Super Nova Racing Nurburging Race 1 Report

The GP2 race today in Nurburgring looked to be a very promising one for Super Nova at the half way stage but unfortunately the race deteriorated from there and Adam finished in 16th, just ahead of Fairuz in 17th. Adam’s pace was good in the race and after the pit stops he was right in the mix for points positions, disaster then struck when Leimer hit him from behind whilst running in P10, forcing Adam to lock all four wheels and lose a huge amount of time in the process. With some serious flat spots on his tyres all Adam could do was nurse his car to the end of the race. Fairuz had a fantastic opening lap, gaining ten positions in the process, before the team opted for an early pit stop as it looked as if his pace was good enough to jump the drivers in front. Unfortunately the tyre wear was greater than expected and he struggled to resist pressure from cars that had stopped later and lost a few places towards the end.

Fairuz Fauzy

Photo by: GP2 Media Service

Fairuz Fauzy – P17

“Race one wasn’t bad, the car was consistent and I had a great start, up to p15 or p16 after the first lap, and the car was looking very strong. I got called in to pit, I think it was maybe a bit early. We went out and we thought that we were going to get clear air but I came out behind another car, I was trying to conserve my tyres over-taking but there was still 15 laps to go and the tyres started to wear away really quickly. I saw that other cars in front of me going to pit so i knew then that they would catch me up. Near the end I could see the rear tyres showing canvas and really run down so I had to drop the pressure, so at that point I was just trying to finish the race. We’ve shown that we’ve got potential but need better luck for qualifying so we can get a better position for race 1, it shows how important qualifying is. Now i’m focusing for race 2 tomorrow, lets hope I can have a good start again and finish in a good position.”

Adam Carroll – P16

“Well the positives are it was going well, we were running 10th and hanging in there with the guys in front, there was a bit of a battle starting to happen for p8 to be on pole for tomorrows reverse grid sprint race, so I was waiting for them to start to battle and see if they make a mistake. It was going well until all of a sudden I was hit (by Fabio Leimer) from behind and turned sharp right in 5th gear, I didn’t actually know he was there, I think he just mis-judged the run he had on me and literally just punted me in the back and spun me hard around, so we were lucky not to have a big shunt. My tyres were then completely flat spotted, but I still finished the race in 16th. It was good experience to do a full race distance and learn about the tyres more, hopefully we can improve tomorrow. ”

David Sears – Team Principal

“Adam Carroll looked set to finish in the top 10 in his first come back race in GP2 with us, but unfortunately while he was in 10th place he was tapped from behind causing him to spin off track, he recovered but with four badly flat spotted tyres. His pace was good up to the point he was taken off and will now unfortunately start further back then he should be. I’m sure by the next race he’ll be back to where he was when he left us in GP2 at the front. Fairuz Fauzy, we decided to pit early in the race to give him some fresh air to make some good lap times but as a result his tyres wore down early in the race and he ended up in 17th place. Hopefully we can over come these problems tomorrow when everyone starts on new tyres”