Ocean Racing Technology disputed the two races at Silverstone by showing a rhythm equivalent to that of the best teams in the GP2 Séries, however the Portuguese team’s efforts did not pay off and they leave Great Britain empty handed.
A poor result in qualifying for both drivers is the reason behind the lack of success for their drivers. Fabio Leimer moved up four places in Sunday’s race and his 13th place finish reflects the difficulty in overtaking when running in a very tight group where the drivers’ race paces are very similar.
The Swiss driver explains that in the GP2 Series, even the tiniest difference in qualifying can compromise the entire race weekend. "Once again qualifying compromised the whole weekend. But we have to insist on the fact that our experience is getting better day in day out. We clearly have some work to do but it’s getting better. In Hockenheim the ideal will be to be in a good position after qualifying and we know it is within our reach," Fabio Leimer said.
Max Chilton was confronted with the same difficulties, especially early in the weekend where driving conditions and car set up in qualifying are sometimes very different from those found in the race.
After a difficult first round, the British driver found a better rhythm in the second race and Max feels that his car had the potential to enter the top ten but is aware that a bad place on the starting grid complicated the task at hand, making it almost impossible to fight for points.
"My race pace was not that competitive on Saturday but the car was far more efficient the day after. My problem was that most of the time I was stuck in traffic. But the balance is better and we are closer to the front runners’ pace. There is a lot of work but also a lot of progress," assured Max Chilton.
The GP2 Series continues to be an extremely tight championship where both rookies of the Ocean Racing Technology team continue to prove their high quality in the mid pack.
The next round of the GP2 Series will take place on the Hockenheim circuit in Germany on the 24th and 25th of July.