In the GP2 Series Qualifications at Monza, Trident Racing ended up scoring the 20th position with Kohei Hirate, and the 22nd with Argentinean Ricardo Risatti. The session was very intense, and marred by the heavy traffic preventing drivers from exploiting their set of new tires in the final stages. The hopes of the team and drivers are now focused on tomorrow`s Race 1: thanks to the many passing opportunities offered by the Italian racetrack, together with the mandatory round of pit-stops, the 32-lap long race 1 starting at 16:00 will be full of promises.
Kohei Hirate – 20th (1:31.851, 15 laps)
“I was really expecting a top-10 position today, but our final result was far from positive. During the whole session I had a good impression from the car, it seemed very balanced, but when I finally took a look at the laptimes I had a bad surprise. All it takes now is to analyze data, and try to explain what failed to work properly”.
Ricardo Risatti – 22nd (1:31.971, 16 laps)
“In the first practice I had some troubles while breaking, but the team successfully managed to sort it all out before Qualifying. The car`s handling was absolutely normal; the bad starting position is due to the fact that I couldn`t put together my best splits. The races will be super-tough, but since the track here at Monza gives plenty of space to pass, I hope I`ll be able to fight back and earn a good spot for Sunday”.
Alessandro Alunni Bravi (Team Principal)
“I`m obviously disappointed to see our cars so down the order. The final Qualifying results didn`t reflect our expectation and, in my opinion, our true potential. Risatti did a good job, and with a little improvement in the 2nd sector he could have probably clinched a better grid position. On the other hand, Kohei Hirate couldn`t do better than the 20th, leaving a bad taste in the team`s mouth”.
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