Racing Engineering with both drivers in top four

Racing Engineering had a successful qualifying session today in Silverstone in preparation for tomorrow's feature race. German driver Christian Vietoris had a very strong performance all day and qualified with the third fastest time, whilst Spaniard Dani Clos set the fourth fastest time of the session. However, with the 10 place grid penalty Christian was handed down after the Valencia sprint race, the German rookie will start from 12th position, whilst his team mate Dani Clos, will start from third.

Dani Clos Credit: Racing Engineering

Racing at Silverstone, the heart of British motorsport, is always something special for drivers and teams. The new configuration of the now 5.901km track, was adding an extra challenge for the GP2 field with its newly added Arena section, which includes two hard breaking points. Warm temperatures welcomed the GP2 field for this season's fifth round of the 2010 GP2 Series.

Free practice brought stable results for both Racing Engineering drivers Christian and Dani, who finished in 5th and 6th position respectively. However, during the last moments of the session, Dani went a bit wide and had an encounter with one of the new curbs of the track. Higher than before, they damaged Dani's car and the Racing Engineering crew had to push very hard to have Dani's car back in shape for qualifying.

When the green lights marked the start of the qualifying session, the championship contenders quickly took the lead, with Perez setting the first reference time. The Racing Engineering drivers didn't wait long and, after their second flying lap, were in the top positions with Dani Clos in third and Christian Vietoris in sixth. But, after six laps, and just before coming into the pits for a tyre change, Dani set the fastest lap time and took over provisional pole. The Racing Engineering boys faced different fortunes during the second half of the session. There was a lot of traffic on the track, and Dani Clos wasn't able to improve his time. Christian Vietoris however, managed to find a clear spot with just four minutes to go, and set an impressive third fastest time, just two tenths off Bianchi's pole position. Dani finished qualifying in 4th position, while Christian finally got the result he deserved for some time, setting the third fastest time.

With the penalty from Valencia being applied to Christian, Valerio and Cecotto, the starting grid of Saturday's feature race sees Dani starting from the clean side of the track in third position and Christian in 12th position. Race start is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon at 15:40 CET.

Christian Vietoris: "Mission completed. So far, and given the circumstances, it has been a good start to the weekend. Free practice went very well and there was still some margin. In qualifying everything fell into place and we finally had a trouble-free run with no traffic. I set the third fastest time and although it's a pity I have the penalty from Valencia, I think starting from 12th is not bad. A lot is possible tomorrow and my goal is to finish in the points, which would allow me to start from the front in Sunday's sprint race."

Dani Clos: "Things went well today. On my first set of tyres it went really well and I was able to take the top spot. On the second set we couldn't improve the lap time and I finished the session in fourth. But we are very optimistic for tomorrow. We have done a good job today and have to now work even harder for tomorrow's race."

Alfonso de Orleans - Borbón, President of Racing Engineering: "Two drivers in the top 4 is fantastic and now the boys have to prepare for tomorrow. I think the drivers as well as the team have done a great job today. It's a pity about Christian's grid penalty, but both drivers can score points. Let's see what tomorrow's race brings."

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