The weekend in Monaco is one of the longest, busiest and toughest in the whole season, but getting a good start is definitely a turn-on. In the GP2 Series practice session held this morning at Monte Carlo, Pastor Maldonado proved to be among the best by setting several fast laps and cruising to the top spot in the closing stages.
The Venezuelan`s great performance is an initial pay-off from all the hard work done by Trident Racing, but the team will now have to keep its focus for tomorrow`s qualifying. In the meantime, Kohei Hirate took 10. place, concentrating on Saturday`s single race instead of chasing a one-lap pure performance.
Pastor Maldonado 1. (1:23.320)
“Today`s one was a good weekend start. I immediately found a good feeling with tboth car and track, and the rest came as a consequence: I like street races, so I think I can put something more by myself. Now we`re going to work on several smaller details, making a a general optimization: I`m quite confident on my chances to stay on top. Finally we had an untroubled day, and we were able to get all the scheduled work done in time. After the issues suffered at Barcelona and Al Sakhir, this is a breath of fresh air for me and all the crew members”.
Kohei Hirate 10. (1:24.986)
“In today`s practice I absolutely avoided all kinds of risks: I think it would be useless in a practice session. I feel I have a huge room for improvement, also thanks to a well-balanced car. I believe I`ll be able to improve my position tomorrow, as a good qualification is vital to try reaching a podium finish on a track were passes are almost impossible”.
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