knew Lee [Brookes – TCR team principal] was keen to have me back in the team and we wanted to be there, but we’ve had a situation with our budget this year which has made things difficult. Luckily, we’ve now managed to do a deal for the rest of the season.

“We’re quite a long way behind in the championship but, as we saw last year, it can all change pretty quickly. If we can start off with some good results at Oulton Park I know we can put the pressure on, and I’m confident I’ll have a car capable of winning races at every circuit we go to. I’m delighted to be back with the team and looking forward to working closely with Jamie.”

Orton, who cut his teeth in the ultra-competitive world of Caterham racing and won the R300 title in 2011 off the back of the Roadsport A crown in 2010, debuted in the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup with TCR during last year’s championship finale at Silverstone but purchased his own Ginetta G55 for the new season.

Although having taken his first category podium in only the third race of the year, the 32-year-old Londoner is keen to make even greater progress and sees working with Breeze, coupled with the vast experience of TCR, as a true winning partnership.

“I’m really excited to be back working with TCR, when I debuted in GT Supercup with the team last year everything was great”, commented Orton, “So far this year I have struggled a bit without a team-mate and with Carl [Breeze] back onboard at the team, that’s what I need – a quick team-mate and the chance to work together on the data and find out where I need to improve.

“I really want to do a good job for Lee [Brookes] and the guys, they always put their heart and soul into everything they do. The whole team puts so much effort into giving its drivers the best possible equipment, they’re so into the detail of everything and always want to go out there and win.”

Having won the team championship in its first season in the category in 2009, securing the title with six races to spare, TCR has enjoyed huge success each year since and team principal Lee Brookes is sure the return of Breeze and Orton will deliver continued silverware.

“It’s fantastic news for everyone at TCR we’re back in the GT Supercup”, added Brookes, “We know we’ve got plenty of ground to make up on the others in the championship but we’re aiming to go out there and be fighting for wins and podiums straight away.

“Carl’s more determined than ever to get back onto the top step of the podium and we’re certain we can give him the car to do it. Jamie’s very quick and has a lot of ability, we saw that when he raced with us in the final round last year. We know they’re going to work really well together and help push each other on.”

Ahead of the Oulton Park race meeting on 9th/10th June, Breeze is third in the driver standings on 192 points while Orton is 10th in the championship with 99 points.

Russian Helicopters is a subsidiary of United Industrial Corporation Oboronprom. It is one of the global leaders in helicopter development and production with a number of special, innovative and widespread models, both civilian and military. Russian Helicopters is dominant in the Russian and CIS markets and is the leading player in the fast growing Indian and Chinese markets. The company is also rapidly increasing its presence in the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific regions.

As a global market leader Russian Helicopters leads the field in the use of innovative technological methods. This provides the perfect synergy between its high-tech business and the high-tech world of Formula 1. The global business interests of Russian Helicopters takes the company into markets worldwide, and now, through its partnership with Caterham F1 Team, Russian Helicopters will also be represented at Grands Prix all over the globe.

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal of Caterham F1 Team, commented on the deal: “I am absolutely delighted to welcome Russian Helicopters into Caterham F1 Team. It is a sign of the increasingly strong relationships we are growing in Russia that we can attract partners of this calibre and we look forward to repaying their faith in us and Vitaly on and off track.”

Dmitry Petrov, General Director of JSC Russian Helicopters: “Russian Helicopters are delighted to announce the start of our partnership program with Vitaly Petrov’s Caterham F1 Team. It is important for Russian businesses to support projects which positively raise the profile of Russian interests worldwide and as Russian Helicopters is a global high-tech company it is a natural step for us to support Vitaly, as Caterham F1 Team’s Russian driver, in his role in a high-tech sport which is enormously popular all over the world. Our helicopters are actively marketed internationally and I am sure that our involvement in Formula 1, a sport that is popular worldwide and is at the pinnacle of modern technology, will help us to strengthen the international image of Russian Helicopters, as well as contribute to the growth of investment in the Russian economy.”

Russian Helicopters is a subsidiary of UIC Oboronprom, which in turn is a part of Russian Technologies State Corporation. It is one of the global leaders in helicopter production and the only helicopter design and production powerhouse in Russia. Russian Helicopters is headquartered in Moscow. The company comprises five helicopter production facilities, two design bureaus, a spare parts production and repair facility, as well as an aftersale service branch responsible for maintenance and repair in Russia and all over the world. Its helicopters are popular among Russian ministries and state authorities (Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Emergency Control Ministry), operators (Gazpromavia, UTair) and major Russian corporations. Over 8000 helicopters of Soviet/Russian make are operated in 110 countries worldwide. Traditionally the demand is highest in the Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Russia, and CIS countries. Russian Helicopters was established in 2007. In 2011 its IFRS revenues increased 27.8% to RUB 103.9 billion and deliveries reached 262 helicopters.

Caterham F1 Team began in September 2009 when shareholders Tony Fernandes, Kamarudin Meranun and SM Nasarudin were granted entry into the 2010 FIA Formula 1 World Championship. Just six months later, the team had two cars classified in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, a platform which served to propel the team, then on track under the guise of Lotus Racing, to the position of fastest new team in F1. 2011 saw the team race as Team Lotus, successfully achieving its goal of winning tenth place in the championship and closing the gap to the established midfield teams ahead. For 2012, Caterham F1 Team is the new, long-term identity the team is racing under and the home of Russian driver Vitaly Petrov, who joins Heikki Kovalainen as one of the two race drivers pushing to join some of the most famous names in global motorsport as they challenge for honours in Formula 1.

Huge crowds are expected for what will be the first-ever WTCC event to be held in the Alpine country, which boasts a rich motorsport tradition. Austrian fans are motorsport connoisseurs, with their country producing great champions such as Jochen Rindt (F1 World Champion, 24 Hours of Le Mans), Niki Lauda (three-time F1 World Champion) and Gerhard Berger (F1).

The 4.225 km Salzburgring, located in a narrow valley close to the beautiful baroque town of Salzburg, was established in 1968 as a motorbike track. Its design is relatively straightforward, composed of two long straights connected by a sweeping corner at the bottom and a narrower corner at the top. The track belies the Austrian Waltz tradition as power and speed play a great role in this circuit.

While the Salzburgring has never played host to the WTCC before, it was the venue of the European Touring Car Cup (ETCC) finale in 2008 and 2011, the former edition won by Michel Nykjær for the Chevrolet Motorsport Denmark team.

Having won all but two of the 10 races held so far and relying on the performance and reliability of the 1.6 turbo engine, the Cruzes head to Austria with confidence and aim to consolidate their advantage in both championships.

Since his second place at the Ayrton Senna Trophy, at the end of last season, Max Defourny has continued to progress at each new meeting. Behind the wheel of his PCR-Parilla, he has become one of the fastest Juniors in the hypercompetitive KF3 class. “Max is highly committed and is becoming increasingly self-confident. He knows that now he has the potential to fight for the first positions, and he has already shown it. He still needs to polish a few things to be regular in his excellent performance level. One must consider that he is only 13 and that he faces drivers who are much more experienced that he is”, Alain Boumal, his team manager, commented.

For Max, the season began with the WSK Master Series in Italy. He has achieved his best performance so far at Sarno, in mid-March, when he climbed up to 8th place in his pre-final, though his results were not equally good in the final race. A few days later, he was at the opening of the French Championship at Varennes sur Allier, in early April. He took an excellent sixth place in Final 1, where there were as many as 40 drivers, he made a good start in Final 2 and was on his way to a podium finish when he was involved, through no fault of his own, in a collision.
Max Defourny proved to be perfectly familiar with the special features of the Varennes track at the second round of the European Championship, held on that same circuit four weeks later. “After the first qualifying heats, Max seemed to be in excellent position to access the final phase. Unfortunately there was a long series of race mishaps on Sunday morning and Max only gained access to Final B, where he finished 6th with the third fastest lap in the race”, Alain Boumal pointed out.

The French round of the WSK Euro Series held at Val d’Argenton also offered its fair share of satisfaction, with an excellent performance level, on a dry as well as on a wet track surface. “I set the 12th time and finished two heats in 4th place. Unfortunately, I could not even pass the first bend of the pre-final owing to a collision. Some drivers are too impetuous and think they can win the race at the very start! It is a pity to lose races this way…” Max regretted.

But now more than ever, Max Defourny appears to be on the right track to translate his progression and competitiveness into tangible results.

While the main focus of the newly agreed working relationship is currently on 18-year-old star Jacob Nortoft, who made his Formula Renault BARC debut with Hillspeed during the season-opener last month, plans are also in place to provide a range of testing opportunities for other Danish racers.

“It is very important for DASU to maintain a network of professional and dedicated partners”, said the federation’s Sports Director Bo Nielsen, “Hillspeed fits the bill perfectly with its experience, dedication and driver coach Ollie Hancock [2008 Formula Renault BARC Champion]. The Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship offers a cost efficient and competitive environment that is an ideal way for a young driver to start a career.”

From Hillspeed’s perspective, the agreement with DASU is a hugely important step for its Formula Renault BARC squad – not only for the current season but also for 2013 and beyond as the team aims to solidify and build-on the existing arrangement.

“We’re delighted to have agreed this high-profile partnership with the Dansk Automobil Sports Union”, said team principal Richard Ollerenshaw, “It’s a major development for Hillspeed and an arrangement which will hopefully see us bringing more and more of Denmark’s talented young racers to the UK to begin their car racing careers. Formula Renault BARC is the ideal proving ground.

“Jacob is a hugely talented young driver and we’re certain he’s going to become one of the category front-runners in the not too distant future. The immediate plan in partnership with DASU is to help develop Jacob throughout the current season and then look at testing some other Danish drivers later in the year. We’re hopeful this will be a long and mutually rewarding agreement.”

Nortoft, who resides in Vemmelev near Slagelse, will be back in action for the fourth and fifth rounds of the Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship season this coming weekend, 19th/20th May, at Rockingham in Northamptonshire where he will team-up with British driver Marcus Allen.

Following untimed practice on Friday, 18th May, qualifying will take place at 09.30 and 12.10 on Saturday. Both races will then be held on Sunday with round four getting underway at 10.55 and round five scheduled to start at 15.35.

Lotus F1 Team put a second Renault engine on the podium with Kimi Raikkonen finishing in third position. Team-mate Romain Grosjean came home in fourth, giving the Renault RS27 engine a total of three of the top four positions.
Red Bull Racing-Renault experienced a more difficult race, with Sebastian Vettel finishing in sixth. The reigning world champion served a drive-through penalty for not observing yellow flags and then took on a new front wing at his last pit stop. Mark Webber came home in 11th, just outside the points after an early stop for a new front wing.

Caterham F1 Team again achieved a double finish with Heikki Kovalainen 16th and Vitaly Petrov 17th.
Unfortunately Williams’ Bruno Senna retired from the race on lap 13 after an incident involving Michael Schumacher.
Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso are tied for the lead of the drivers’ championship while Red Bull Racing continues to lead the constructors’ championship. Lotus F1 Team has edged closer to second, with Williams sixth, on equal points with Mercedes. Caterham remains in 11th.

Jean-François Caubet, Renault Sport F1 managing director
Naturally we are delighted for Williams and we are all very proud that the collaboration is doing justice to its heritage. The engine-chassis package has worked very well all season and has promised to score some huge results – obviously this one is the best we can get! It’s a testament to all at Grove and Viry that the new deal can achieve success so early on in its life cycle.
Naturally we were concerned that the celebrations were mitigated by the fire in the Williams garage after the race. No one from Renault Sport F1 was seriously injured, but our thoughts go to our colleagues at Williams and also our partners at Caterham who were involved. We wish them all a speedy recovery.

Rémi Taffin, Renault Sport F1 head of track operations
Across all our clients, the engine has performed efficiently this weekend. We know Barcelona incredibly well from the winter testing but there are nevertheless some tricky parts to get right, including providing drive and response in the slower sections while retaining good top speed down the straight. To get three engines in the top four again is fantastic and shows our preparations paid off.
Congratulations to Pastor for his first win, and to Williams for its first win since 2004. Scoring a victory so early on in an engine-chassis partnership is a fantastic achievement and shows just how aligned the systems and procedures on both sides of the table are.
We wish all our colleagues at Williams well, particularly in light of the incident after the race, and look forward to continuing the momentum throughout the season.

Nigel Melker had qualified in 12th position on the starting grid in the first race and climbed his way to finish 8th which, in addition to securing points, let him set his sights on starting in the pole position in the second race. But a penalty for speeding in the pit lane – the Dutch driver exceeded the speed limit by 1km/h – cost him several positions and he finished the race 14th. In the second race, he was once again fighting for points when a driver lost control of his car in front of him and collided with him. His car’s wing did not hold up against the impact and Nigel Melker was forced to pit in order to change it. “I was not lucky on Sunday, it was a race incident but I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yesterday’s penalty was the result of a stupid mistake and I certainly won’t make that mistake again. Once again, we showed that we were the fastest and the results should quickly come to us,” Nigel Melker declared.

