Sepang, Race 2: Good Recovery For Onidi And Scuderia Coloni
Fabio Onidi was the best placed Scuderia Coloni driver in Race 2 of the Sepang GP2 meeting: the Italian driver ended the race in P12, while Stefano Coletti had to retire while fighting for a point finish due to a damaged front wing.
Onidi’s race was a very consistent one: after yesterday’s bad luck, Fabio was starting from P19 but he immediately made up one place when the starting lights went out, and then boasted a very clever performance, choosing to look after his tyres in the first half of the race. This allowed him a more aggressive stance in the second half, when he was among the quickest drivers on track: from P17 he chased and passed Gonzalez, Leal, Trummer and Melker one by one, clinching a 13th place that was the best he could do starting from row 10. After the race a penalty was handed to Ericsson for causing a crash and Fabio was hence promoted to P12, an even more rewarding result for his effort.
Coletti’s race was less lucky but still eventful: the driver from Monaco had a great start from P4, keeping his position and the immediately attacking Nasr for third. He tried an overtaking move at turn 8, but he went too wide as a consequence, letting some rivals through and rejoining in sixth place. From then on he started chasing Leimer for P5, but like yesterday the race didn’t provide much chance for an overtake. Further into the race everybody had to nurse the tyres a bit and the group got tight packed, with Coletti closely followed by Razia, Berthon and Chilton. This four drivers started a fight for the last point spots, and in one of the following corners Coletti’s front wing was damaged. Stefano headed to the pits but with just two laps to go and no chance to get points after a lengthy nose change, the team opted for the retirement of car #14.
Paolo Coloni: “I’m really sorry for what happened to Stefano because a points finish was in his reach. Anyway we are happy with the performance of the car, Coletti’s best lap was a 1’51”2 which is definitely a good time. What we aren’t happy with is the tyre wear we had. It appeared earlier than expected and was too quick, so we need to investigate the reason to arrive in Bahrain in the best possible shape. On the other hand I’m happy for Fabio who couldn’t drive a better race starting so far behind. He was focused, clever in managing the tyres, and in the second half of the race he also boasted some good overtaking moves, showing that his potential is very high. I’m sure that in Bahrain he will get some very good results too”.
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