Race Report

2011 Formula 1 Grand Prix of Europe
GP3 SERIES

Circuit: Valencia (E), Length 5,419 km, 25^th/26^th June 2011, Rounds 5 & 6
www.valenciastreetcircuit.com

JENZER MOTORSPORT 2011:
Nico Müller (CH), Maxim Zimin (RUS) and Vittorio Ghirelli (I)

Ghirelli in the top ten

The GP3 Series met up once again on the fast and demanding street circuit of Valencia where it was one of the support races for the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Europe, the cars racing around the Juan Carlos I Marina in their third event supporting the 2011 Grand Prix Programme.

{vsig}vsig/gp311_valencia{/vsig}

Race One Qualifying

Saturday, 25/06/11, 12.25 – 12.55, Weather: Sunny, 26°C

The qualifying session was held in the midday heat and all 30 drivers seemed to be treating the Armco barriers and walls which frame the fast city circuit with a great deal of respect; certainly there were surprisingly few incidents. Even so, none of our drivers managed to qualify in the top ten on this very difficult circuit.

GP3 Series

Race One (30 Minutes)

Saturday, 25/06/11, 17.20, Weather: Sunny, 28°C

From the point of view of our drivers, the story of the first race of the weekend was brief if eventful. As the race started there was a five-car collision, which involved Maxim. That ended his race immediately. The Safety Car was then deployed and took the field over until all debris had been cleared away. At the restart Nunes saw a gap where none existed and cannoned straight into Nico’s car, tipping Nico into a spin which ended with him parked at the side of the track, his race also at a premature end. Nunes was awarded a penalty, though this didn’t help the situation any. Vittorio was lucky to avoid all the accidents and was able to improve his position lap after lap. In the closing stages he was just outside the top ten, and finally finished a good race in a respectable 13^th position.

The grid for the second race of the weekend was set by reversing the order of the first eight finishers in the first race, with the rest of the places set according to finishing order in the first race.

GP3 Series

Race Two (30 Minutes)

Sunday, 26/06/11, 09.25, Weather: Sunny, 24°C

Vittorio made a good get away and was up to 11th by the end of the first lap. He spent much of the first part of the race battling it out in a tightly packed group before managing to pass Yelloly. That moved him to 10^th, hot on the heels of yesterday’s winner Quaife-Hobbs. Vittorio stayed close behind him, and was able to defend his place in the top ten all the way to the finishing line without any major problems. Smith was given a time penalty after the race and that was enough to put him behind Vittorio, who was thus promoted to an excellent 9^th on the final result sheet. Nico also got a good start and managed to avoid the numerous incidents that occurred during the race. He made up places lap after lap and crossed the finish line in 14^th today. Without the yesterday’s accident, which was not of his own making, it seems likely that his results would have been much better. Maxim started right at the back and was also making steady progress. He was up to 17^th when he was involved in a last lap accident, leaving him stuck track-side with a damaged car; he was finally classified 21^st.

Championship standings after 6 out of 16 races:

1^st Mitch Evans (NZ), 26 points; 2^nd Nigel Melker (NED), 22 points; 3^rd Andrea Caldarelli (I), 20 points; 4^th Alexander Sims (GB), 16 points; 5^th James Calado (GB), 16 points; 6^th Valtteri Bottas (FIN), 12 points; 16th Nico Müller (CH), 4 points

2011 GP3 Series

For more information:

• www.gp3series.com
• www.italiaracing.net