Victor Guerin was getting to know the GP2 Series in Barcelona without ever having driven a single lap with his new car. He was only able to do six laps in the free practice and despite his inexperience with the track, the team, and the series, he qualified just 1.6 seconds behind the polesitter. His first experience with the carbon clutch cost him dearly in the start of the first race, where he stalled and had to start from the pits as dictated by the rules. Victor Guerin did not admit defeat, however, and adopted a very good pace to rejoin the pack and overtake several competitors. In the second race, he started from 21st position, but was penalized for slightly moving his car before the start. He was relegated to the back of the pack and again was very fast, going as far as retaking 1 to 2 seconds per lap off the race leaders. “It was my first race weekend in the GP2 Series, I did not know the car and I did not drive much in the free practice, but in qualifying I had already reduced the gap between me and the fastest drivers,” declared Victor Guerin. “In the first race, I let the motor cut out in the formation lap and in the second I was still not very familiar with the clutch and I got penalized for a jump start. So logically I was assessed with a drive through penalty. But the car was very good and I managed to exploit its potential. I am very content to have had the fastest race lap.”

Ocean Racing Technology’s directors have mixed feelings after the Spanish races. “On the one hand, there is satisfaction at seeing our drivers and cars are very fast and can fight for a win, but on the other hand there is the disappointment of being penalized or caught in accidents by our rivals,” declared José Guedes and Tiago Monteiro. “We will be heading to Monaco with the motivation and determination that characterize the team.”

The next GP2 Series races will be held two weeks from now in Monaco.

Mark Webber
“It was an interesting race and a difficult first lap. I don’t know where I got damage to my front wing, but I had to pit for a new nose. I lost a lot of time with that – and on the few laps before when it started playing up. We had to pit and when you’re out of position here it’s tough – you have to look after your tyres and when you catch people your tyres get killed, so it’s chicken and egg. If you push past them, you have to pit earlier and commit to another stop. It was a mystery with the pace; I was stuck behind Force India, you see the McLarens weren’t doing so much and Seb was just chipping away.”
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton
“I’m proud of my performance today, and proud of the team too. They did a great job: a real improvement with the pitstops, following our difficulties in that area recently. All in all, then, I think today’s result was the best we could do. I was the only driver to attempt a two-stop strategy, and I’m glad I was able to made it work. People often say that I have an aggressive driving style, but my final stint on the Prime tyre was 31 laps, so I reckon I proved today that I can make tyres last. It was a huge challenge to come through the field from the back, but I never gave up for a single second, right up to the finish line. Before the race I said I’d race my heart out, and that’s exactly what I did. For me, that’s what racing is all about. Today was all about damage limitation. But, now, looking at the bigger picture, I can’t really complain because, despite the setbacks I’ve had this season, I’m still only eight points behind the leader of the drivers’ world championship. The team has been working extremely hard, and our car is quick. So, when things go right, I think we’ll be in a great position – and it’ll come to us before too long. Finally, big congratulations to Pastor [Maldonado] and everyone at Williams – it’s a fantastic result for them and this is a great day for him personally.”

Jenson Button
“Congratulations to Pastor! His was a great drive and I’m sure it will instil a lot of confidence in him and the Williams team. The Formula 1 form-book is very mixed-up at the moment, which is unusual, but that’s the way it appears to be going this season. As for us, well, a lot of my afternoon was spent stuck in traffic, and I had a Sauber breathing down my neck for most of the race. All in all, we weren’t quite quick enough today – but that’s something I need to solve myself. I need to find a set-up that suits me better as I feel like I have pretty poor grip at the moment. Having said that, I’m already looking forward to Monaco and a much better weekend there. It’s a circuit I love and hopefully a place where we can achieve a good result.”

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
Fernando Alonso
“This second place feels like a victory. Having finished the race in Sakhir almost a minute off the winner, today we overtook one of the two Red Bulls and we fought right to the very end for the win. On top of that, we have made up a lot of points on the Red Bull and the McLaren drivers, which makes the outcome of this weekend even more positive. At the end of the second stint of the race came the key moment: maybe Maldonaldo pitted a bit early and we stayed out on track, but we lost time behind a backmarker for a whole lap, partly because there was a yellow flag on the last part of the main straight. Then, with seven laps to go, I suddenly lost grip at the rear: I asked the team if something was broken because the handling of the car changed from one moment to the next, for no apparent reason. However, in the final stages, the Williams was still very quick and, right at the end, we were also lucky to hang onto second place as Kimi was coming back at me. This championship is very hard to interpret with all the different winners and the performance of the top teams going up and down from race to race. We definitely did not do the best job when it came to designing the car – there is still much to do – but we can be proud of how we got the most out of our potential, probably over and above the limits of the car. After two Grands Prix – China and Bahrain – where we suffered a lot, to be back for the podium is very positive and gives us confidence for the rest of the Championship. We must continue to bring updates all the time for the car, because it is all very close and the slightest thing can make the difference.”

Felipe Massa
“Today my race was affected by a penalty that I had to take on lap 28. Honestly, I don’t think I did anything wrong and I believe it is better to look into the detail of what happened, because I was in the middle of a group of cars and I definitely did not try to overtake anyone. It’s a real shame, because up until then, the race was going well for me and a place in the top ten was comfortably within my reach. I was in the group with the Red Bulls and the McLarens and I could match their pace. I had a good opening lap when I managed to make up a lot of places. I am happy that Fernando was able to fight for the win all the way to the end, as it shows our car’s potential has definitely improved: we still don’t have the quickest car but it seems we are going down the right road. I want to congratulate Pastor, who is a great friend: the taste of a first Formula 1 win is something amazing and I can understand how he feels right now.”

Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team
Nico Rosberg
“That was a difficult day for us and a very strange race. We didn’t manage to find the right tyre management so I lost two positions towards the end of the race on my last stint which was 26 very long laps. The one positive thing is that I was able to defend my position against Lewis and keep seventh place, rather than eighth. Once again today we saw a surprising and well deserved win which is good for Formula One. Congratulations to Pastor and Frank at my old team Williams! Now I’m looking forward to my home race in Monaco in two weeks with some updates on the car.”

Michael Schumacher
“Obviously I am not happy with the outcome of the race as I think we could have achieved some nice points today. But then this is sometimes what you have to go through in racing. It is not easy to see from the TV replays but what happened from my viewpoint was that he went to the right to defend the inside line, and then suddenly, shortly before the braking point, went to the left. When you are so tight together in the braking zone, you have no other choice than to try to react and avoid hitting but it was too late. It is a shame, as I said, but then what I will do now is to look ahead to the next race and try to attack there.”

Lotus F1 Team
Kimi Raikkonen
“I had a very good start and had a chance to overtake on the outside, but we did not have enough speed and I hit the limiter in fifth gear. I am a bit disappointed because if everything had gone right in the first part of the race, we could have won. There was no issue with the speed of the car, but it is so close between all the teams that if you have a small problem or a small issue it can cost so much. Our car can do it, but everything has to fall into the right place to be able to get on to the top step. My first stint was okay, but I didn’t have the speed to stay with the cars in front. We changed the tyres and it seemed to be pretty good, but we were too far away. At the end we needed a few more laps and we could have fought for the win. We’re not far away from it and so far we’ve made good steps forwards; the car feels strong everywhere.”

Romain Grosjean
“We lost position at the start and with it a bit of front wing too! It was cooler today which didn’t suit us so much. Despite this, I am very happy with P4 especially when you look at yesterday where I missed all of the final practice session. Both cars finishing strongly in the points is great for the team. It was pretty difficult for me at the start of the race as it was hard to get the front working properly with the wing damaged, but we made some changes and at the end of the race the car was really flying. I think we made the right decisions today; if you told us we could finish third and fourth at the beginning of the weekend we’d have taken it.”

Williams F1
Pastor Maldonado
“It’s an unbelievable feeling winning my first race. The car felt really consistent, was fantastic to drive and our pace was strong throughout. Alonso was chasing me hard but we looked after our tyres well and I managed to open the gap towards the end. The team has worked so hard all year and this win is for them. To be the first Venezuelan to win a Formula One race is a big honour and hopefully I will win more races in the future.”

Bruno Senna
“It has been a disappointing weekend for me on the whole. It was difficult to overtake at the beginning of the race and then Schumacher got a big DRS boost coming down the straight and went into the back of me. These weekends with lots of bad luck happen sometimes, but on the up side our car has shown excellent pace with Pastor’s win. I am really happy for him and this will give the team a big boost headed into the next race.”

Sahara Force India
Paul Di Resta
To be updated

Nico Hulkenberg
To be updated

Sauber F1 Team
Kamui Kobayashi
“The team did a really great job, and the update on our car works very well. The pace in the race was a big improvement compared to the last race. I absolutely believe I could have made it onto the podium today if I had not been so unlucky in qualifying yesterday. If you start ninth you can be happy finishing fifth, but the car had more potential. I was in traffic and overtaking was not easy. I could not do it on the straights with the help of the DRS because there I wasn’t close enough. So I had to take some risks and do it in the corners. I damaged my tyres quite a lot in the last stint. The competition is really tight at the moment. If you want to get in front of the pack you have to get everything right on the weekend. This is what Pastor (Maldonado) did. The last time I came fifth was last year in Monaco, and I am very much looking forward to returning to the Principality soon.”

Sergio Pérez
“We have been very unlucky at the start. In turn one I managed to get passed Romain (Grosjean), but then he hit me and I had to pit after lap one. We could not really recover from the back of the field, and later I had to retire because of a transmission problem. Whatever it was, it is over and I will be focusing on the next race. Monaco is a very special Grand Prix for me.”

Scuderia Toro Rosso
Jean-Éric Vergne
“I had a really good start, moving up as high as tenth in a couple of laps. We decided to pit early to try and get ahead of some more guys and I came in from eighth place on lap 10. But then I was behind Di Resta and got a bit stuck. When I made my second stop for new Prime, I hoped I could have got past Di Resta through the stop but the pit stop was not the best and so unfortunately that did not work out and I was still behind the Force India. I lost more time towards the end of my third stint and then in the final one, on the Prime again, I was quicker than Daniel ahead of me. It took me a lot of time to get past. After that I tried to catch Webber and Hulkenberg, but the tyres were no longer good enough. Overall, it was disappointing, because I feel points were possible today, but for various reasons we did not manage it.”

Daniel Ricciardo
“I did not have too great a start, but with our strategy we managed to make up a few places. There were some parts of the race where we ran quite strongly, but in the final stint on new Primes, we no longer had the pace we had in the previous stint. I had managed to look after the tyres quite well all the way to the end and produce relatively good lap times, but by then we had lost too much time. It had looked for a while as though we might have been able to challenge for tenth but it did not pan out that way. Overall, it was a bit up and down, but at least it showed some slight progress compared to Bahrain.”

Caterham F1 Team
Heikki Kovalainen
“I think we got as much out of the car as we could this afternoon. I had a good start, passed Senna and was hanging on to the pack ahead up until the second stops. The first stint on the options was good, and we stayed on the soft tyres right up until the last pitstop but maybe the last stint on the hards was a couple of laps too long. Still, it was a decent race and we showed we have decent pace on Sundays, more than enough to easily pull away from the teams behind, but not quite enough to be able to fight throughout the whole race with the cars ahead. We knew this track was going to be one of the tougher ones for us, but now we go to Monaco which will give us a chance of fighting higher up, so we’ll keep pushing to close the gap and aim to take another step forwards at the next race.”

Vitaly Petrov
“I’m pleased with how I drove this afternoon and, like Heikki, I don’t think we could have got much more performance from the car today. Yesterday we found a good KERS map for qualifying but this afternoon it wasn’t working as well in the first and second stints, and I think that’s where we lost some time to Heikki. The tyre degradation was higher than we’d seen in the long runs in practice, so we need to look again at why that happened and how we can fix it for future races. Apart from that it was one of those afternoons when we got as much out of the race as we could so now we’ll move on to Monaco where the circuit layout and the difficulty of passing should give us a better chance of pushing the cars ahead throughout the weekend.”

Hispania Racing F1 Team
Pedro de la Rosa
“Racing in front of your home crowd is fantastic and so is finishing the race. I’m very happy because it’s the second home Grand Prix of my career that I finish, so I’m really satisfied about that. It’s true that it’s a discrete position but we gave it our all and we did what we could. We were ahead of the Marussias on some laps and behind on others but our rhythm, in general, wasn’t bad. We know that we must continue to improve but we’re on the right line. The race was even harder than we anticipated. We did a four-stop strategy and we finished near the limit because the tyres were degrading a lot. The first twenty laps were complicated. The softs literally disintegrated, but the hards went much better and we were able to maintain a better rhythm which enabled us to finish in our best position so far this season in front of our fans.”

