HRT Race Report

10th of April 2011 - Sepang International Circuit

A positive weekend in Malaysia Kuala Lumpur

Vitantonio Liuzzi, Hispania Racing Team, HRT

Photo by: xpb.cc

Hispania Racing comes away from the Malaysian Grand Prix with a positive attitude after having completed 82% of the race with one of its cars. The race took part in extremely hot conditions, with an average track temperature of 31ºC and 80% humidity. Narain Karthikeyan was able to complete 14 laps but was forced to abandon to prevent damageto the motor. Vitantonio Liuzzi drove a consistent race and was very close to reaching thecheckered flag but a a damage on the wing meant the Italian had to retire with 10 laps togo to the finish. Now the team must evaluate the data received from this race and put itinto use for the Chinese Grand Prix next week in Shanghai. A race that Hispania Racingtakes on full of motivation after having got both cars out on the track in Malaysia.

Colin Kolles, Hispania Racing Team Principal:

“We stopped both cars just to be safe. Narain’s car had very high water temperatures so we advised him to stop. Tonio was close to the finish the race and felt an unstable rear. We pitted the car twice to check the problem and found out that there was a damage on the rear wing so we decided to stop just for safety reasons. Overall it wasn’t a bad day considering this was our first proper race and our first chance to test the car in a race situation. There were no major issues so we need to try and improve for the next race in China where we hope to finish. Our lap times were not bad compared to the front runners, this shows there is some light at the end of the tunnel.”

Narain Karthikeyan, Driver #22:

Narain Karthikeyan, Hispania Racing Team, HRT

Photo by: xpb.cc

“I would have definitely liked to have finished the race and done more miles but this was not the case. There were some problems with the water temperatures so we had to abandon in order to not damage the engine. The car balance was not the best but we have some information from Tonio because he almost completed the race. It’s a shame because I was just settling in when I was forced to abandon but anyways, now I’m focused on China where I will be looking to finish the race.”

Vitantonio Liuzzi, Driver #23:

“It’s a shame we didn’t finish by 8 laps because our target was to reach the checkered flag. We had a small issue with the rear wing and were forced to stop. It’s a shame because we had a really good start where I was able to pass a few cars. It was an interesting first lap but then our pace wasn’t too competitive and those cars were able to overtake me. After that, it was a really complicated race because the car was struggling with the rear end, it was drifting a lot during the three stints we did. We have to work a lot on the balance and the set up for the future. We knew we weren’t exactly where we wanted to be but today it was important to achieve mileage and get some information on the car. So now we have some data to work with for the future.”

Weather: Cloudy with a dry track. 28ºC air, 31ºC track
Race: 56 laps
Track distance: 5.543km

Narain Karthikeyan F111-03 #22 lap 14 DNF

Vitantonio Liuzzi F111-02 #23 lap 46 DNF

Source: HRT