A1GP
Portimao: Vitantonio Liuzzi Sunday notes
Vitantonio Liuzzi shows great pace on race day Race 1 4th place Race 2 DNF Vitantonio Liuzzi ended his first race in the A1 Grand Prix by scoring a points finish at Portimao. The Force India Formula 1 driver had to face bad luck today, after ...
Published: Jun 19, 2009, 7:50 PM
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Vitantonio Liuzzi shows great pace on race day
Race 1 4th place
Race 2 DNF
Vitantonio Liuzzi ended his first race in the A1 Grand Prix by scoring a points finish at Portimao. The Force India Formula 1 driver had to face bad luck today, after handing Italy the maiden pole position in the series in yesterday's qualifications. In the shorter Sprint Race, Vitantonio kept second place for much part of the time, but eventually lost two spots due to a slow pitstop and ended up in 4th as a red flag cut the race to an 11-lap length. In the longer Feature Race, Liuzzi started to recover early, clinching 7th place after just a handful of corners and progressively tracking down the leaders thanks to a great race pace. After a quick pit-stop, he moved up to third place, finally eyeing a well-deserved podium finish.
Unfortunately, a contact with the Team America car put his race to an end. With three weeks to go before the penultimate race of the season at Brands Hatch, the goal for Liuzzi and Team Italy is to capitalize the positive experience made in Portugal to bring the Italian franchise among the series' top teams stable.
Vitantonio Liuzzi Team Italy
"We experienced some oversteer issues in the first race, plus we have not been fast during the first round of pit-stops, so we lost a couple of spots and ended up in 4th. In the Feature event, I started a good recovery early, moving up the order and climbing up to 3rd place. Unfortunately, Andretti ran wide in an attempt to pass me using the power boost and, coming back on-track, shut the door while I already was on the inside, forcing me to retire.
"We showed a good pace on Race 2 though, and we could have definitely had a shot to the top. We were really motivated to show how we could run up front, the car was running well and we had a quick stop. The ending has been really unfortunate. We'll be coming to Brands Hatch with a lot of experience, and we hope to be even more competitive than here at Portimao.
"I have to say the A1 Grand Prix is quite a good challenge. There are a lot of talented drivers, including former Grand Prix racers, making the difference in some really spectacular races."
-credit: vl
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