Photo by: GP2 Media Service
The ninth and final round of the 2011 GP2 Main Series kicked-off today at Monza. It will be a special weekend for Trident Racing and the Italian squad will be looking forward to meet the support of their fans and supporters on the friendly soil.
At the end of today's qualifying session, Trident Racing ended up in 16th place with Rodolfo Gonzalez and in 24th place with rookie driver Stéphane Richelmi. The young, Monaco-based racer turned his first laps on a GP2 cars this morning, in an attempt to get in touch with a new situation for him.
Richelmi was entered this weekend to replace Stefano Coletti, who suffered from a double vertebral fracture in an hard crash at Spa-Francorchamps. The first race of the weekend, set to run on a 30-lap distance, will be starting tomorrow at 15:30, while the closing, 21-lap sprint stint will take-off at 10:30 on Sunday.
Rodolfo Gonzalez, 16th (1’33”129)
"I believe we had a top-10 potential today because I managed to glue with the car's configuration since the very early stages. With the first set of new tires I immediately logged a great lap, but in the second half of the session we've been hit by yellow flags and by the heavy traffic we faced on-track. I think that the track itself grew slower because just a few drivers managed to improve in the end. It's not impossible to pass at Monza so I expect that with no big breaks against us I'll be able to get up to a points spot."
Stéphane Richelmi, 24th (1’34”150)
“Today has been my first day in GP2. I haven't been so lucky in practice because due to a gearbox issue I couldn't turn more than 6 laps. In qualifying I needed ot find my reference points, get used to the car and discover how the Pirellis worked, as it was the first time for we with these tires. I didn't make mistakes, and so far I'm fairly impressed by the car's downforce and braking capabilities. My goal for tomorrow is to keep avoiding mistakes and getting to the finish with as much kilometers as possible under my belt."
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