Narain Karthikeyan
“I had some trouble at the start with a little bit too much wheel spin, but it didn’t affect me too much and by the first turn I was already back up behind Pedro. It was the first time I drove on heavy fuel this weekend so, with the first set of tyres, my objective was to get used to them. On the second set I had a really good stint and was catching Pedro as we came in for the pit stop to switch to hard tyres. That’s when my bad luck continued…I hope to leave it behind in Spain and have a fresh start in Monaco.”

Marussia F1 Team
Charles Pic
“I didn’t get a very good start today. From then on I was working well on my pace and got the right side of the HRTs again. Things were going well for me then on lap 26 I suddenly lost drive and came back into the pits, where unfortunately I had to retire. We could see then that we have experienced a problem with the drive shaft, so we need to understand why that happened. There’s a lot of work for all of us in the next two weeks to improve for Monaco as we have not had the weekend we hoped for. After going to Sir Frank’s 70th birthday event last night I am pleased for him that he had this result today for Pastor and his team. For our side we look ahead to the next race and some more progress.”

Timo Glock
“I had a pretty good start. The first lap was good and I had a bit of a fight with Lewis for that lap. In general after that when positions were settled I just tried to keep the tyres alive as long as possible and we struggled with rear end instability again. From my side I can only push around 80% at the moment. It’s still not perfect and we’re missing pace, so we have to analyse and get on top of the problem before Monaco. On a lighter note, congratulations to Pastor Maldonado and the Williams F1 Team. They’ve done a great race result today.”

Vitaly Petrov
1330 leave for grid, 2 laps
Start on soft tyres
Lap 10: pitstop 1, hard tyres
Lap 28: pitstop 2, soft tyres, front wing flap adjustment
Lap 44: pitstop 3, hard tyres
Finished: 17th

Team Quotes

Heikki Kovalainen, car 20, chassis CT01-#3: “I think we got as much out of the car as we could this afternoon. I had a good start, passed Senna and was hanging on to the pack ahead up until the second stops. The first stint on the options was good, and we stayed on the soft tyres right up until the last pitstop but maybe the last stint on the hards was a couple of laps too long. Still, it was a decent race and we showed we have decent pace on Sundays, more than enough to easily pull away from the teams behind, but not quite enough to be able to fight throughout the whole race with the cars ahead. We knew this track was going to be one of the tougher ones for us, but now we go to Monaco which will give us a chance of fighting higher up, so we’ll keep pushing to close the gap and aim to take another step forwards at the next race.”

Vitaly Petrov, car 21, chassis CT01-#2: “I’m pleased with how I drove this afternoon and, like Heikki, I don’t think we could have got much more performance from the car today. Yesterday we found a good KERS map for qualifying but this afternoon it wasn’t working as well in the first and second stints, and I think that’s where we lost some time to Heikki. The tyre degradation was higher than we’d seen in the long runs in practice, so we need to look again at why that happened and how we can fix it for future races. Apart from that it was one of those afternoons when we got as much out of the race as we could so now we’ll move on to Monaco where the circuit layout and the difficulty of passing should give us a better chance of pushing the cars ahead throughout the weekend.”

Mark Smith, Technical Director: “I am pleased with the performance from both drivers today. They kept pushing throughout the whole race and made sure they didn’t make any mistakes, particularly at the start of the race. Our early pace was good and we used the tyre strategy well to keep ourselves within touching distance of the midfield pack, but again we saw the issue with blue flags, having to let the cars ahead pass articifially lengthened the gap to the cars we had been fighting with, but we have to deal with that on tracks like this where we knew we would be lapped at some point. We now have a busy couple of weeks before the next race, with an aero test in the UK, part of the program that is helping us keep edging closer to the midfield, and we will go to Monaco, hopefully aiming to repeat the sort of performance we saw last year when we finished 13th and 14th.”

Pedro de la Rosa: “Racing in front of your home crowd is fantastic and so is finishing the race. I’m very happy because it’s the second home Grand Prix of my career that I finish, so I’m really satisfied about that. It’s true that it’s a discrete position but we gave it our all and we did what we could. We were ahead of the Marussias on some laps and behind on others but our rhythm, in general, wasn’t bad. We know that we must continue to improve but we’re on the right line. The race was even harder than we anticipated. We did a four-stop strategy and we finished near the limit because the tyres were degrading a lot. The first twenty laps were complicated. The softs literally disintegrated, but the hards went much better and we were able to maintain a better rhythm which enabled us to finish in our best position so far this season in front of our fans”

Narain Karthikeyan: “I had some trouble at the start with a little bit too much wheel spin, but it didn’t affect me too much and by the first turn I was already back up behind Pedro. It was the first time I drove on heavy fuel this weekend so, with the first set of tyres, my objective was to get used to them. On the second set I had a really good stint and was catching Pedro as we came in for the pit stop to switch to hard tyres. That’s when my bad luck continued…I hope to leave it behind in Spain and have a fresh start in Monaco”.

Luis Pérez-Sala, Team Principal: “Once more we proved a good reliability which enabled Pedro to finish the Spanish Grand Prix in front of our home crowd. It was a really tough race, with the tyres degrading a huge amount and that’s why we had to go for a four-stop strategy. But despite the fact that we have a lot to improve, we’re satisfied with Pedro’s result, which is the best we’ve achieved this season thus far. It’s a very special Grand Prix and for that reason we would have liked to have finished the race with not one but both cars. But unfortunately this was not the case because of a problem with Narain’s second tyre change. These things can happen when you take it to the limit, to any team, and more so when you’re in a learning process as we are. But in this case, after an uphill weekend, it leaves me with an especially bad taste in my mouth to have not finished the job off”.

Tutumlu, who is driving a FÖRCH Racing by Lukas Motorsport´s Porsche, was “upset because I couldn´t race my home race, I felt very happy racing here with my family, friends and fans attending the event. Anyway I think it was a fair decision, after the problems with rims. For my part these problems were affecting my rims for wet tires, so with slicks it wasn´t a problem. It has been a shame but this is racing!” . The 26 years old driver added that “I´m pretty sure that everything will go better in Monaco, surely the most well-known circuit around the world. And last but not at least, I have another chance to race in Spain, during meeting scheduled in Valencia next June”.

Porsche has to study if the cancelled race will be held at another track over the course of the season.

The qualifying sessions did not go wonderfully for the three drivers: Robert Cregan was credited with the 23rd best time, Carmen Jorda the 24th, and Kevin Ceccon was not able to clock a time due to a technical problem, which earned him a start from the last position on the grid.

Starting from the back of the pack, the Portuguese team therefore had a very difficult task for its first race. Kevin Ceccon had an excellent start that enabled him to move up 10 positions, but once again he was surprised by a technical problem that left his car immobilized on the track. As for Cregan and Jordan, they adapted well to the championship. The Irish driver, who was getting his feet wet in this formula for the first time, had a good race, finishing in an excellent 15th place. The Spanish driver finished in 20th place after also overtaking a few competitors for her first GP3 race. She kept up a good pace and was involved in several battles.

For the second race, which was held early Sunday morning, Kevin Ceccon, despite a start at the back of the grid, had a fantastic race that enabled him to climb up to 10th place. The end of the race again saw him put pressure on the driver in front of him. His very good result enabled him to secure 1 point, in addition to the point for the best race lap. With a time of 1’40.6, Kevin was he only driver in the top 10 to race under 1’41. Robert Cregan was caught in a collision involving several other drivers and was forced to retire, although he had been moving up in the classification. Carmen Jorda finished in 21st place in this second learning race. The Spanish driver probably could have secured a better result without the penalty assessed to her for an early start.

At the end of the weekend, Ceccon was satisfied, despite the problems encountered: “I am very content with what we did in the second race. My pace was much faster and I managed to move up to the top 10. I don’t think we could have done any better. In qualifying, we were not able to complete a lap because of a technical problem. Considering that, this 10th place finish and two points are already a very good result, plus the pride of having been the only driver in the top 10 to race under 1’41,” the young Italian driver declared.

Carmen Jorda was also satisfied with her work: “Many things happened over the weekend. I think that we made many improvements. There are still a lot of things I have to adapt to. In qualifying, I had some difficulties due to so many cars being on the track. In the first race, I think I improved and managed some good times. In the second race, the penalty prevented me from taking part in the fight,” the Spanish driver declared.

Robert Cregan, who had a good first race, lamented the results of the second: “I was very content with the result of the first race. I found that we showed good progress. Unfortunately in the second race, starting 15th on the grid, I could have had a good result, but I got caught in an accident that forced me to abandon the race. Despite everything, I am content with the development and I hope to be even more competitive in the next race weekend.”

For Tiago Monteiro: “The three drivers had to face many challenges and they managed to overcome the difficulties, each one in their own way. Our start in this championship was a bit turbulent, but I think we have great potential. I would like to congratulate everyone.”

José Guedes also hailed the work by his team: “My congratulations to the drivers for the excellent work they did, to the technical crew, and to every part of the Ocean structure, with whom we managed in such a short amount of time to create the necessary conditions to take part in these first races and secure our first points. It is an excellent image of the ability of Portuguese companies to be able to fight it out on even footing in this sector, as competitive as the cutting edge of technology and international motor sports is.”

Driving a Dallara Mugen-Honda, the 22-year-old Australian put behind him the disappointment of a differential problem prior to round seven on Saturday, 12th May, at the famous French street circuit to add to the National Class victory he achieved at Monza last month.

Joining competitors from the FIA European Formula 3 Championship, meaning a combined grid of well over 20 cars, Double R’s best placed International Class runner was Malaysia’s Fahmi Ilyas who was eighth in the British F3 classification, having finished seventh in the opening encounter at the wheel of his Mercedes-powered Dallara F312.

Geoff Uhrhane, meanwhile, was forced to pit at the end of lap one of the blue riband 40-minute Grand Prix due to a puncture. He eventually finished 10th of the British F3 contingent, a lap down in 18th overall, but the Australian Formula 3 rookie confirmed his ever-improving pace with a best lap of 1m12.739 seconds, just 0.4 seconds shy of British F3 winner Carlos Sainz Jnr’s best.

“It’s been a great weekend, we’re really happy with the performances all of the guys put in”, said team principal Anthony ‘Boyo’ Hieatt, “It was great to see Duvashen pick up his second class win of the year after missing out on points on Saturday, to win at Pau is always fantastic for any driver.

“Fahmi was hit about quite a bit in the first race so he did a fantastic job to finish where he did with the tracking being out on the car. To then back that up with another good run in the GP itself was great to see. All in all, he’s had a very strong weekend.”

Hieatt added: “Geoff picked up his pace throughout and in today’s race his lap times were very impressive. He got caught-up and banged wheels with someone on the first lap, which led to a left front puncture, but when he got back out there his pace was very impressive. He showed more and more confidence as the weekend wore on, kept it out of the wall and did a great job.”

All the team’s employees have been accounted for and four people have been taken to the circuit medical centre for examination; one with a minor hand injury and three with respiratory issues.

A further statement will be issued when more details about the incident are confirmed.

The key to Maldonado’s victory was when he made his second stop two laps sooner than Alonso for the hard tyre, which enabled him to put in some quick laps and get past the Ferrari which pitted for the second time on lap 26. From then on, he was able to control his advantage with a three-stop strategy, which was also adopted by Alonso. After his final stop, Maldonado ran the P Zero Silver tyre for 25 laps to take victory by 3.1 seconds as he and Alonso raced to the finish on the hard tyre. Both drivers started on the soft tyre, and then used three sets of the hard tyre.

Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen, who finished third, also made good use of the hard tyre during his final 18-lap stint to close up on the leaders over the last 10 laps, having made three stops. By the end of the race, he was less than a second behind Alonso. Raikkonen used a different strategy to the two drivers in front of him, using the soft tyre twice at the beginning of the race and then completing two stints on the hard tyre.

By contrast, Hamilton was the only person to use a two-stop strategy to finish eighth – a result that was decided on the final lap – from 24th and last on the grid, after his original pole position time was cancelled for a rules infringement.
Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel finished sixth after four pit stops, including one drive-through penalty, and retains the championship lead jointly with Alonso. This is the closest start to a season since 1983 – which was also the last time a Venezuelan scored world championship points, thanks to Johnny Cecotto. Maldonado now becomes Venezuela’s first grand prix winner.

Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery commented: “With Pastor Maldonado starting from the front and Lewis Hamilton starting from the back, this was always going to be a fascinating race, and thanks to the tyre strategy as well, it certainly delivered. Maldonado and Williams were quick right from free practice on Friday, having consistently got the most out of both tyre compounds all weekend. The final 10 laps were a fantastic duel between him and Alonso, with less than a second separating them, on similar strategies. Both drivers showed their tyre management skills perfectly, managing to avoid falling off ‘the cliff’ despite pushing hard for the race win. The tyres contributed to an extremely entertaining and tense race, but as official supplier we will always follow the wishes of the teams and the promoter and our future development direction will be dictated by what they want. For the sport, we believe that it’s fantastic to have five races, five winners and five cars – especially when it is as well deserved as the victory that we saw from Pastor and Williams today.”

Timo Glock finished in 18th place after a long battle of a race, in which he struggled to get the most from the car due to further balance issues that will require more detailed investigation.

