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Friday, 25 May 2012 07:47 |
 GP3 Series report and result from Monte Carlo - After securing pole yesterday, Lotus GP’s Finnish ace Aaro Vainio went one step better by winning the prestigious Monaco race, the first in the history of the GP3 Series.
It was a debut career win in the Series for the Lotus GP driver to make a perfect start to the weekend.
With so much anticipation before the race, 26 eager drivers got their first wheel to wheel action around the famous street circuit as the race got underway in hot and sunny conditions.
Vainio made the start and defended P1 but it was Atech CRS GP’s Tamas Pal Kiss who got the better of Ocean Racing Technology’s Kevin Ceccon and snuck into P2 before the first corner.
Conor Daly who had started from P8 on the grid was deemed to have made a jump start and later suffered a drive through penalty.
However, after initially moving away at the start, he was unable to getaway and yellow flags were waved as miraculously all the drivers behind the American managed to avoid his Lotus GP car.
After the first lap, the Finn had already built up a 1'170s advantage over Pal Kiss and maintained his pace. With Monaco notorious as a circuit extremely hard to overtake, there were battles throughout the field, which were very intense.
David Fumanelli got the jump over his MW Arden team mate Mitch Evans at the start to go P4 and then had to hold off a very determined New Zealander for the remainder of the race.
There was also a titanic tussle for P6 between Daniel Abt and Antonio Felix Da Costa (Carlin), with the Portuguese star crawling all over the back of the Lotus GP star in an attempt to find a place to out-manouerve the German.
Ethan Ringel made contact with the barrier at the exit of Sainte Devote, which brought an abrupt end to his race, his Atech CRS GP was cleared under yellow flags.
Meanwhile at the front of the pack, Vainio edged out his lead over his Hungarian rival and was over three seconds ahead.
Marlon Stockinger (Status Grand Prix) and Tio Ellinas (Marussia Manor Racing) got into a dogfight that was too last until the chequered flag for P8, as did Alex Brundle who was defending the last points position in the top ten from Alice Powell (Status Grand Prix) and his Carlin team mate William Buller who started 15th after an imposed grid penalty from Round 1 in Barcelona.
Pal Kiss continued to try and claw back the advantage Vainio had built up and the duo pulled out a near 8 second margin over Ceccon in P3. The Finn was not going to surrender his lead and produced a lights to flag victory in Monaco to charge to the top of the Drivers Standings.
Pal Kiss took P2 and Ceccon produced his best result of his GP3 career with a rostrum finish. Fumanelli maintained P4 to beat his team-mate Evans home, ahead of Abt, Felix Da Costa, Stockinger, Ellinas and Brundle.
Vainio now has an 18 point lead over Evans in the Standings with Daly third. Reverse pole for Race 2 goes to Marlon Stockinger and the race will take place on Saturday at 17h55 CET.
David Fumanelli
“I really enjoyed free practice, because I’d been looking forward to learning the circuit. I took it easy at first, but began to push harder as the session went on. In Monaco of all places, it is vital to complete as many laps as possible to prepare for the race ahead. The car felt well balanced during qualifying and I was very happy with my lap time, just 0.2s away from pole. I could have been faster, too, had I not made a small mistake in the second sector. Even so, fifth place put me in good shape. I got away well, but the car didn’t feel quite as good as it had before. I managed to pass Mitch on the opening lap, though, and then had to keep an eye on my mirrors for the rest of the race because he was rarely far behind. The top three pulled a couple of seconds on me during the first few laps and I was unable to claw that back, so I just tried to maintain a good rhythm and look after the car. I have another decent grid position tomorrow, so I hope to make a flying start and convert that into my first GP3 podium.”
Mitch Evans
“Fifth place isn’t too bad, but it’s a little frustrating given how quick the car has been so far. As always, though, it’s a matter of being able to put together a clean lap at the right time and that simply hasn’t happened. The car felt competitive from the start and I think that was clear during free practice, when I was seven tenths clear of the rest. I was in the first of the split qualifying sessions, though, and improving track conditions meant the second was always likely to be faster, so pole was always going to be a long shot. I ended up second in the group, which put me fourth on the grid, but although I made a good start I was only able to hold that position until David dived past during the opening lap. The race settled down after that. I always felt I was potentially quicker than some of the cars ahead, but David drove a strong, error free race and there was simply no way though. I’m fourth on the grid again tomorrow so a podium finish is clearly achievable, but you can’t take anything for granted, particularly at a circuit like this, where the margin for error is so small.”
Matias Laine
“I was happy with the car after free practice and knew exactly what changes to make for qualifying. Unfortunately, I then slid off the road at Rascasse on my first flying lap. I braked in exactly the same place as before, but guess the track was a bit more slippery than I’d anticipated. After starting at the back, I knew I’d spend most of the race looking at other drivers’ gearboxes, but my pace was good on the rare occasions I was able to show it. Tomorrow’s race will also be difficult, but I’m hoping for some rain, that might make passing a bit easier.”
2012 GP3 Monaco - Race 1 results:
| Pos. |
Driver |
Team |
| 1. |
Aaro Vainio |
Lotus GP |
| 2. |
Tamas Pal Kiss |
Atech CRS GP |
| 3. |
Kevin Ceccon |
Ocean Racing Technology |
| 4. |
David Fumanelli |
MW Arden |
| 5. |
Mitch Evans |
MW Arden |
| 6. |
Daniel Abt |
Lotus GP |
| 7. |
Antonio Felix Da Costa |
Carlin |
| 8. |
Marlon Stockinger |
Status Grand Prix |
| 9. |
Tio Ellinas Marussia |
Manor Racing |
| 10. |
Alex Brundle |
Carlin |
| 11. |
Alice Powell |
Status Grand Prix |
| 12. |
William Buller |
Carlin |
| 13. |
Kotaro Sakurai |
Status Grand Prix |
| 14. |
Robert Visoiu |
Jenzer Motorsport |
| 15. |
Fabiano Machado |
Marussia Manor Racing |
| 16. |
Dmitry Suranovich |
Marussia Manor Racing |
| 17. |
John Wartique |
Atech CRS GP |
| 18. |
Robert Cregan |
Ocean Racing Technology |
| 19. |
Vicky Piria |
Trident Racing |
| 20. |
Antonio Spavone |
Trident Racing |
| 21. |
Matias Laine |
MW Arden |
| 22. |
Jakub Klasterka |
Jenzer Motorsport |
| 23. |
Conor Daly |
Lotus GP |
| NC. |
Patric Niederhauser |
Jenzer Motorsport |
| NC. |
Ethan Ringel |
Atech CRS GP |
| NC. |
Carmen Jorda |
Ocean Racing Technology |
F1SA.com
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