Alexander Sims Abu Dhabi test summary
BRITISH RACING DRIVER ALEXANDER SIMS COMPLETES SUCCESSFUL TWO DAY GP2 SERIES TEST British racing driver Alexander Sims completed two days of testing with the ART Grand Prix and Racing Engineering GP2 Series teams last weekend. Having contested the ...
BRITISH RACING DRIVER ALEXANDER SIMS COMPLETES SUCCESSFUL TWO DAY GP2 SERIES TEST
British racing driver Alexander Sims completed two days of testing with the ART Grand Prix and Racing Engineering GP2 Series teams last weekend. Having contested the F3 Euroseries Championship in 2010, this was Alexander's first experience of the GP2 Series.
Alexander spent the first day of testing at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi with the three times GP2 Series Championship winning team - ART Grand Prix. In the morning session he completed 29 laps of the Formula One circuit with a personal best of 1:49.605 which put him 22nd in the standings. In the afternoon session he completed 27 laps and improved on his morning's lap times with a personal best of 1:48.889 which put him 20th.
"I found that I was able to adapt to the car's braking ability very quickly but what took longer to assess was understanding how to carry the braking into the corner and how it affected the balance. It was quickly apparent that you can't drive a GP2 Series car in the slower corners in the same way as you can in an F3 car; simply because the weight of the car is so much more. Balancing the braking and steering to prepare the car for the exit is certainly one of the biggest challenges. With all the power in the GP2 Series cars, the traction is difficult so the entry has to set the car up to be able to cope in the traction zones;" commented Alexander Sims.
"Alexander succeeded in adapting to the car very well. We were delighted that he did his first ever GP2 Series test day with ART. He is an intelligent driver and we are confident that he will be able to progress quickly;" commented Frederic Vasseur, ART Grand Prix team manager.
On the second day, Alexander was with the 2008 GP2 Series Drivers Championship winning team - Racing Engineering. Armed with the experience of Saturday, he took to the track for the morning session and completed 28 laps with a personal best of 1:48.793. This lap was almost a second quicker than day one and put him 14th in the standings. In the afternoon session he completed 27
laps and was able to shave a further second off his lap time with a personal best of 1:47.744 which saw him finish the two day test in 8th position.
"Alexander has made an incredible job with so little experience in a GP2 Series car. I think he will be one of the great talents in the GP2 Series, since he worked so well with the engineers and the entire team. It was a pleasure to work with him and we enjoyed watching his improvements during the day;" commented Alfonso de Orleans-Borbon, president of Racing Engineering.
"It was a great experience to be testing for two successful teams who both have a history of winning Championships in the GP2 Series. On the first day, which I spent with ART Grand Prix, it took me a little bit of time to understand how to get the time from the car which was reflected in my lap times, but I was pleased to improve from session to session. On the second day, which I spent with Racing Engineering, I was able to use the experience from day one to make big improvements on my lap times and was very happy to finish the day with the eight quickest lap time;" commented Alexander Sims.
"As one of the few rookies at the test, and with a number of seasoned GP2 Series drivers with a lot of experience between them also testing, I was happy with the progress I made throughout the two days;" continued Alexander Sims.
"I wish to thank both the ART Grand Prix and Racing Engineering teams for all their hard work over the past two days and also my management team at Gravity Sport Management for making this opportunity possible;" commented Alexander Sims.
-source: alexandersims.com
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