The Spa-Francorchamps weekend, the 8th round of the GP2 Main Series, did not favour the Ocean Racing Technology team.
Fabio Leimer, who was 12th in race one, and Max Chilton, eleventh in the second race, may have come close to the top ten and displayed the necessary pace to climb as high as the top six, but success was not on their side.
After having finished Saturday in a disappointing 17th place, Max Chilton had a brilliant second race which enabled him to fight his way up to 11th position despite the challenging track conditions brought about due to a downpour which soaked the circuit just a few hours before the start. The racing line was dry at the start of the race, however overtaking manoeuvres were even riskier than usual because it forced drivers to move onto the wet sections of the track. Therefore Max Chilton is satisfied with his end result.
"The second race was positive. The improvements we brought to the car this morning paid off and helped me gain several positions. I am satisfied because these adjustments opened up new perspectives for the coming races. We had several mishaps over the weekend, starting with qualifying which did not go our way, but our race pace was good."
Meanwhile, Fabio Leimer was one of the early victims in qualifying, which took place during a thunderstorm and made the handling of his GP2 single-seater extremely perilous. An off track excursion in the first stage did not allow the Swiss driver to complete many timed laps, however he showed a strong race pace to climb up into 12th position, avoiding all the traps around the circuit as well as the weather.
Ocean Racing Technology’s strategy was to complete a late pit stop after seeing how things evolved and Fabio gained four positions due to this strategy. He was up to P8 but a minor off track excursion dropped him back to twelfth. Then, on Sunday, Fabio slid on a damp patch of the circuit and his race was over after just two laps.
The next races in the GP2 Main Series will take place in Monza, Italy in a fortnight’s time, September 11th and 12th, alongside the Formula 1 Grand Prix. Ocean Racing Technology hopes to secure a good result in the penultimate round of the championship, the last round in Europe.