Barwa Addax team fail to shine in Spa

There is very little one can say about this weekend in favour of Barwa Addax Team at the Belgian circuit of Spa Francorchamps in this season’s GP2 Series. The results were poor for both official drivers, Jake Rosenzweig and Rio Haryanto.

Jake Rosenzweig, Barwa Addax Team

Photo by: GP2 Media Service

Jake Rosenzweig, made an early start to the Free Practice in an attempt to set a good time because the weather forecast predicted the strong possibility of rain for the second half of the session. As it turned out the Free Practice stayed dry and most of the field were able to improve on his time.

The qualification was competed for in mainly dry but slightly changeable conditions. Jake was unable to find the right moment to get the right tyre feel, with so many cars out on track causing congestion. Starting from the back of the field Rosenzweig made a very good start but was blocked by rival Palmer who defending his position throughout the lap meant that both would drop various positions.

Nevertheless, he managed to get into a good race rhythm and improved his position finishing in 17th place. In the second sprint race, Jake was following the midfield group of drivers when he had a spin at one of the faster bends on the circuit. He lost pace and rhythm with the other drivers due to the fact that he had picked up a lot of dirt on his tyres.

Rio Haryanto did not have a much better time of it. He was affected by the inaccurate weather forecast in Free Practice. He improved considerably on his times in qualification. However, in the first race he had a collision with another driver, which meant he had to make a pit stop to change the front cone on his car and which ruined whatever chances he might have had to get a good result.

He made a very good start to the second race with the idea of climbing through the field but unfortunately he was hit from behind which left him with a puncture. He had to box to change the damaged tyre and at the same time the team decided to put on two used tyres that were in better condition than the ones he was using. He had no time to make up ground in such a short race that is so dependent on tyre wear. Bad luck had repeated itself with the unfortunate incidents in both races.

On reflection and with such circumstances, Barwa Addax Team is aware that the team has not achieved the results they were hoping for in Belgium and the team has now set its sights on the next two races at the Autódromo de Monza, which will take place between the 7th and 8th of September. Jake Rosenzweig is hoping he will have fortunate on his side and will be able to show his true potential and in the case of Rio Haryanto, that his quality and experience help him on what is a special and difficult circuit.

Barwa Addax Team