Charles Pic retired on lap 26 with a drive shaft failure, which accounted for his brush with the blue flags earlier in the lap.

Charles Pic #25
“I didn’t get a very good start today. From then on I was working well on my pace and got the right side of the HRTs again. Things were going well for me then on lap 26 I suddenly lost drive and came back into the pits, where unfortunately I had to retire. We could see then that we have experienced a problem with the drive shaft, so we need to understand why that happened. There’s a lot of work for all of us in the next two weeks to improve for Monaco as we have not had the weekend we hoped for. After going to Sir Frank’s 70th birthday event last night I am pleased for him that he had this result today for Pastor and his team. For our side we look ahead to the next race and some more progress.”

Timo Glock #24
“I had a pretty good start. The first lap was good and I had a bit of a fight with Lewis for that lap. In general after that when positions were settled I just tried to keep the tyres alive as long as possible and we struggled with rear end instability again. From my side I can only push around 80% at the moment. It’s still not perfect and we’re missing pace, so we have to analyse and get on top of the problem before Monaco. On a lighter note, congratulations to Pastor Maldonado and the Williams F1 Team. They’ve done a great race result today.”

John Booth, Team Principal
“It is obviously very disappointing that we were unable to bring both cars home today. We have suffered two drive shaft issues this weekend – one of those was in the race – so we’re sorry for Charles to suffer a DNF after his efforts all weekend. With Timo’s car we have not made the progress with the car balance that we wanted to and this is preventing him from being as quick as he can be. There have been times when we have got on top of the problem and we are good, and times when we are not quite getting what we need to out of the car, as was the case in today’s race. A disappointing result for us but a brilliant win for Pastor and our congratulations to the Williams F1 Team on that. A busy week ahead for us now, but we look forward to the next race in Monaco.”

The race started under menacing dark clouds but the rain stayed away for the race with cooler temperatures than yesterday. Reverse Pole man was Visoiu but he was beaten at the start by a fast charging Tio Ellinas from the front row. Unfortunately for the Marussia Manor Racing driver, stewards found him to have made a jump start, therefore Ellinas served a drive through penalty and sacrificed the lead of the race. Carmen Jorda was also given a penalty for making a jump start.

Lap one was eventful with four cars retiring from the race after clashing at turn 4. Dmitry Suranovich, Robert Cregan, Antonio Spavone and Tamas Pal Kiss were all involved in the incident. Mitch Evans also suffered a rear left puncture in a separate incident and had to make a quick dash into the pitlane which cost him valuable positions after victory in yesterday’s opener.

The first few laps were close with Ellinas leading Daly, Visoiu, David Fumanelli and Aaro Vainio. The son of former F1 driver Derek Daly then took over P1 and had a half a second advantage over the Jenzer Motorsport rookie.

Throughout the field there were many fierce battles, the most intense was between William Buller and Kevin Ceccon for P9. It was the Carlin driver who managed to hold off a very determined Italian until the end, with the Ocean Racing Technology driver collecting 2 points however for setting the fastest lap.

Fumanelli was the next driver to pay a visit to the pitlane after being penalised for ignoring yellow flags. The MW Arden driver was in P4 at the time the penalty was given. Lap 12 and Fabiano Machado’s race was brought to a premature end after trying to initiate a pass on Status Grand Prix’s Kotaro Sakurai and the Brazilian spun off into the gravel. There was also a titanic tussle for the final points on offer in the top 8 between Daniel Abt and Alex Brundle.

In the latter part of the 16 lap race, Daly increased his advantage at the front and achieved his debut win by 3.2s over Visoiu with Laine 4.1s behind the race winner. P4 went to Daly’s Lotus GP teammate Vainio, ahead of Patric Niederhauser and Antonio Felix Da Costa (the latter will be investigated after the race for an incident before the start). Abt and Brundle completed the top 8. Visoiu becomes the youngest driver to step onto a GP3 rostrum at just 16 years old (beating a record previously held by Evans).

Evans holds the lead in the GP3 Series standings on 25 points, with Daly and Vainio hot on his heels with 23 points each. GP3’s next stop is Monaco on the 24-26 May when the Series makes its first appearance at the Principality, it’s going to be one to watch!

Race 1

The paddock held its breath as the lights went out, and a few of the drivers did too: Calado and fellow front row starter Fabio Leimer struggled to get away, with the Englishman moving sharply across the track to stop his rival finding a way by, while behind them Stéphane Richelmi and Max Chilton were even slower to move off the line.

Van der Garde and Coletti, however, made perfect starts to slide behind the front row pair into turn one, ahead of series leader Davide Valsecchi, Chilton, Nathanaël Berthon and Fabio Onidi as the field shook itself out for the long race ahead, with the teams now looking at pit strategy to gain an advantage.

Felipe Nasr was the first man to stop on lap 11, and 2 laps later the front pair came in together for their stop: Calado’s pits were closest to the pit entry, so he was in and out as Leimer was released, with the pair running side by side in the pitlane until Leimer conceded and chased his rival onto the track again. Most of their rivals came in on the next lap, including van der Garde: the Dutchman’s choice of changing the rears only compared to Calado’s 4 tyres made the difference next time around as he stole the lead.

With the stops shaken out the order was van der Garde, Calado, Leimer, Coletti, Valsecchi, Berthon, Onidi, Chilton, Nigel Melker and Luiz Razia, but there were more surprises to come as first Leimer was handed a drive through, his team judged to have made an unsafe release in the pits, and then Melker was similarly stung for speeding in the pitlane.

For the final 10 laps or so it looked like you could throw a blanket over the top three, and everyone was waiting to see if tyre wear would be the deciding difference, but van der Garde held on for a mature victory just 0.8 seconds ahead of Calado and Coletti when the flag dropped. Behind them Valsecchi took more points for a lonely fourth place ahead of Berthon, while Onidi, Chilton and Razia finished line astern, with Jolyon Palmer and Esteban Gutierrez claiming the final points.

In the drivers’ championship Valsecchi sails on in the lead with 119 points, ahead of Razia (87), Calado (61), Gutierrez (57) and van der Garde (56), while the fight for the teams’ title is hotting up as DAMS leads Lotus GP 147 points to 118, with Arden (88), Carlin (67) and Caterham (56) scrapping behind them.

Today’s 37 lap race was held under sunny skies and, as in yesterday’s qualifying, track temperatures were high at 41°. As the lights went off Fabio Leimer made a great start from second on the grid moving alongside the pole position car of Calado and as the cars raced to the first corner Calado pushed Leimer very wide and the young Swiss driver settled for second place.

Over the next few laps Leimer pressurised Calado at every opportunity setting the fastest lap on lap 3 and by lap nine the gap was just 0.6 seconds with the Racing Engineering car 1.1 seconds ahead of Van Der Garde in 3rd.

Lap 13 saw both Leimer and Calado make their mandatory pit stops and both cars were side-by-side in the pit road but, as the cars resumed the track, Leimer was forced to fall behind Kral and Gonzalez who were yet to stop. As the other cars made their pitstops Leimer was now running 3rd behind Calado and Van Der Garde who had passed both cars with a very quick pitstop.

On lap 20 it was announced that Leimer, who was lapping faster than the two cars ahead, would have to serve a drive through penalty for an unsafe release during his pitstop. On the 23 lap the Racing Engineering car entered the pits and resumed the track behind Palmer in 13th place.

With 10 laps remaining Leimer was looking to pass Nasr but he had to make sure he made no mistakes as Gutierrez was close behind him. However, despite driving as hard as possible, Leimer had to settle for 12th place at the finish.

Nathanaël Berthon made a great start from 10th on the grid and at the end of the opening lap he was lying 7th and trying to pass Chilton at the end of the main straight. A tough battle now began to develop between the Racing Engineering car and Chilton with Onidi just behind the Frenchman in 8th. Over the next few laps Berthon continued to chase Chilton while slowly pulling away from Onidi and on lap 10 Berthon was 1.0 seconds behind Chilton and 1.3 ahead of Onidi.

Berthon made his mandatory pitstop on lap 12 and a very quick tyre change by the Racing Engineering team saw him gain a place and by lap 19 he was in 6th place, 1.4 seconds behind Valsecchi and 4.1 seconds ahead of Onidi.

The penalty to Leimer moved Berthon up to 5th and he was now 3.4 seconds behind Valsecchi and 1.3 seconds ahead of Onidi. The Coloni car of Onidi began to close in on Berthon but some quick laps from Berthon saw the Racing Engineering car open the gap to 1.6 seconds with just 8 laps remaining.

As the race entered the final laps Berthon continued to move away from Onidi and at the chequered flag the Frenchman finished an excellent 5th, a great drive from 10th on the grid.

Tomorrow’s Sprint Race will see Berthon starting from 4th on the reversed grid and he will be looking for a podium position at the finish. For Leimer, starting from 12th, the aim of the Swiss driver will be to gain as many places as possible to add to his points score.

The race was run in glorious weather as the temperatures rocketed up to 28 degrees as the green lights appeared to signify the 2012 year has begun! The start of the race was eventful, with Daniel Abt making a lightning getaway from P7 on the grid to take the lead before turn one ahead of pole man Antonio Felix Da Costa. However, stewards deemed that Abt, Felix Da Costa and Antonio Spavone all made jump starts, and therefore they all received drive through penalties.

There was drama on the first lap after Ethan Ringel and Alice Powell both retired from the race after chaos in the mid pack. Before the penalties were given, Abt had a half second lead over the Portuguese pole sitter, while the Lotus GP duo of Conor Daly and Aaro Vainio dropped back from the front to P5 and P6. Evans and Stockinger made good starts to move into third and fourth on the first lap.

When Abt made his way into the pits to serve his penalty, Carlin’s Felix Da Costa remained out for one further lap until he too lost time and places heading down the pitlane. Abt and Felix Da Costa eventually finished in 13th and 14th.

Evans took over the lead of the race, with Stockinger promoted to second and Vainio in third. Midway through the race, the safety car was deployed after Kevin Ceccon stopped on the circuit in what was deemed a dangerous place. Several laps were run behind the safety car as the Ocean Racing Technology car was cleared away while the pack bunched up ready to go again.

When the race was restarted, there were intense battles further down the field. Aaro Vainio and Patric Niederhauser enjoyed a tussle for the final spot on the rostrum, with the two having some close wheel to wheel action, but the Finn was able to defend his place for the remainder of the race. Conor Daly had to fight off a determined Tio Ellinas in the closing stages and maintained his position. The heat was on for the final points on offer in the top ten, with David Fumanelli and Alex Brundle enjoying a great scrap with the Italian driver managing to keep the Brit’ behind him.

It was MW Arden’s third win in the GP3 Series, with Evans making the best possible start to the racing year pocketing 25 points, finishing just over 2 and half seconds clear of the opposition. Stockinger (Status Grand Prix) in P2 achieved his first ever points in the GP3 Series as well as his first appearance on the podium. Vainio made his second visit onto a GP3 rostrum (his previous time was also here in Spain). Niederhauser in fourth set the fastest laptime of the race with 1:41.440 which earned him two extra points. Matias Laine in P5 also got his first ever points in his GP3 career, ahead of Daly, Ellinas, Robert Visoiu, Fumanelli and Brundle.

17-year old Raffaele Marciello, who is backed by the Ferrari Formula 1 team, already took the lead at the start and also successfully defended his leading position during the re-start after a safety-car intervention from the charges by stalwart Jazeman Jaafar. After that, the Prema driver gradually extended his lead to a margin of 6.734 seconds at the finish line.

Initially, Macau winner Daniel Juncadella (Prema Powerteam) and rookie driver Pascal Wehrlein (Mücke Motorsport) were racing behind Marciello at the track at the foot of the Pyrenees, until the two collided on lap nine and retired. This collision caused the only safety-car intervention in the Formula 3 race, the rest of which was rather quiet.

Raffaele Marciello (Prema Powerteam): “Having won a race in Pau is great. My car was perfect and I was able to pull a gap. Once my margin was big enough, I drove a bit more cautiously. I didn’t want to risk an accident or make a mistake. In the final laps, I just concentrated on brining victory home safely.”

Felix Rosenqvist (Mücke Motorsport): “My start was good, but during the race, I didn’t find a way past Alex Lynn. I waited for him to make a mistake, but he didn’t make any and deserved his third place.”

Carlos Sainz (Carlin): “Initially, things were running well for me, but my rear tyres started to wear off badly in the second half of the race and I had a lot of oversteer. At ’Foch’, I had a couple of big moments. After that, I decided to bring it home and don’t take any risks.”

“Today the qualifying was a complicated one. After several months without driving this car, I had almost only a chance to set my best lap. Circuit de Catalunya is having a slippery surface due to rubber from Formula 1 cars and for sure isn´t an easy environment to make my comeback!”, Tutumlu explained at the end of qualifying session. The 26 years old driver added that “Alessandro Zampedri was ahead of me in my qualifying. He is a well-experienced driver, but today his pace wasn´t the best one, so I tried to overtake him. But it was impossible to make an attempt, and I had to stay behind him. I made a small mistake, and surely I could have improved half a second my time, but it isn´t a bad start because Porsche Supercup is a very competitive championship right now with loads of professional drivers taking part in”.

