Barwa Addax's Rosenzweig in the top ten on Sprint Race in Monaco

Jake Rosenzweig, has produced his best result at the legendary circuit of Monaco in the GP2 Series, since joining up with Barwa Addax Team. He fought back from way back on the starting grid to end up in the top ten in the second sprint race. Rio Haryanto, who started last but one, also climbed through the field to finish in the middle of the pack at the end of the race.

Jake Rosenzweig

Photo by: XPB Images

With the qualifying session divided in two groups it meant 23rd position overall for the first race. He got off to a fast start and was able to avoid a big accident on the first lap of the race and only had minor damage on the front wing which the mechanics of Barwa Addax Team were able to solve for the restart.

He made a good pit stop on lap 8. Thanks to good strategy and the good rhythm he was setting he managed to get into a points scoring position but serious problems with tyres made him lose pace and he started to drop down the field.

He was forced to make a pit stop to change tyres which meant he lost all the ground he had made up throughout the race. He later found out the problem was none other than a really unlucky puncture in the front left tyre.

A really bad bit of luck for Jake as if it hadn’t been for the puncture he would have probably ended up in the points and with a good start position for the second race. Nevertheless, he had improved 9 positions to finish 14th from where he would begin the second race.

Rosenzweig made a good start but was unable to make up ground because the two drivers in front had made a jump start and were subsequently sanctioned. From the start he was able to fight back, which included some great battles, to finish in the top ten fighting off challenges from veteran, experienced drivers such as Palmer.

It was a shame that he couldn’t get in amongst the points even though he was making constant progress throughout the weekend.

Rio Haryanto, also made up a lot of ground, but the sanction he received for the collision on the last lap in Barcelona turned out to be a heavy burden on the Indonesian driver. In free practice he managed to finish the session in 9th. In qualification he wasn’t able to find his rhythm at any moment and finished in a mid-table position.

Unfortunately the sanction of ten positions left him at the back of the grid, in last but one, on probably the worst circuit for overtaking. On this track, given the characteristics of the layout, this penalty is worth double. He started in among the back markers. He was able to avoid the multiple pile up on the first lap of the first race.

After the race was restarted, behind the safety car, he managed to consolidate his position and even fought back to finish 17th overall, improving 8 places on his start position. In the second, shorter sprint race he was in the middle of the main peloton of drivers and, given the circumstances, he was only able to climb one place in the end, even though he had produced personal best laps when he had space in front. Without the penalty, Rio would have definitely got in amongst the points.

Silverstone is the next event on the calendar in this GP2 series. The British Formula 1 Grand Prix weekend will take place from 29th-30th of June. Barwa Addax Team will be there hoping that both their drivers can keep maintaining their progress this season.

Barwa Addax