Monza: Javier Villa race one report

Javier Villa today at Monza had his best ever result in the Saturday GP2 Feature Race after finishing sixth following another brilliant drive through the field despite undergoing a difficult time in an incident-filled event. This position gains him a further three points in the Championship table and additionally it will allow him to start tomorrow from the second row of grid for the Sprint Race that will close the weekend for the GP2 series on the Italian circuit.

The race began with a great start for Javi that saw him arrive at the end of straight in ninth after starting off from 17th. However the multiple incident that took place at the entrance to the chicane harmed the Spaniard, who lost practically all the positions that had won in the first few meters.

Javi took advantage of the resulting Safety Car period by taking his mandatory pitstop as soon as the pits opened, returning to the track in the middle of a group of cars and he began to push to the maximum to start gaining positions. A new Safety Car period was, however, detrimental for Javi, when he was blocked after Tung braked hard two drivers took advantage of the situation to gain position.

Javi did not stop his attack and continued gaining places and avoiding the numerous incidents that were taking place, which allowed him to continue climbing the ladder until he gained a magnificent sixth at the finish. This gives him a very good starting position for tomorrow morning's race where he will start from the third spot.

For Sunday's race Javier hopes to be able to fight for the top positions although his car today was not at its best on the long Monza straights due to a slightly tired engine. Today's drive under difficult conditions was an example of Javier's maturity and the reason why that tomorrow he can be one of the leading runners and be on the podium once again.

Javier Villa's own words: "It has been a very hard race, with many mishaps. I started well but had to take avoiding action at the chicane and lost almost all the places I had gained. After changing tyres I began to push and when the second Safety Car was out Tung braked hard in front of me allowing two drivers to take advantage by pitting without loosing position. When the race restarted again I continued pushing although today I did not have the best car, I was loosing out on top speed. For the morning I think that I can be faster than both drivers who are ahead of me although there are several drivers behind who are going to be strong but I hope I can hold onto my position."

-credit: www.javiervilla.com