Two Crashes Halt Scuderia Coloni In Bahrain

The second race of the Sakhir weekend of the GP2 Asia Series was short and disappointing for Scuderia Coloni. While the expectations were very good, mainly because of Alvaro Parente starting from the third spot on the grid, the outcome was very different.

William Bratt Credit: Scuderia Coloni

The Portuguese driver, fully conscious of the great occasion he had, made a great start, immediately going side by side with Sergio Perez. The two raced wheel by wheel for a bit but the, on the straight leading to Turn 4, they had a contact; it was a normal race incident, but the result was a damaged car for Parente. Alvaro tried still to drive it, but in the next corner he lost control and was in the wall. Also Bratt, starting from eight row, did a wonderful start, and at the end of the lap I had already recovered four position, passing 12th on the line. Unhappily, immediately after e competitor bumped into him from behind, and his race ended there.

Anyway, the team leaves Bahrain with a positive feeling, reassured by the great speed showed throughout the weekend, a fact which confirmed that the latest decisions, including the engagement of some new people for the technical staff, were right. The good laptimes and all the data gathered are a good preparation for the next series race, again in Bahrain, and also good practice for the Main Series. Regarding the GP2 major championship, the team will define his complete line-up in the next weeks.

Paolo Coloni: "Looking just at the result of this race, we can't be happy, but considering the weekend as a whole, and keeping in mind that for us this Asia Series season is mainly a training for the Main Series, well we have lots of reasons to be positive. We wanted to see how the integration of some new guys in the technical staff could change our performances, and we are very satisfied about that. We wanted to try a new driver, and Alvaro was great because he had the chance to know the team only on Friday, and from then on he improved steadily. The crash robbed him a great result, probably a win looking at his start. Also Bratt did a really good start, he made up four places in a lap, and without people crashing into him, he really could have been in the top 8".

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