Tomorrow´s race starts at 11.45 (CET) and Eurosport will be covering it live. For tomorrow, Tutumlu is looking for “to avoid any kind of mistakes. I have a new set of tires and my race pace is good enough. Maybe, avoiding race incidents could put me into top-ten. By now I´m taking it easy. In next races, after some scheduled tests, I am sure we will fight for top-places”.

The team is still awaiting the FIA stewards’ decision but is confident that there will be no trouble for both drivers to line-up on the grid for tomorrow’s 66-lap race.

Pedro de la Rosa: “The day went very well, especially this afternoon, so I’m very happy with what we achieved. We completed two very good laps in qualifying, getting under the 1.28 mark which we hadn’t achieved neither yesterday nor this morning. I know that our position seems the same as always but, in terms of performance, we have progressed and that’s what I’ll take away with me. As I always say, we’ve still got a lot of room for improvement but we’re on the right path and that’s what matters. Tomorrow’s race won’t be easy because it’s a tough track and the rear tyres wear out a lot. We have to get off to a good start, give the Marussias a good fight and finish the race in front of all our fans”.

Narain Karthikeyan: “It’s been a very unlucky weekend for me so far. In the morning everything went smoothly but in the afternoon, with the first set of tyres I was pushing really hard and spun on turn 3 and, as a result, I flat-spotted a tyre so I had to come back in to the garage. We were going to go on the second set of tyres but we discovered some problems and due to safety concerns, not only for myself but the others, we decided that the best thing was to not go back out. It seems like my bad luck continues to follow me this weekend and, although I’m disappointed about that, there’s nothing else I can do but keep giving it my best shot”.

Toni Cuquerella, Technical Director: “We had mixed fortunes today. Pedro was able to continue with his programme and we were able to confirm that everything works fine and, as anticipated, the upgrades gave us an improvement. But we can’t stop, we have to continue progressing. For qualifying, the car’s balance improved a little bit more and Pedro completed two very good laps. With Narain the target in the practice session was to do as much mileage as possible and he did a fantastic job, but we weren’t lucky in qualifying as he spun on the first set of tyres and wasn’t able to set a good time, and when he was about to go out with the second set we had to abort as there was a problem with the fitting of the on-board camera which made it dangerous to go back out. He wasn’t able to get in the 107% but I’m confident that, given the performance he showed this morning, there won’t be any trouble for him to sta rt tomorrow’s race”.

P14 Nico Hulkenberg (VJM05/03)
Q1: 1:23.702
Q2: 1:23.177

Nico: “I’m pretty satisfied with my final lap in Q2 because I don’t think we could have achieved much more from the session today. That’s just where we are at the moment in terms of qualifying pace. We are still getting to understand the upgrades we have on the car, but it’s also clear that everyone else has made a step forward here and so the midfield remains extremely tight. The races so far this year have shown that grid position is not as crucial as it used to be with a lot of movement in the races, so I think we can still have a good race.”

Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal
“The team has done an excellent job over the last few weeks to push through our upgrade package and get it on the car this weekend. But it’s still early days and I’m sure that over the coming races we can fine-tune things further and extract even more performance. With than in mind I think we can take encouragement from our qualifying showing today with both Nico and Paul just a couple of tenths shy of squeezing through to Q3. We’ve been pleased with our tyre wear and the performance over long runs suggests we are in good shape for a competitive race tomorrow.”

A long night of data evaluation for the engineers gave way to a more positive morning in Free Practice 3 and the team were optimistic of carrying this progress through to qualifying. Hot and sunny conditions prevailed throughout the day’s running.

This afternoon, things didn’t quite come together for Timo, who encountered traffic and yellow flags on his flying runs and lost his rhythm as a result. Charles, on the other hand, had a more straightforward time of it and will line up in 21st place for the start of tomorrow’s race, ahead of Timo in the 22nd grid slot.

Charles Pic #25
“I am quite happy to be honest. I think for me all round it is quite a good qualifying. We managed to improve the package for this weekend, but the gap to the cars in front today did not reflect that. I don’t think we really know where we are yet because the car was not 100%. I feel there is more to come for sure. We always seem to be better in the race versus our competitors and I hope that will be true for tomorrow. For now though I am happy with my position and I look forward to the race.”

Timo Glock #24
“A much better day today than yesterday. I think we got on top of the problems a little bit and in Free Practice 3 this morning I had a good feeling. Unfortunately qualifying wasn’t great for me. I made a mistake on my first flying lap, which was then not quick enough, and on the second flying lap on the first set of tyres I ran into yellow flags at turn 3 where one of the HRTs spun, so I couldn’t do much on first set of tyres. On the second set of tyres I just couldn’t get the lap together. The first sector was good; in the second sector I got a bit of traffic; and for some reason I dropped tyre performance in the last sector. It just didn’t come together today and I will have to sit and analyse it and hope for better things in the race tomorrow.”

John Booth, Team Principal
“We approached Free Practice 3 this morning somewhat hesitantly. For the last two race weekends we have found, on Timo’s car in particular, that a good balance on Friday has somehow translated into a car that is not behaving as it should have done for the rest of the weekend. A lot of analysis has taken place over the past week – and at the Mugello test prior to that – and some new parts that we brought to both cars seem to have solved these problems. Timo reported a much improved balance on the car today, even with respect to Friday. Given this, our confidence built in FP3 but was then knocked slightly by a mechanical issue on Timo’s car at the end of the session. We quickly diagnosed the fault on what was a new part and were able to apply a fix to both cars in readiness for qualifying. Unfortunately for Timo, he never really found his rhythm in the qualifying session, so I’m sure there’s a lot more to come from him tomorrow. Charles on the other hand performed brilliantly, as was the case last week, and he is certainly exceeding all the expectations that we had of him for this stage of his debut season. The guys in front still have a little margin on us if we put our best laps together, so tomorrow we will perhaps not be able to enjoy the fight we had hoped for. However, by setting the clear goal of trying to be as close to them as we possibly can, we will at least be able to learn more about where our car development needs to go from here.”

Pastor Maldonado claimed second on the same tyre: the Venezuelan’s best-ever qualifying result and the highest grid placing for Williams since the 2010 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Qualifying started with a track temperature of 40 degrees centigrade, which was slightly higher than qualifying in Bahrain two weeks ago. This only added to the energy put through the tyres by corners such as turn three: the longest and fastest corner of the whole Circuit de Catalunya.

With most of the teams looking at three stops tomorrow, and three sets each of the harder and softer compounds available as usual for qualifying and the race, tyre management was an important consideration from the very beginning of qualifying.
Maldonado was the first driver to switch to the soft tyre halfway through qualifying one, topping the time sheets to underline the pace he had shown since the beginning of the weekend. Both Red Bull drivers completed one run on the soft tyre towards the end of the first session.
All the drivers used the soft tyre during Q2. Most drivers went out on used softs to keep a fresh set for the final top-10 shoot-out, but while Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi qualified in the top 10 he was unable to take part in qualifying three due to a mechanical problem: meaning that it was a fight for the top nine.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel was the first driver on track in Q3, completing a lap on soft tyres but not setting a time, while Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher went out on hard tyres and also did not set a time. The aborted laps from Vettel and Schumacher means that they will be able to start the race on whichever compound they like, as will Kobayashi.
Vettel was fastest during the final free practice session this morning, setting a time of 1m23.168s using the P Zero Yellow soft tyres, with the Sauber drivers also topping the time sheets for much of the session.

Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery commented: “Strategy was at the forefront of qualifying today, with a gap of around 0.8 seconds between the hard and the soft tyres, depending on the team. Historically, Barcelona is a race that has nearly always been won from the front row of the grid, but now drivers that have qualified lower down the grid still have a possibility to challenge for victory. There were some surprising eliminations in Q2; however these drivers will feel the benefit of having more fresh tyres, so it will be interesting to see what they can do with them. As Barcelona is so demanding on every aspect of the dynamics of a car, including tyre management, it is normally a very good indicator of the likely form for the rest of the year. With the teams so closely matched this season, and the upgrades introduced at Mugello beginning to take effect, it’s going to be very hard to predict a winner for tomorrow. Particular congratulations to Pastor Maldonado and Williams – who have consistently got the most out of the tyres throughout the weekend so far.”

“Tomorrow’s going to be an interesting race. I think a lot of it will come down to who uses the rear tyres best and as we’ve already seen earlier this season, we can fight with the cars ahead on Sundays, so hopefully we can carry through this afternoon’s performance to tomorrow, and who knows what could happen.”

Heikki Kovalainen, car 20, chassis CT01-#3: “I’m not unhappy with today’s performance but we could have definitely got more out of the car this afternoon. I made a mistake in turn three that cost me some time but overall I’ve not really been able to find a setup I’m happy with all weekend. We’ve tried a few different things to find a decent balance but for some reason we just couldn’t find a compromise for qualifying today. We’ll put that behind us now and move on to tomorrow where we’ll aim to maintain the sort of race pace we’ve shown in the first four Grands Prix this season. If we can look after the tyres I think we’ll be ok.”

Mark Smith, Technical Director: “I think we probably got close to extracting as much performance out of the cars as we could this afternoon. Both drivers may have been able to find a couple more tenths but I am pleased with the performances they put in and now the focus moves to tomorrow’s race. Tyres will be the defining factor in the race. We have already shown that we can fight with several cars ahead on Sundays and I think that careful management of the tyres and good pitstop strategy should give us a chance of putting in a good performance.”

In summer temperatures, Christian Engelhart topped the time charts in just the fourth lap, and afterwards withdrew to the pits to watch the rest of the session. Most of his pursuers in the world’s fastest international all-Porsche series were also given orders from their teams to come in early so as to take up the first race of the season on European soil with new tyres.

Behind the leading trio, Britain’s Sean Edwards (Konrad Motorsport), the Barcelona winner from last year, turned the fourth quickest time. Fifth in qualifying went to title defender René Rast (Germany) driving for the Lechner Racing squad, with the Supercup rookie from Denmark Nicki Thiim (Hermes Attempto Racing) sharing the third grid row. The son of former DTM champion Kurt Thiim needed eleven qualifying laps to achieve this. His teammate Kévin Estre (Hermes Attempto Racing) was out on the track just as long. The Frenchman had to settle for seventh place, whilst Norbert Siedler (Austria), who won one of the season-opening double-header races in Bahrain with René Rast, only achieved the eighth quickest time. The fifth grid row is occupied by two Supercup newcomers: Michael Ammermüller (Germany) driving for VELTINS Lechner Racing and Poland’s Patryk Szczerbinski (VERVA Racing Team), the youngest competitor in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup at 18 years.

The extremely close level of performance in the flagship of Porsche’s 19 one-make series worldwide is underlined by a glance at the qualifying times: A mere seven-tenths of a second separate positions one and eleven in Barcelona.

Christian Engelhart (pole-sitter): “I’m really happy – especially considering the problem I had with my brakes during free practice. But the boys put in overtime and it paid off. I had an excellent lap today. I was aware that in Barcelona normally nothing more is possible afterwards. Still, I was feeling pretty nervous in the pits waiting for the session to finish. Now I’m looking forward to the race.”

Kuba Giermaziak (second in qualifying): “The first grid row is just what I wanted. I missed out on pole because of a couple of tiny mistakes, but still I’m satisfied. The race will show who’s the best. Most of the drivers are very familiar with Barcelona and are therefore fast here. So that makes it all the more important to take up the race from the first row.”

Robert Lukas (third in qualifying): “We’re of course very pleased. One tenth shy of the fastest, although my first sector wasn’t that great – we can live with this. Now I’m hoping that we are all in a position to turn this good qualifying result into a good race result.”

Qualification session
1. Christian Engelhart (D), Konrad Motorsport, 1:52.218 minutes
2. Kuba Giermaziak (PL), VERVA Racing Team, + 0.003 seconds
3. Robert Lukas (PL), FÖRCH Racing, + 0.112
4. Sean Edwards (GB), Konrad Motorsport, + 0.165
5. René Rast (D), Lechner Racing Team, + 0.193
6. Nicki Thiim (DK), Hermes Attempto Racing, + 0.248

Mark Webber
“It takes a while to get in to the groove here with the balance. We saw at the end of P2 that you have to get everything together to get the lap time here. We’ll have more chances tomorrow to work on the short runs. We were trying a few things in those practice sessions and we’ll see what Adrian and the guys come up with for us tomorrow. I’m not sure how many pitstops there will be on Sunday, but it will be quite a few. The soft tyre is a nicer tyre to run on – but tyre strategy will be very important here.”

