Razia dominates season opener for Arden
The 2012 GP2 Series season could hardly have started more sweetly for Arden International, with Luiz Razia taking the lead at the start and controlling the race thereafter. The race was shortened by a lap after Jolyon Palmer (iSport) and Tom Dillmann (Rapax) stalled on the grid, causing the scheduled start to be aborted, Pole position qualifier Davide Valsecchi (DAMS) then made a slow getaway, which dropped him to fourth, and Razia built a comfortable lead while the Italian was fighting his way through to second. The Brazilian made his mandatory tyre stop on lap 14 and rejoined with the other leading cars still a long way in his slipstream. Despite a sprinkling of rain during the closing laps, he maintained a consistent pace to beat Valsecchi by 7.8 seconds.
Team-mate Simon Trummer had a lively start to his first GP2 Series campaign. The Swiss was hit on the opening lap at Turn Four and later collided with Rodolfo Gonzalez (Caterham Racing) en route to 21st.
Luiz Razia comments:
“I made a very good start and was able to open a sizeable lead during the first six laps. I tried to maintain a consistent pace, to extend tyre life, and radioed in to make a pit stop just before half-distance, as soon as I sensed that the tyres were starting to go off a little. We just fitted fresh rears, which was the correct call, and after that I ran at a slightly reduced pace to keep my tyres fresh at the end, just in case.
“Davide was very quick in the middle of the race, but less so towards the end and I was able to finish without any pressure. It was still very difficult, though, trying to adopt a sensible pace and monitoring what tyre strategies our rivals adopted. It has been a good day and I am now focusing on tomorrow. I hope to make another good start and will see how things progress. It will be tough making a single set of tyres last, so astute judgment will again be critical.”
Simon Trummer comments:
“I got away well and had passed several cars by the time I reached Turn Four, but somebody then hit me from behind. That caused damage to the rear of the car and upset the balance, so I made an early tyre stop and we changed all four wheels. My pace was quite good after that. I’m happy to have finished, but less so about the incident at the start. I hope to do better tomorrow.”
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