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Spa: Status GP race 2 report

STATUS GP TRIO HAVE DIFFICULT DAY IN SPA RAIN All three Status GP drivers finished outside of the points in Sunday's second race at Spa-Francorchamps after a collision and wet weather prevented a repeat of yesterday's victory. Again, ...

Published: Aug 30, 2010, 11:55 AM

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STATUS GP TRIO HAVE DIFFICULT DAY IN SPA RAIN

All three Status GP drivers finished outside of the points in Sunday's second race at Spa-Francorchamps after a collision and wet weather prevented a repeat of yesterday's victory. Again, the race started in dry conditions, but Robert Wickens' championship chances we struck a blow on the first lap. From eighth position on the reverse grid, the Canadian made a good start to leap up to sixth. But as he passed Pedro Nunes for fifth on the outside at Turn 5, the ART driver accidentally tapped Wickens' rear wheel and spun him around.

Wickens recovered to continue in 20th position, and when it started to rain on lap four he rolled the dice and was the first to pit for wet weather tyres before the majority of the field, but a rear-wheel nut stuck and Wickens lost time. As the rain fell more heavily, the majority of the field pitted a lap later, but the Toronto native was still down in 20th. From there, he circulated consistently faster than anyone else and climbed up to 11th by the finish, but it was not enough to score points. Wickens now goes to the season finale at Monza 18 points behind leader Esteban Gutierrez, but with 20 points available the title fight is not yet over.

Marussia Motors development driver Ivan Lukashevich equalled his best result of the season with Status GP with a solid 13th place finish as he again showed his ability in wet conditions. Having started 21st, the 19-year- old pitted for wet weather tyres on lap five with the main pack and gained several places. He then showed good speed as he battled Michael Christensen, setting competitive times all the way to the chequered flag.

However, Daniel Morad's race was adversely affected by Wickens' pitstop problem. Starting from 24th position, the GMH Motorsport-backed driver also took the gamble of making the early pitstop as soon as the rain began. However, as he arrived in the pitlane after Wickens, he lost time as Wickens' delayed tyre change was completed. Emerging in 22nd position, he fought hard for the rest of the race to finish 16th.

The Drivers' View

Robert Wickens (CAN): (Result: 11th. Championship position: 2nd, 57pts).
"The Turn 5 incident ruined my race really, but the pitstop problem cost us the opportunity of salvaging some points. But the team did a great job this weekend and we've taken the championship to the final round."

Ivan Lukashevich (RUS): (Result: 13th. Championship position: 32nd, 0pts).
"The teamwork and strategy was good today, and pitting when we did elevated me up the order. From there I had good speed compared to the cars around me in the wet conditions, and this is a reasonable result."

Daniel Morad (LIB): (Result: 16th. Championship position: 11th, 15pts).
"I was hoping for the race to have the kind of variable produced by that the early rain. It was the perfect call to come in when we did, but unfortunately Robert's problem prevented us from capitalising fully."

-source: status gp

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