Belgian GP Minardi race notes

Marc Gene:
"The race outcome was more than favourable to me considering that this morning after the warm up I was really worried because I was not happy with my car’s behaviour. But when I started the race I realised that my car was feeling good on the wet. At the beginning I have been slowed down by Verstappen, who was in front of me. When we both went into the pits and I was behind him the mechanics did an extraordinary job and I managed to be back onto the track ahead of the Arrows. The first set of tyres was pretty good, I overtook Wurz and was in the wake of Salo and Zonta. The second set of tyres was less performing. I did a mistake in a turn, which probably caused an increase in the level of the temperature, forcing me to make a further unscheduled stop. Apart from that, I did not expect to be competitive today so I feel content with the race I drove. What’s more I am pleased especially with the job of my team that let me be at an advantage after the pit stop."

gaston Mazzacane:
"I am disappointed because my car was competitive today and I could have got a better result if the clutch potentiometer did not break on lap 27. This happened during my in-lap, before my second pit stop, so when tyres were being changed, I switched on the recovery strategy of the clutch control but the engine went off. The mechanics pushed my car so that I could start again but the gear selection was slow and with 6 laps left to the end of the race I could only use fifth and sixth gears. It is sad that these problems had prevented me from driving a good race."

Gian Carlo Minardi:
"We brought both our cars to the finishing line despite today’s problems. A clutch concern hampered Gastón’s car. As for Marc, we called him in one more time due to an increase of water temperature which required a check of the radiators and now the causes are to be investigated."

The Team will be testing from 29 to 31 August at Monza. Both Marc Gené and Gastón Mazzacane will be on duty during the three-day testing in preparation for the upcoming Italian Grand Prix.