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton
“The car already feels better than it did at the last race – there’s a good series of improvements within the car. My long run this afternoon was very satisfying and there are positives to take from that, but there’s still more time in the car, as Jenson showed. I struggled a little with set-up today. It’s a little bit inconsistent, so it’s very difficult to pinpoint exactly what’s needed to make it better. But we’ll be looking at the data to find out where the most significant issues are, and I’m confident we can make improvements overnight. “Nevertheless, the upgrades we brought to this race seem to be working well and we’ve got good pace on the longer runs. The guys back at the factory did a fantastic job. It’s been a positive day and we’re in the fight.”

Jenson Button
“It was a positive afternoon. I did a good lap on the Option tyre, the car is running well, and our upgrades seem to be working. But there are still some improvements to be made. The Option seems to be a bit easier for everyone as it’s softer and therefore more receptive to generating temperature. In P2, we also started to find a way to get the Prime to work, but then, later in the session, we couldn’t quite get back to that sweet-spot. If we can solve these issues with the Prime and get it into its correct working range, I think we can be quite competitive this weekend. There are a lot of quick cars out there, but, aerodynamically, I think we’ve got a strong car. We’ve just got to make sure that we make sure that the four things touching the road are working properly for us too.”

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
Fernando Alonso
“It’s nice to be back racing in front of my home crowd: from the moment I got here on Wednesday evening, I could already feel the warmth of the fans who are also now all Ferrari fans. We had a very busy programme, with a lot of new things to try and it was important to evaluate them very carefully. First impressions are positive: some parts worked as we expected, others less so, but broadly speaking, it confirms the tendency we had already seen in Mugello last week, which is that the data emerging form the wind tunnel has been been confirmed on track. Today, conditions were obviously very different to when we were here for the winter tests: it’s much hotter and the track surface conditions have therefore changed, with temperatures approaching 45º C. We tried to adapt the car set-up to the track conditions, but we are not yet completely satisfied: there is still work to do. Actually, it was a rather different Friday to usual, with the times even more mixed up than we have seen at the first four races this year. The tyres? No surprises, we know them sufficiently well now after all the kilometres we have done this winter and in the first part of the championship. The Softs seem quicker, the Hards more consistent, so nothing new there.”

Felipe Massa
“It was very hot today, which put the tyres under a lot of strain. We worked a lot on the updates we have available as from this weekend and, at first sight, the results seem to be positive. This morning especially, we concentrated on comparing different configurations, while in the afternoon, we worked mainly on set-up and tyre behaviour. It’s impossible to make a comparison with the results of winter testing, because the track surface conditions have completely changed as the temperature is so different to what we had in the winter. Now we must put together all the best elements to produce our maximum potential and prepare well for qualifying and the race. On Sunday, if it turns out as hot as this, it will be an even tougher race than usual, especially because of tyre degradation.”

Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team
Nico Rosberg
“Generally all worked well today, but there are also a few question marks after the two sessions. Tyre management will be a big challenge again this weekend, and that will be the key for success. We have got plenty of options to work though this evening to find the right set-up for the conditions out there tomorrow and on Sunday.”

Michael Schumacher
“The way it worked out for us today demonstrated that the testing we did in Mugello was worth it, so again I’m happy we had the chance to do that. Of course it was very warm today and therefore the track was quite slippery, but that was according to our expectations. Our feeling for the weekend is pretty okay after everything we have learned in the two sessions, so we will now analyse the data carefully in order to work out exactly how to approach qualifying and the race from everything we have learned in the two sessions today.”

Lotus F1 Team
Kimi Raikkonen
“There were no problems with the car and everything felt good today. We tried a different front wing, but in the car you can’t tell if it makes much difference; that is why the team’s engineers are looking at the data. I felt comfortable and I think the work done at Mugello and in the Windshear test programme have made improvements. We’ll have to see tomorrow how much pace everyone has when it comes to qualifying as that’s when it matters. We’ve been fast everywhere else so far and there’s nothing to suggest we won’t be fast here again.”

Romain Grosjean
“It was a pretty good day today. The weather is fantastic, the car feels great and the lap times were promising; I’m a happy man. The balance felt strong on both tyres and we were able to complete long runs to give us valuable tyre data for Sunday. I’m happy with the performance of the car even when the tyres are nearer the end of their performance life which is a good sign for this weekend. It’s very close of course, so qualifying will be interesting. I can’t wait for tomorrow to come.”

Williams F1
Pastor Maldonado
“We completed our programme today and the tyres were working well this afternoon. It helps that we have done quite a lot of testing here, but the track conditions are quite different to over the winter so we now need to spend some time analysing the data. I am feeling confident though as this is a circuit that I like.”

Bruno Senna
”It was a good session this afternoon and we completed a lot of laps. It’s now time to sit down and look through the data to improve the set-up of the car on long runs as well as for qualifying tomorrow.”

Sahara Force India
Paul Di Resta
“A fairly normal Friday afternoon session for me trying to get on top of the tyres quickly and fine-tune the balance of the car. I had the new parts on the car, which seem to be delivering, although it’s too early to say where we stand because we don’t know what everyone else was doing or their fuel loads. I think it’s going to be another very close weekend, just as we have seen in the previous races, and we still have plenty of work to do before qualifying to find the sweet spot.”

Nico Hulkenberg
“We got through the programme pretty much as planned and the initial results seem quite encouraging. The main task was to continue understanding the new upgrades, which I ran for both sessions, and getting the car set-up nicely for the track. We made some changes during the lunch break and they improved things, so I’m happy about what we’ve done today. As always, there’s still work to do, but the main tasks for today are complete.”

Sauber F1 Team
Kamui Kobayashi
“It was a good first day here for us. I think my fastest lap time on soft tyres should have been a little bit better, but I wasn’t pushing enough on that lap. The long runs looked okay with both the hard and the soft tyre compounds. However, I think for qualifying we should improve the balance of the car. We have had a smooth day and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.“

Sergio Pérez
“In the morning the car’s balance wasn’t good and we had to change quite a lot for the afternoon session. We worked in the right direction, as it was an improvement and therefore it really was a productive day. I found on long runs both tyre compounds were degrading quite a lot, but we will see what we can do to help in this respect.“
Scuderia Toro Rosso

Jean-Éric Vergne
“This morning we continued with some aero evaluation that we had started at the Mugello test. In the afternoon, we worked mainly towards the race and I feel we found some good solutions. Now, we must start to think about qualifying and how to improve the car balance, but so far it does not look too bad. I tried both types of tyre and, as you would expect the Option brings a big advantage in terms of lap time on low fuel and the Prime has a longer life, but all the same it will be interesting to see what will be the best tyre strategy for Sunday. The new parts? It’s hard to say what improvement they have brought, as the other teams have been developing their cars too.”

Daniel Ricciardo
“We tried a few different downforce settings in the morning and we were not too convinced by our pace. So we decided to make a few changes to the car for the afternoon session in terms of how to run our aero package. It gave me a slightly better feeling from the car, but we still need to work hard on set-up to try and find something extra there, if we want to be in contention for Q3 on Saturday. I have a few ideas of what we want to do and the engineers, who are probably a bit smarter than me, have definitely got some ideas up their sleeves.”

Caterham F1 Team
Alexander Rossi (First Practice)
“I am very pleased with how this morning’s session went. We completed the program the team had set and I acclimatised quickly to the step up to F1. This isn’t my first time working with the team, I already have a day at the Abu Dhbai young driver test last year under my belt, but coming into a full race weekend is a very different proposition to the young driver test. Today wasn’t about setting the quickest lap I could – there may have been another seven or eight tenths to be found but the main thing today was to learn as much as I could, contribute by following the plan, give the engineers clear, concise feedback, and not make any mistakes. That’s what we did so I think it’s been pretty much as good as it could have been.”

Heikki Kovalainen (Second Practice)
“A pretty standard Friday for us. We made a couple of setup changes early on in FP2 that improved the balance and I think we’ve ended up closer to where we want to be today. As it’s been all season, tyre management is going to be vital here, especially on Sunday, and from what we’ve seen from the tyre degradation patterns on both tyre choices I think we need to do more work on managing wear rates, but if we can do that I think we’ll be ok tomorrow, and on Sunday.”

Vitaly Petrov
“I’m relatively pleased with today but it was a bit of an odd couple of sessions for us. This morning we did all the runs on the hard tyres and couldn’t really find a balance I could push with, and then this afternoon we managed to dial out the understeer we had on both the hard and soft tyres, but suddenly found we had oversteer that hadn’t been there before. I think this is something that’s affecting quite a few of the teams, and it’s not what we were expecting after the Bahrain race and the Mugello test, but we’ll work on it tonight and I’m sure we’ll find a solution for FP3 and qualifying.”

Hispania Racing F1 Team
Pedro de la Rosa
“Today was the day to try out the aero package we’ve brought to Barcelona, so we completed various short stints to see how the car behaved with the changes. It was interesting because the car has effectively taken a step forwards, but we need an even bigger step, especially at such a tough circuit as this one where there are many quick turns and where you need to improve the balance of the car. There’s still plenty to do and a lot of data to analyze to have a better understanding of how to get the most out of these upgrades”.

Narain Karthikeyan
“I’m disappointed to have not got any laps under my belt today; it’s certainly not how I was aiming to start my weekend in Barcelona. Tomorrow will be an uphill struggle as we’ve only got one hour in the morning to get the car ready for qualifying in the afternoon, so we’re really going to have to get our heads down and work hard. Hopefully we can make up for the time lost today and turn things around tomorrow”.

Marussia F1 Team
Timo Glock
“To be honest we’ve had two pretty difficult sessions today as we’ve struggled with the balance of the car. It’s been very nervous on both sets of tyres so a little disappointing that we seem to still have this problem. We’ll just have to take a good look at the data and see what we can find to improve the situation for tomorrow.”

Charles Pic
“I am quite happy with the way today has been. We made good progress across the two sessions and I feel the benefit of the new update. I think there is more we can find overnight to prepare us for qualifying, but generally it feels like we can have a good rest of the weekend. A good start I think.”

The 30 minute morning practice session took place in warm, sunny conditions. Adopting the strategy they have used in the previous GP2 weekends both of the Racing Engineering drivers waited until the session was nearly half over before setting a time.
Concentrating on their car set-ups, and using the harder Pirelli tyres, neither Fabio Leimer nor Nathanaël Berthon went for a fast lap and with both men completing 6 laps each, at the end of the session Leimer was 11th fastest with a time of 1:31.799 and Berthon was 22nd fastest with a lap of 1:32.322.

The qualifying session took place under sunny skies with an air temperature of 29° and a very hot track temperature of 45°. Most of the GP2 teams took to the track early in the session and with just seven minutes gone both of the Racing Engineering cars were immediately on the pace with Leimer setting the 4th fastest time with Berthon just behind in 8th.

Returning to the pits to switch to the softer Pirelli tyres Leimer waited until there were just seven minutes of the session left to return to the track and set a very fast time of 1:30.865 which was good enough for the second fastest lap and a front row start for Saturday’s race.

In what was comfortably his best qualifying session of the season so far Berthon set the 10th fastest time with a lap of 1:31.308, less than half a second slower than his team-mate.

Starting from the front row of the grid gives Leimer an excellent chance of taking victory in the Feature Race and with a start from the 5th row Berthon, with his proven overtaking ability, will be looking for a strong points scoring finish.

Jenson Button set the fastest time during the second session this afternoon, with a time of 1m23.399 on the soft tyre. As expected, temperatures remained dry and warm for both the hour and a half sessions, allowing the drivers to experience the sort of conditions that they are likely to encounter during qualifying on Saturday. For the race, a risk of rain showers has been initially forecast.

With Barcelona being one of the circuits that places heavy demands on the tyres, the teams used the two free practice sessions to assess wear and degradation rates on different fuel loads, and also to establish a base set-up that will suit their likely strategies. With many teams having introduced upgrades at the recent Mugello test, free practice in Barcelona was also another opportunity to see how these worked in conjunction with the 2012-specification Pirelli tyres.

For the first time, there is an entire step in between the two compounds that have been nominated by Pirelli for the race. With a lap time difference of just over a second between the two compounds, strategy will be even more important during the race, putting an emphasis on the data collected by the teams during free practice today.
In the morning session, the teams concentrated exclusively on the P Zero Silver hard before moving onto the P Zero Yellow soft tyre in the afternoon with some further use of the hard compound. The fastest time in free practice one was set by Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso with a benchmark of 1m24.754s.

Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery said: “It was a very important session today for all the teams, as they aimed to gather as much information as possible in order to prepare their race strategies, which are going to have a big influence on the final outcome of the race. Barcelona is well known for a notable degree of tyre wear thanks to long and fast corners such as turn three, and although we still have plenty of data to analyse, it seems that the frontrunners will be likely to adopt a three-stop strategy. However, with a wider gap between the two nominated tyres than usual – both in terms of compound and performance – we could see some quite different strategies that are capable of springing a surprise. And of course if the rain showers that some people are predicting for Sunday materialise, then the race will take on an entirely new and unexpected complexion. With many of the teams introducing new developments in Spain, it almost feels like we are starting the season from scratch again.”

