FIA F2

Spa: Racing Engineering race 1 report

Wicked feature race for Racing Engineering in Spa Racing Engineering had a very tough day at Spa Francorchamps. In a race filled with incidents and uncertainty about the weather conditions, both Racing Engineering drivers were all but lucky. While ...

Published: Aug 29, 2010, 4:27 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Wicked feature race for Racing Engineering in Spa

Racing Engineering had a very tough day at Spa Francorchamps. In a race filled with incidents and uncertainty about the weather conditions, both Racing Engineering drivers were all but lucky. While Christian finished the race in an unrewarding 11th position, teammate Dani Clos' race finished at turn one, when the young Spaniard was the victim of Grosjean's collision with Bird, who then slid into Dani's path. Complaining about pain in his back, the Spaniard was taken to the hospital for further check ups.

After the rain had fallen on Spa during the night and all morning, it gave competitors a break for the afternoon. With a modest air temperature of 16C, GP2's feature race at the Belgian track started on slicks.

At the start, Christian Vietoris had a very good getaway, but ran out of space approaching turn one and had to lift off the accelerator to avoid an impact with Grosjean, who collided with Sam Bird at turn one. Dani Clos, on the other hand, was not as lucky. Having a great start and making up positions quickly, the young Spaniard found a struggling Bird in front of him. With no time to react, no space to escape, Dani crashed into the back of Bird's car and was only a passenger when his Racing Engineering car became airborne. After heavy impact with the asphalt, Dani complained about pain in his back and was taken to the hospital for further revision. A compression of the vertebrae was diagnosed and the Racing Engineering driver will not be able to start in Sunday's sprint race.

The race continued with D'Ambrosio in the lead while Christian, running in ninth, came in for an early pit stop at the end of lap 6. The German passed van der Garde in the pits, but the Dutchman recuperated his position shortly after. When most of the drivers finished their pit stops, Christian ran in the middle of a group of cars in 14th position. The Racing Engineering driver gained three more positions to finish eleventh.

For tomorrow's sprint race, Christian Vietoris will start from eleventh position on the grid. The race start is scheduled for 10:35 CET.

Christian Vietoris: "This was a race with ups and downs. I had a good start but ran out of space, had to lift and lost momentum. Additionally there was an impact between Grosjean and Bird next to me, which I had to avoid. So overall I lost one position. We came into the pits early for the tyre change and were quicker than van der Garde. But then I was stuck in traffic and could never really push. Strange race. Tomorrow I start from eleventh, which is a difficult position but we will try to make the best out of it."

Andrew Ferguson, Chief Engineer of Racing Engineering: "Dani had quite a good start, making up several positions. But at the exit of turn 1, he came across a slower car which unfortunately, he could not get around anymore. The contact made had him airborne, causing a heavy impact upon return to the track, resulting in pain to his lower back. We hope he gets well quickly."

Alfonso de Orleans-Borbon, President of Racing Engineering: "Race results don't really count when you know one of our drivers is in hospital. We all hope Dani has a quick recovery. On a positive note, he will return to racing with us soon."

-source: racing-engineering.com

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Spa: Scuderia Coloni race 1 report

Next article Spa: Arden race 1 report

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Spire, Chris Gabehart reject Joe Gibbs Racing premise on deleted texts

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Charlotte II

4 h

Spire, Chris Gabehart reject Joe Gibbs Racing premise on deleted texts

Ricky Stenhouse explains his side of Michael McDowell conflict

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Charlotte II

8 h

Ricky Stenhouse explains his side of Michael McDowell conflict

Barnes: Why IndyCar’s updated licensing system fails its own integrity test

IndyCar

Indy IndyCar 9 h

Barnes: Why IndyCar’s updated licensing system fails its own integrity test

Why NASCAR is not penalizing Stenhouse, McDowell for post-race theatrics

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Charlotte II

10 h

Why NASCAR is not penalizing Stenhouse, McDowell for post-race theatrics

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts