Race Report

Formula 1 Gran Premio de Espana 2013
GP3 SERIES

Circuit: Barcelona (E), Length 4.655 km, 11^th/12^th May 2013, Rounds 1 & 2
www.circuitcat.com

JENZER MOTORSPORT 2013:
Samin Gomez (VEN), Patric Niederhauser (CH) and Alex Fontana (CH)

Two podiums for Niederhauser in Barcelona

The GP3 Series teams met for the first event of the season as part of the Formula One programme at the Gran Premio de Espana 2013, held on the challenging Barcelona circuit in Spain. The sun shone throughout the weekend, and the pleasant conditions went a long way to making it very obvious just how close the competition is within the 27-strong field.

Race One Qualifying

Saturday, 11/05/13, 09.45 – 10.15, Weather: Cloudy, 16°C

Free practice on Friday evening took place under a threateningly black sky, but on a dry track. Our drivers made a really great start to the season, with Patric fastest after 45 minutes, Alex in 3^rd and Samin a very respectable 19^th. Unfortunately Alex was judged not to have slowed enough under yellow flags, and he was therefore handed a penalty of 10 grid positions for race one.
The track was equally dry for the first qualifying session of the new season. Patric and Alex managed fast laps, and were soon running in the top positions. Samin did her best as well, but unfortunately there were yellow flags in the closing minutes of the session, and therefore lap times could not be improved upon. Nevertheless Korjus’ pole time with the new car was a good 4.5 seconds faster than the best time from last year. Patric ended the session 3^rd, Alex was 4^th and Samin finished in 24^th. However the grid was subject to a number of changes when several drivers were handed penalties.

GP3 Series

Race One (30 Minutes)

Saturday, 11/05/13, 17.20, Weather: Sunny, 17°C

The first start of the new season went smoothly, the whole field making it through the first corner without incident. Ellinas made the best of his pole position, but Patric was in hot pursuit. However, Ellinas set a cracking pace, and Patric had no opportunity to launch an immediate attack. Patric was at least well clear of Daly, who was third. Alex lost out to Sainz Jr at the start, dropping to 14^th. Samin also fell back, but then managed to recover a number of places during the first lap, scrambling back up to 25^th. She made up further places during the course of the race and was able to avoid any accidents. She drove an error-free race and took the chequered flag in an excellent 16^th place. Alex managed to retake Sainz and was soon right on the gearbox of Visoiu, the pair of them looking to claim 8th. Korjus hung on though and would therefore start Race Two from pole position. Towards the end of the race Ellinas clearly found his tyres going off and that allowed Patric to rapidly close in on him. He attacked, but of course Ellinas defended fiercely and they ended up slowing each other down, and being caught by Daly who also wanted to join the battle. Patric was on the inside and next to Ellinas in the last corner but had to give way because the yellow flags were out. Ellinas managed to hang onto his victory all the way across the finish line but it was close. Patric was delighted to start the season with a podium, celebrating an excellent 2^nd place.

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, 12/05/13, 09.25, Weather: Cloudy, 16°C

The race on Sunday started punctually, and Vainio took the lead from Korjus and Yelloly, followed by Fumanelli, Ellinas, Daly and Patric like pearls on a string. Alex didn’t get away well and had fallen back to 15^th, while Samin had to avoid an accident and lost precious places as a result. She made up for it with a strong race, setting very fast lap times and managing several brave overtaking manoeuvres as she worked her way forward from 25^th to 15^th, in what was a great performance. Alex was tied up in a protracted battle with Zamparelli and Regalia, finally managing to overtake Zamparelli and Fong, and leaving Regalia behind. After a hard race in the midfield he crossed the finishing line in a good 11^th place. Yelloly fell back, and Patric managed to get past Daly for 5^th, which meant he was now close behind to Fumanelli and Ellinas. It didn’t him long to get past Fumanelli, and it was clear that he had a score to settle with Ellinas after Saturday. Patric took Ellinas by surprise, going through on the outside to claim 3^th. It was a great performance that put him on the podium for the second time this weekend. The season had really started well for him! We are already looking forward to the next race in Valencia in June.

Championship standings after 2 out of 16 races:

1^st Tio Ellinas (CYP), 39 points; 2^nd Patric Niederhauser (CH), 28 points; 3^rd Aaro Vainio (FIN), 25 points; 4^th Conor Daly (USA), 19 points; 5^th Kevin Korjus (EST), 18 points; 6^th Nick Yelloly (GB), 12 points; 6^th David Fumanelli (I), 12 points; 11^th Alex Fontana (CH), 1 point

2013 GP3 Series

For more information:

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