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Neel
Jani starts from 5th position, or even 3rd!
 Confirming
the obvious from last week’s meeting in Monaco, Neel Jani obtained
a 5th position on the starting grid for the Saturday race at the
Nürburgring. However, the decision of the stewards concerning
several drivers who overtook under yellow flags is still pending
and might move Neel up into 3rd position.
The qualifying session at the Nürburgring meeting of the GP2
championship saw Racing Engineering’s Neel Jani occupying 3rd
position throughout the entire session until shortly before the
end where Kovalainen and Rosberg overtook the Swiss driver
bumping down him into 5th position. However, Neel might recuperate
his position on the second row of the starting grid when these two
drivers might get penalties for recording their fastest lap time
under yellow flags, something that is strickly prohibited under
the sporting rules. This will be confirmed tomorrow morning.
The most positive point for Racing Engineering’s drivers during
this session, was that the results were achieved even though
both of them suffered from misfiring engines. A problem that in
the case of Neel became so apparent that in order to avoid a
severe damage to the engine the Swiss racer decided to stop his
car before the end of the session on the track. The same
engine problems, but additionally a problem with the front antirollbar
in free practice, are the reason for which Borja Garcia, in
the other racing Engineering car, was not able to achieve the expected
qualifying result. Borja is currently in 18th position,
which due to the pending stewards’ decision might also improve.
Borja, who had the disadvantage of not being familiar
with the very demanding Nürburgring circuit, is nevertheless
very confident for Saturday’s race and keeping in mind how
many positions he already made up, he definitely is a driver to
watch out for.
In general Racing Engineering looks forward to tomorrow’s race
and hopes to, finally, celebrate its first podium.
After the qualifying session Neel Jani commented, “My first
lap was the fastest and I could even go on to improve the time in
the following lap but committed an error in the chicane, which didn’t
allow me to finish this faster lap. With the second set of
tyres I suffered from some understeer and I spun. As a conclusion
I am very satisfied. We marked some fast lap times,
although we had a problem with the engine, which in the end forced
me into retiring from the session in order to not break it”.
Borja Garcia announced, “During the free practice I just wanted
to learn the track and try out some variations to the set up, but
I
had problems with the anti-rollbar and couldn’t run as many
laps as I wanted. During the qualifying I felt much more familiar
with
the track and the car. When entering the pits I was in 11th position.
From that moment on everything went downhill. My
engine started to misfire and then the numerous yellow flags didn’t
allow me to improve my lap time. Let’s see what happens
tomorrow, but I am convinced that I will do much better in the race
than today”.
Alfonso de Orleans-Borbon, team principal, said, “Neel has
done an excellent job today and finally is were he deserves to
be. I am pretty sure that there will be penalisations and these
will bring Neel back into 3rd position. After being so close
several times, I really hope he makes it to the podium tomorrow.
However, lets hope the problems with the engine can be solved.
In regards to Borja, he was in 11th position when he entered the
pits for adjustments to his set up. It was a pity that when he
went back onto the track he not only suffered from a misfiring engine,
but also yellow flags that did not allow him to improve
during the remaining time left to the session”.
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