Formula V8 3.5
Light: Matteo Pellegrino Estoril race notes
After the free practice session on Thursday and Friday, few would have bet on Matteo Pellegrino: the driver's car had too many problems that had slowed him down. Problems which were, for the most part, fixed during the qualifying session on ...
Published: Sep 30, 2004, 2:39 PM
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After the free practice session on Thursday and Friday, few would have bet on Matteo Pellegrino: the driver's car had too many problems that had slowed him down.
Problems which were, for the most part, fixed during the qualifying session on Saturday. This allowed Matteo, who also took advantage of Abadie's disqualification, to conquer the victory in race 2. Abadie's was guilty of throwing Pavlovic off track mid race.By putting aside all of the problems that were pestering him, Matteo was able to lower his times during the qualifications and was only one tenth behind the pole position in race 2.
He even set the third best time in race 1 with a bent suspension bar.
But let's proceed in order: regardless of a good start in race 1, Matteo was overtaken by Lahaye. During the first stage of the race, Lahaye, who was a few tenths ahead of Pellegrino, spun at a corner (it may have been a mistake committed by the driver or because he went on the dirt) and smashed into Matteo. His back right wheel smashed into Matteo's rear left side. The violent impact which was inevitable but accidental, caused Matteo's car to rise and fall heavily on the ground and thus damaged the car's nose and rear suspension.
Matteo made a pit stop to replace the nose and the mechanics straightened his suspension bar. Even with a damaged car, Pellegrino set the third best time when he went back on track.
But the terrible vibration coming from the front part of the car made, Matteo decide to wisely retire from the race. It was too dangerous for him to continue.
In race 2, Pellegrino conquered a well deserved win by also taking advantage of Abadie's disqualification.
Matteo Pellegrino
"I'm celebrating my second victory of the season and I'm very happy. I was second on the podium but I knew that Abadie wouldn't be able to keep the victory because of his unsportsmanlike behaviour towards my team-mate Pavlovic.
In race 2, I started off well and was in 3rd place but then I started to battle it out with Abadie. My single seater which had a full tank of petrol was running better. We even had a slight contact that was harmless to the both of us. After the fifth lap, I started having a understeering problem and couldn't try to overtake him.
At that point I preferred to keep my position and to guarantee my place on the podium.After getting the second position; I realized that in reality I had won. Abadie's disqualification is justified seeing that he didn't behave in a sportsmanlike fashion. After starting off on the wrong foot on Thursday and Friday, I never thought that I'd be celebrating this victory. This just proves that the hard work pays off, that you should let your spirits down and to fight till the end."
-gpgroup-
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