Tomorrow (Saturday) Paul Hembery will be taking part in a live online chat from the Spanish Grand Prix at 6.00pm local time (+1 hour CET), together with Pirelli test driver Jaime Alguersuari, who has been recently testing Pirelli’s latest development tyres at Jerez in the south of Spain.

Team mate Rodolfo Gonzalez had a frustrating session, qualifying P20 after a he lost positions in a tight session which saw 17 cars set a lap-time within one second the pole position time.

Caterham Racing Team Manager Phill Spencer: “Despite seeing Giedo finishing fifth for the first race I think we could have been on the front row today. We have a very good car and the engineers and the whole crew have done a fantastic job and transformed it since we returned from Bahrain, so I am very happy about that. Unfortunately traffic held up Giedo but that’s the way it goes sometimes, you have to take the good with the bad. But I know we can race well, P5 is a good position to start from and we are all confident Giedo can have a strong race from there.

“It is a shame Rodolfo’s quick laps were interrupted but the session today was so close, just two or three tenths made all the difference. Hopefully we will race well tomorrow and get both cars to finish in the top eight.”

Giedo van der Garde (P5 / Total laps: 9 / Best lap 1:31.006) “I am absolutely sure we could have been on pole today. The car felt good and we are moving in the right direction and getting better at every round. You get one chance to do a quick lap on these soft tyres before they go off and unfortunately today I was blocked in sector one which cost me vital time. I then recorded good times through sectors two and three but I had lost about three tenths of a second in the first sector so I will take P5 and do the best job I can tomorrow. We have made our biggest gains since Bahrain so I am feeling really positive for the feature race. There are not many overtaking opportunities here so strategy will be ever more important. We must put it all together – I have got to take care of the tyres, make no mistakes and have a good pit stop and hopefully we can finish on the podium again.”

Rodolfo Gonzalez (P20 // Total laps: 10 // Best lap 1:31.966) “To be honest I am really disappointed with my qualifying position today, but it was such a close session every tenth counted. Unfortunately I made a couple of mistakes which cost me vital grid positions, so I think it will be a tough race tomorrow. Tonight we will work on the balance of my car and on a strategy that will help preserve the tyres. As always, this will be vital if we are to finish anywhere near the points, but I will do my best to move up the field during the race and give the local supporters a good race to watch!”

Caterham Racing Chief Engineer Humphrey Corbett: “It was unfortunate that circumstances out of his control compromised Giedo’s flying laps today, but in the end he put in a very good lap to qualify P5. He’s happy with the balance of his car and says there is more to come so he is confident ahead of the race tomorrow.

“Unfortunately Rodolfo made a couple of small mistakes this afternoon and I know he was very disappointed with where he ended up. I feel disappointed for him but now we’re focusing on tomorrow and we will do our best to get him up there in the race. We know we have a good car so hopefully he can get another one of his good starts, look after his tyres and move up to get some all important championship points.”

Kral’s best lap stopped the clock at 1:31.109, just a tenth of a second ahead of his closest rivals in a tight session which saw 19 drivers set a time within a second of the Czech, the close times an indication of the amount of laps the teams have put in at the Spanish circuit.

With track temperatures at 36° the field ran on soft tyres for the first time on the circuit, but with no off track excursions it was clear that the change went well: with temperatures rising after the session it will be a new challenge to be negotiated by the teams in this afternoon’s qualifying session.

Behind the top three drivers Giedo van der Garde, Tom Dillman, series leader Davide Valsecchi, Fabrizio Crestani, Stefano Coletti and Luiz Razia will all fancy their chances of claiming P1 for tomorrow’s feature race in just a few hours time.

Having been honed on Lotus’ Hethel Test Track, the car has already found its first customers. McMahon Raceworks with Condor Motorsport has just placed an order for their Evora GTC, and will enter it in America ’s Grand-Am road races, the Rolex Sports Car Series. The team led by David McMahon with Armando Trentini as lead driver and consultant, spent two days this week getting familiar with the machine on the ragged edge at Lotus Headquarters.

Meanwhile, Team Bullrun’s Evora GT4 will be converted to GTC-spec in June. Raced by British drivers Richard Adams, David Green and Martin Byford, Bullrun’s Evora has proved phenomenally competitive in the 2012 Britcar MSA Endurance Championship and currently leads the standings.

The engine and gearbox of the GT4 Enduro are carried over to the GTC, but the car has been on a diet. Carbon-fibre doors, roof and engine cover have replaced fibreglass panels, and Plexiglas replaces the windows in order to trim yet more weight off what is already a very light car. At 1,130-1,140kg, depending on customer specification, the GTC is 30kg lighter than the Enduro.

It’s not all take-away. Traction control and BOSCH racing Anti-Lock Brakes system have been added to optimize power delivery and braking control. With England being particularly damp for the past month, serious testing of the GTC has taken place in the wet where the car’s intelligent traction control and ABS have come to the fore. A definitive comparison test will be conducted shortly, but already it has proved to be faster than the previous evolution.

The wheels and tyres are wider which not only gives the car more grip through the curves, the front and rear wheels rise to 18x10Js and 12Js respectively, mated to 27/65-18 tyres at the front and 30/65-18s at the rear..

In order to accommodate the wider wheels, flared arches have been fitted, which give the car a more aggressive silhouette.

Its 4-litre V6 continues to pump out 450bhp and 460Nm of torque, linked to an XTRAC six-speed sequential paddle-shift gearbox.

As well as the MSA Endurance Series and Grand-Am GTC (undergoing homologation), the car is eligible for the British GT Championship, VdeV Series, Dutch Supercar, and CREVENTIC Endurance Races, such as the Dubai 24 Hours and the 12 Hours of Bathurst .

The first free practice session of the third GP3 Series season opened in sunny and warm conditions as the twenty-six drivers took to the track for their installation laps. Carlin Racing’s Alex Brundle was the first man onto the circuit and the first to set the early pace in the 1’40s.

Marussia Manor Racing’s Fabiano Machado spun off at turn 14, making light contact with the tyre barrier but was able to continue on in the session. Antonio Felix Da Costa then went to the top of the timesheets after 15 minutes before Fumanelli shot to P1 and became the first driver to break into the 1.38s barrier, half a second quicker than the Portuguese ace.

Laine rose to P1 with 20 minutes of practice remaining ahead of his Italian teammate and kept control of the timings for the 45 minute session. Mitch Evans went fourth fastest whilst the Lotus GP trio made their appearance onto the track in the latter stages of practice and all set times in the top ten.

As the chequered flag was waved to signal the end the first practice of the season, MW Arden’s Laine and Fumanelli led the way and were followed by Aaro Vainio, Conor Daly and Daniel Abt from Lotus GP. P6 was Evans, with Felix Da Costa, Brundle, Tamas Pal Kiss and Marlon Stockinger completing the top ten.

Tio Ellinas stopped on the circuit in the early part of the session with gearbox gremlins and only completed one installation lap.

Alguersuari has driven countless racing laps throughout his career, but he had never before attempted to fit a tyre onto a wheel: the essential job that Pirelli’s crew of 19 fitters carry out at all the circuits of the world.

The Spaniard, who has just completed a three-day test at Jerez with Pirelli, went through the whole fitting process from scratch. This involves mounting the tyre on the rim, inflating it to the right pressure and balancing it to the correct weight. Getting it right requires both precision and physical strength, as the 22-year-old discovered.

After receiving instructions from one of Pirelli’s experienced fitters, it was Alguersuari’s turn. A Pirelli fitter can normally fit a tyre in around two and a half minutes, but Alguersuari took somewhat longer, concentrating on getting it right while talking about his experiences to the media who had gathered to watch.

“It’s certainly a more complex process than it looks!” said Alguersuari, who tested new development tyres at Jerez. “The tyre doesn’t just click on: you really have to know what you are doing and place it exactly: sometimes using a lot of strength. And then you have to get the balancing precisely right, while not forgetting the other important things like putting a special glue on the bead of the tyre to stop it rolling around on the rim. There is really a lot going on, and this just makes me appreciate the work that the fitters do all the more. As well as a specialised skill, they also have a very big responsibility.”

In the first group, Carlos Sainz, Daniel Juncadella (Prema Powerteam, 1:10.826 minutes), Pascal Wehrlein (Mücke Motorsport, 1:10.853 minutes) and Jack Harvey (Carlin, 1:10.987 minutes) staged a thrilling battle for first place, which Sainz eventually secured with a tiny margin: his advantage on Juncadella was 0.024 seconds while third-placed rookie driver Pascal Wehrlein was only 0.051 seconds down on the fastest time. In the second group, fastest driver Raffaele Marciello had a bigger margin: he outpaced Jazeman Jaafar (Carlin, 1:10.864 minutes) by 0.254 seconds.

The starting grid positions for this afternoon’s first race are based on the second-fastest lap time by every driver. Here, Marciello also came out on top and as a result, he will be starting from the best grid position for race one as well. Danuel Juncadella and Pascal Wehrlein were first and second in their qualifying group. Thus, Formula 3 Euro Series drivers also locked out the front row of the starting grid for the first race.

Raffaele Marciello (Prema Powerteam): “I am really delighted by being on pole position for the Grand Prix de Pau and in fact, I am slightly surprised myself. After all, things didn’t go too well for me yesterday and moreover, this is my first time at Pau. In qualifying, I made a mistake on turn 1, but fortunately, the run-off area there is big enough.”

Carlos Sainz (Carlin): “I am absolutely delighted by being fastest of my group. As a novice at Pau, I hadn’t expected that. Only the fact that traffic on the track prevented me from driving a fast second lap is a pity.”

The TS030 HYBRID completed its second endurance test yesterday, the first being at Paul Ricard in February.

Testing this week began with a development program, running the new aerodynamic package and updated hybrid system. TOYOTA Racing continued on Wednesday morning with a long-distance test lasting 30 hours.

The three drivers of the #7 car, Alex Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre and Kazuki Nakajima, as well as Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi, who will drive the #8 car at the Le Mans 24 Hours, took turns behind the wheel of the TS030 HYBRID.

Anthony Davidson was driving the TS030 HYBRID for the first time, although he was already familiar with the car’s characteristics having completed numerous sessions in the driving simulator at TOYOTA Motorsport GmbH (TMG) in Cologne.

This week’s test session was particularly important for the team’s preparation for Le Mans, with the MotorLand Aragon track proving well suited to preparations for the 16-17 June race.

As well as working on performance and reliability, the three days were also used for Michelin tire testing. In addition, mechanics and drivers practiced pit-stops before and during the endurance test, in race conditions.

TOYOTA Racing’s test program will resume later this month for a final test before the Le Mans test and race, where two TS030 HYBRIDs will be entered in the third round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Pascal Vasselon, Technical Director: “MotorLand is representative of Le Mans circuit in terms of track layout, asphalt characteristics and weather conditions. Therefore, we have been able to evaluate several options on our new bodywork and develop it with the Le Mans 24 Hours in mind. Adding to that, we continue our work on the assessment of Michelin’s tyre range to ensure we can cover all kinds of temperature and track conditions. The endurance test has not been as smooth as we expected. We had a couple of issues but we fixed them to achieve a reasonable mileage. Step by step, we are close to having a car capable to do a 24-hour race. After such a long time without being on track, I am pleased to see that both team and car have made a real step forward. Even if we would have liked to hit the track in the past weeks, we have used this time as a benefit.”

Hisatake Murata, Hybrid Project Leader: “We have been running on a challenging track, with lot of G-forces, vibrations and high temperatures, which is really good for testing our TOYOTA HYBRID System – Racing powertrain before Le Mans. We could compile a lot of data. Before coming to this test, we had not validated all the specs of the THS-R; this helps us to finalize it. All the updates are positive, including during the pit stop where we have seen how our system is a benefit for the restart as we quickly reach the speed limit. Day by day, test after test, we make good progress.”

Nigel Melker particularly likes Spain’s Montmeló circuit, where he has had the chance to race over the course of his career. “I always had good results on this circuit and so I am confident I can extract all the car’s potential in these two races. The Bahrain races demonstrated that we are reaching a new level in terms of the car’s set-up and I am expecting this development to continue in Barcelona,” Nigel Melker declared.

For Victor Guerin, this will be a weekend of discovery: both his new car and Ocean Racing Technology. The Brazilian driver hopes to adapt quickly to his new professional environment. “I am very happy because it is a dream come true. I always wanted to race in the GP2 Series and I am very happy that Tiago Monteiro invited me to do so. I know Barcelona well, but the task will not be easy because I have to learn the car, which is totally new for me, in just a half hour practice! But I am relaxed; I want to get the most out of this experience,” Victor Guerin declared.

Tiago Monteiro and José Guedes are satisfied to bring together this new pair of drivers. “Nigel has done a very good job so far and we think that he will be even more competitive in Barcelona. We are very content to have Victor come to Ocean. He is a very young driver but he has immense talent. It will be a very big challenge for him but we are here to help him. The objective is for him to get good experience by the weekend,” the Portuguese team’s directors declared.

The races will be broadcast live on Skysports, Saturday at 1:35 pm and Sunday at 10:30 am.

His debut in the series during 2012 campaign is absolutely imminent, scheduled next weekend at Circuit de Catalunya. “I am looking forward to my comeback. It is great to have another chance to compete at the highest level and, in addition, starting at my home round. Once again, I am grateful to Barzani family and Kurdistan and I will try my best to give them good results”, the 26 years-old driver added, saying that “it won´t be easy, because there are very good drivers contesting the Porsche Supercup. And with only a free practice session, we need to be competitive from then on. Anyway I feel confident because Förch Racing will help me and have two fast and well-experienced teammates: Stefan Rosina and Robert Lukas”.

The Porsche Supercup, celebrating its 20th edition in 2012 and meaning important promotional events for drivers, will start its track activities on Friday, with free practice session. Qualifying is scheduled on Saturday at 12.25 while race, with Eurosport offering live coverage, will start at 11.45, two hours earlier than Spanish Grand Prix.

The most senior member of the Caterham F1 Team Driver Development Programme since 2011, Alexander’s F1 role as Official Test Driver will see him participate in a number of Free Practice sessions in 2012, helping him to gain further experience at the highest level of global motorsport and further embedding him within the Caterham F1 Team, progressing toward his goal of a full-time Formula 1 race seat.

Alexander Rossi, Official Test Driver, Caterham F1 Team
“I am really looking forward to getting back into the Caterham F1 car this weekend on a circuit I know very well. This will be my first Friday drive and first time in the CT01 chassis. I want to thank Tony Fernandes and the whole team for the chance to run in FP1 in Barcelona. My goal to be in Formula 1 is one step closer after being signed as Official Test Driver for the Caterham F1 Team and I want to thank them for their trust and long term commitment to my career once again. I have a clear goal for the practice session – make sure I run to the plan set by the engineers, not make any mistakes and learn as much as I can over the whole weekend as I take the next step in my career.”

Mark Smith, Technical Director Caterham F1 Team
“The Circuit de Catalunya is a track every team knows extremely well. We have already tested there twice this year as the layout gives the cars a good test of most of the track conditions we see throughout the season – fast, high G corners, a long straight and a number of slower speed corners where good traction is key. It is also one of the more technically demanding tracks for the drivers and offers a bit of everything. We will be giving our Test Driver Alexander Rossi his first FP1 run with us in Barcelona and we are all looking forward to giving him the chance to work with us at a full race weekend. He did a good job in Abu Dhabi when we ran him in the young driver test in 2011 and I am sure he will perform well for us on Friday in Spain.”

This year, a total of 25 drivers will try hard to become the successor of the German – among them 12 Formula 3 Euro Series drivers. William Buller (Carlin) and the two new teams, URD Rennsport and GU-Racing with their drivers Lucas Wolf (URD Rennsport) and Philipp Ellis (GU-Racing), are the only ones that opted for doing without making the trip to Southern France.

Daniel Juncadella (Prema Powerteam) has fond memories of last year’s event in Pau. The Spaniard who travels to Pau as championship leader in both the Formula 3 Euro Series and the FIA European Championship finished third, in 2011. His compatriot Carlos Sainz (Carlin), currently second in the Euro Series Drivers’ Championship, is determined to reduce the gap to Juncadella, in Pau – and the same applies to Sweden’s Felix Rosenqvist (Mücke Motorsport) who currently holds third championship position. Both Sainz and Rosenquist will contest their first Formula 3 race at the street circuit.

Daniel Juncadella (Prema Powerteam): “I really look forward to the Grand Prix de Pau. Both the circuit and the city are great and last year, things went rather well for me. As the track is very tight and offers virtually no overtaking opportunities, securing a good grid position and making a good start is particularly important, here. It gores without saying that winning here is my goal – and I think realising this goal should be possible.”

The Italian-Argentine crew will carry on an intensive day of testing and, in particular, the whole team will study the Ferrari 458 behavior following the 2012 updates and the introduction of larger front tyres, focusing both on mechanical components and aerodynamics.

The team’s main goal is to be back on top at GT Open at the Nurburgring on May 27 after its difficult first round of the championship in Portimao.

Luiz Razia who was leading the Drivers’ Standings after Round 1 in Sepang could not maintain his position at the top but continued to score precious points at each race and stays close to Valsecchi. Esteban Gutiérrez who has also secured valuable points at each event lies third in the standings. The mighty Mexican will be aiming for his first win of the season this weekend. But he will not be the only one and with a grid full of young and eager talent, it will once again boil down to who will be able to adapt the quickest to the Spanish track and who will be able to find the best strategy. Another key element this weekend will be the management of the two different Pirelli compounds, with the Prime tyres being Hard and the Option tyres being Soft. Pirelli’s racing manager Mario Isola commented: “It’s going to be a busy weekend for us in Barcelona, as we have Formula One™, GP2 and GP3 racing together for the first time this year.

However, this is also a great opportunity for everybody to see how the three championships complement each other, and this was very much the philosophy that we had when designing the tyres for each series, as part of a ladder of talent that can take drivers all the way up to Formula One™. The characteristics of the tyres in GP3 are intended to prepare drivers for what they will face in GP2, while the tyres and the regulations in GP2 have some aspects in common with Formula One™. The winner of GP2 race one in Barcelona last year was Charles Pic, who is competing in Formula One™ this year, so that is a good example of the theory working in practice. Barcelona is certainly one of the most demanding tracks of the year that the drivers will face when it comes to managing their tyres, due to the high levels of wear and degradation that we can expect. Both in GP2 and GP3, an intelligent approach to the race will pay dividends.”

The race

Laguna Seca has hosted a round of the American Le Mans Series annually since the championship was founded in 1999. Only Sebring, Mosport and Road Atlanta share a similarly great tradition. The race duration is six hours.

The circuit

The trademark of this 3.601 kilometre circuit is the legendary corkscrew corner which winds steeply downhill from the highest point of the track. A truly daunting corner. The Laguna Seca Raceway is situated near Monterey, two hours’ drive south of San Francisco. John Steinbeck immortalised this coastal city with his world renowned 1945 novel “Cannery Row”.

The Porsche drivers

Porsche factory racers Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Long, who won in Laguna Seca in 2005, 2009 and 2010, contest the fiercely-competitive GT class with the new Porsche 911 GT3 RSR fielded by Flying Lizard Motorsports. Sharing driving duties in the second Flying Lizard Motorsports vehicle are Porsche works driver Marco Holzer (Germany) and the American owner of the squad Seth Neiman. Crewing the Falken Tire 911 is Porsche factory pilot Wolf Henzler (Germany) with Bryan Sellers (USA). Sascha Maassen (Germany) and Bryce Miller (USA) team up in the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR of Paul Miller Racing.

The Porsche 911 GT3 RSR

As the top model of Porsche Motorsport’s customer racing vehicles, the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR headed into the 2012 racing season with extensive modifications. Particularly noticeable is the widening of the body by 48 millimetres. The aero kit is supplemented by a new intake air ducting.

Porsche successes

As the most successful manufacturer at the American Le Mans Series races in Laguna Seca, Porsche has secured seven GT victories since 1999. Three of those wins alone went to Joerg Bergmeister and Patrick Long. They won in 2005, 2009 and 2010 with the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR and secured the championship titles in each of these years. The Porsche RS Spyder celebrated its race debut in 2005 at Laguna Seca with a victory in the LMP2 class. The sports prototype, developed and built in Weissach, yielded further class wins on this circuit near Monterey in 2006 and 2007.

The 4.655km circuit outside Barcelona is a medium downforce, middle of the road track for engines. Nevertheless there are some careful preparations specifically required for the RS27 V8 for the Spanish Grand Prix.

Spanish Grand Prix facts and figures
The 1km pit straight, where the cars reach over 300kph and maximum rev limit, gives a possibility for a double KERS release as the KERS energy counter resets, which should increase overtaking possibilities. There are several good opportunities for the KERS to be recharged over the course of one lap, including turns 1, 4 and 10.

Wind direction can often change at Barcelona due to its proximity to the sea and mountains. This can make gear ratio selection difficult down the long straight, particularly as there are a couple of bumps down the pit straight, which can cause the engine to hit the limiter.
The track follows the contours of the hills, and therefore undulates over the course of the lap. The up-and-down nature of the track and the length of the corners mean the cars will be subject to high lateral forces. To maximise acceleration without compromising on power, Renault Sport F1 engineers create engine maps that can be used with short gear shifts.

The second sector is more flowing than sector one, but it is nevertheless hard on the tyres due to the long corners and the fact that the drivers run onto the kerbs through this section. Different overrun settings can be used to stabilise the rear under braking, but this can increase fuel consumption.

The long turn 3 is a challenge for the drivers. In qualifying it can be taken almost flat, but in race trim the driver may short shift before the apex to make it easier to control the delivery of torque through the corner, thus preserving tyre life. With up to four stops expected in Barcelona, this could be a vital advantage in gaining track position.

The first race at Zandvoort, held on 05th May in the morning, was won by an experienced Formula 3 driver: Jimmy Eriksson. The Swede racing for the German Team Lotus made perfect use of his experience to just wait for the mistake of the previous leader. And indeed: on the final lap of the 30-minute race, the opportunity arose and Eriksson passed Austria’s Lucas Auer to secure the well-deserved 25 points for the race win. The second round – always a 20-minute sprint race – also was won by an experienced driver: Yannick Mettler secured the 10 points for the race win. The Swiss races for the British squad Performance Racing. And in race three, held on Sunday – just like round one a 25-point race – experience prevailed once again. This time, Kimiya Sato made it to the highest step on the podium.

Meanwhile, Lucas Auer demonstrated that the hunt for the additional points could be of particular importance, this year. Despite having failed to win on of the three races of the season opener, the nephew of Formula 1 legend Gerhard Berger is the first championship leader in the 2012 ATS Formula 3 Cup season. At the wheel of Dallara VW Power-Engine single seater entered by Team van Amersfoort Racing, the rookie secured two poles and set a fastest race lap, thus securing three times three extra points – resulting in a total of 39 points on his tally. Second in the championship – also without a race win under his belt – is Australia’s Mitchell Gilbert, with the winner of race one, Jimmy Eriksson, following another point behind in third position. With 34 points on his tally – six of them awarded for two fastest race laps – Kimiya Sato holds fourth position in the championship.

Due to the reverse-order format for the top-eight finishers of race one on the grid for race two, Jordi Weckx secured his maiden ATS Formula 3 Cup pole position. But at the start, the Belgian Trophy driver had to accept the superiority of the more powerful Cup vehicles. Just a few metres after the start, in the Tarzanbocht, he had dropped back to fifth position.

For the first time in the series’ history, an ATS Formula 3 Cup race was covered live by TV. On 05th May, German sports channel SPORT1
brought a 60minute live coverage of the race action at Zandvoort. And this Saturday, 12th May, SPORT1 will bring a round-up of the ATS
Formula 3 Cup action in its magazine programme beginning at 10:15hrs CEST (09:15hrs BST).

In the Formula BMW Talent Cup, the junior racing drivers – most of whom come from a karting background – are given a unique step-by-step introduction to the demands of professional motor racing. The first race simulation at the second on-track event of the year represented another milestone in their development, after the 16 drivers from 11 countries had previously completed a fitness week, extensive roll-out and several media training courses. The training programme is aimed at the main goal in September: the Grand Final. BMW will fund the winner of the three races in Oschersleben for a season in a higher-level racing series in 2013.

The first qualifying and race simulation in Sturup/Sweden gave the first indication of the strength in depth of the field in the 2012 Formula BMW Talent Cup. Just one second separated pole-sitter Callan O’Keefe and the tenth fastest driver in qualifying. Callan O’Keefe (ZA) went on to narrowly defeat Alfonso Celis (MX) and Louis Deletraz (CH) in the practice race.

Dirk Adorf, BMW works driver and head instructor
“The participants in the Formula BMW Talent Cup once again gained an enormous amount of experience at the on-track event in Sturup. This time the timetable included a simulation of a qualifying session and a race, as well as practice starts. Right across the board, the young drivers mastered the new influences and impressions with great ambition and a hunger to learn, and they picked up a lot over the course of the three days. I think it was an important step in their development as professional racing drivers.”

Callan O’Keeffe, first place in the qualifying and race simulations
“This weekend was very informative and a bit of a mixed bag for me. I ruined the tyres in the free practice and was unable to clock any fast times after that. This meant I did not really know how I compared to the others. I was back in business once I got the fresh set of tyres for the qualifying simulation, however. The pole position, fastest lap and first place in the race simulation might make it look as though it was easy for me. That was definitely not the case, however. It was hard work. Especially at the beginning.”

Alfonso Celis, second place in the qualifying and race simulations
“Second place in the first race simulation is obviously a good result, but I would have liked to go one better. Unfortunately I made a lot of little mistakes at the start, which allowed Callan to pull away. However, that just makes me even more motivated to get my nose in front next time. I will work hard in the break before the next on-track in Valencia, and will put everything I learned this weekend into practice.”