What they said after the race
The first ever Auto GP race on US soil in Sonoma saw Pål Varhaug lead the whole race to clinch a well deserved win, ahead of Daniel de Jong and Sergey Sirotkin.
Becoming the winner of the first Auto GP race in the United States you made history today: how does it feel?
“It feels great. Ultimately we’re all here to win, but doing that in special occasions like this first race on US soil makes it even more special. It remembers me of when I won the first ever GP3 race, setting milestones that will make people remember you is always good”.
The key point of your race was the restart, when you posted a sequence of very quick laps but after that the gap to de Jong remained quite stable. Where you in control or he was just as quick as you?
“Well after the restart I really pushed hard for a couple of laps and this allowed me to build a gap. My goal was to get to a really safe margin so I tried to push even more, but I got really on the limit and made a mistake that costed me quite a lot of time. I realized that maybe I was risking a bit too much and that trying to control the race was the best thing to do, and so I eased my pace a bit, maintaining the gap”.
Tomorrow you will need just one point to be second in the championship, how important getting that second place is to you?
“Finishing as high as possible always matters, but frankly I’m not really thinking too much about the championship standings. We have a very good pace so tomorrow we must aim for a podium finish, even starting from P8: that will be my objective, and if we make it we will also be second in the overall classification”.
Daniel de Jong
After Curitiba it’s the second podium in a row for you, a result that is in line with the times you posted in the Friday Practices.
“Yes, I was third in both the Free Practice sessions so we were expecting to be quick also in Qualifying. Anyway, things didn’t go as planned and we only got 6th place, which was a bit disappointing. Maybe today we were a bit lucky because of the guys crashing ahead, but apart from that today we were again on the pace, we even posted the fastest lap of the race”.
A really good pit-stop made you climb to P2. After that did you think that catching Varhaug was really a possibility?
“The team did an amazing job at the pit-stop and that got me from third to second place. After that obviously I thought about catching Varhaug, but I soon realized that even if we were quick it wasn’t enough to catch him. Anyway P2 is a great result, and we have the pace to get a podium finish in Race 2 also”.
Sergey Sirotkin
The key moment of your race was the start: avoiding the crash between Pizzonia and Quaife-Hobbs costed you a lot of time and possibly the win, tell us how it was from the cockpit.
“I had a good start and I was following Quaife-Hobbs uphill when I saw that Pizzonia was coming a bit too quick from behind. I left him some room on the inside because otherwise we would have crashed, but despite that he lost the car and went through the grass, hitting Adrian. The inertia of the crash brought them on the outside, exactly where I had gone to avoid issues. I had to slow down a lot to go around them and the debris, and it’s a pity because I could have gone for the win”.
You were close enough to de Jong to try and catch him but you also had to keep an eye on Campana in the mirrors, tell us how did it feel.
“With the team we decided to start on mediums and at the pit stop we opted for changing the front tyres, in order to have more grip at the front. It worked at the beginning but then, as the race progressed and the rear tyres faded, I started having too much oversteer, under braking and also coming out of the corners. That’s why I lost Daniel a bit and Campana managed to get closer”.
source: Auto GP, autogp.org
SIROTKIN TAKES STUNNING VICTORY IN AUTO GP FINAL
Sergey Sirotkin drove a fantastic race at Sonoma to claim victory in the final Auto GP race of the 2012 season. The Russian who is supported by the Lukoil Drivers Development Programme started from 6th on the grid and was up to 4th place by the end of the first lap. The safety car was deployed for one lap and at the re-start Sirotkin monstered Serenelli with an aggressive move that put him into 3rd place. At the end of lap 4, when the pit lane opened, Sirotkin immediately pulled in for new rubber; just behind second placed Campana. Crucially the Euronova team got Sirotkin out of the pits ahead of Campana, and when Quiafe-Hobbs pitted a lap later the Russian had enough heat in his tyres to the 2012 Champion behind him. Sirotkin maintained a steady 2 second gap over the Englishman until with 5 laps to go he was able to start pulling away lap by lap. When the chequered flag fell Sirotkin had a comfortable 3.2 second gap over his rivals.
Kotaro Sakurai, driving the number 14 Euronova car, started the race from the front row but disaster struck as the lights changed and the Japanese driver was left on the line, his car enveloped in white smoke.
The Sonoma round sees the conclusion to the Auto GP Championship but Euronova’s season continues next week at Monza when the team will race in the European Formula Abarth finale.
source: euronova-racing.com