Race 1A very disappointing day for Racing Engineering as Norman Nato and Jordan King have their races ruined by other competitors.It was another cloudy but hot day at Germany’s Hockenheim circuit with air and track temperatures of 27° and 43° respectively for today’s 38 lap Feature Race. Following yesterday’s qualifying Racing Engineering’s drivers, Norman Nato and Jordan King, had finished in 7th and 9th positions but, following a post-session penalty to Giovinazzi, they moved up to 6th and 8th. Norman would be starting the race on the Pirelli P Zero White medium compound tyres and then switch to the Yellow soft compound tyres at his mandatory pitstop however Jordan was using the reverse strategy, starting on soft tyres and pitting early to switch to mediums.
Norman had a great getaway passing Gasly and Rowland but he lost the place back to Rowland, who was on the softer tyre, and he had to back off a little to avoid contact and Lynn took advantage to push the Racing Engineering driver down to 5th. At the end of lap one Norman was 0.5 seconds behind Lynn and 0.4 ahead of Latifi and he began to battle with the Canadian but he was passed by the DAMS car on lap six who used his DRS to move ahead. A short Virtual Safety Car period saw Norman pass Sirotkin on the restart to regain 4th place and by lap eleven he was 0.4 seconds behind Latifi and he quickly closed the gap and was soon looking for a way to pass but Sirotkin was right behind him and the three cars were running very closely together. On lap fourteen Norman was able to use his DRS to pass Latifi and he was now up to 3rd but on the following lap Sirotkin, in turn, used his DRS to demote the Racing Engineering car back to 4th.
On lap twenty Norman was preserving his tyres and he had let Sirotkin, who was on fresh tyres, go and he was now leading Gasly by four seconds and on lap twenty-one he pitted for his soft tyres resuming the race in 14th position. By lap 25 Norman was 9th as more cars pitted and two laps later he passed Lynn to take 6th and the young Frenchman was now trying to pass Giovinazzi but the following lap he spun as he was hit from behind by Lynn (for which the Briton would later be penalised) and as he spun the car stalled and Norman had to retire.
Jordan gained a place at the start by passing Gasly and he started the second lap 0.2 behind Latifi and 0.5 ahead of Markelov and he now began a close battle with the two cars until lap six when Markelov completely misjudged his braking and hit Jordan in the rear pushing the Racing Engineering car sideways and costing the young British driver several places. Jordan stopped to change to medium tyres on lap 8 and, after his collision with Markelov, he was down to 18th place with a lot of work to do to move up into the points.
By lap fifteen Jordan was up to 14th as the cars began to make their pitstops but he was 6.7 seconds behind Rowland who was lying 13th, however he was soon catching the MP Motorsport driver and on lap nineteen, the halfway point, he was just 2.4 seconds away. Sadly, just as it looked as if Jordan was going to finish well, he was hit on the right rear tyre by the front wing of Ghiotto which caused a puncture and Jordan had to pit for a new tyre but he was now down to 18th and last with just twelve laps to the finish and he was unable to finish any higher than 16th.
It was almost too hard to believe that both Norman and Jordan were involved in three separate collisions that were caused by other drivers which totally ruined their day’s racing.
Alan Queille, Race Engineer:"A very disappointing race as we had both drivers in fights for big points today, but contact with other cars destroyed both their races. Norman had a very good start moving up into P3, but dropped to fifth during the opening lap. When he pitted from P3, all went well until when he was back on track Lynn hit him sending him into a spin, which put an end to his race. Jordan made up a position at the start as well and his strategy to start on option tyres worked well. But Markelov misjudging his breaking point and sending Jordan into a spin which put us at the back of the field. From there, thanks to his good pace, he was heading for a good top 5 finish which was within reach, but contact with Ghiotto resulted in a puncture and Jordan was forced to pit again and finish in a disappointing 16th position."
Norman Nato:"My start was good and I was in third after the first corner. I then fought with Rowland, maybe a bit too much as when I tried to overtake him, I went to the outside and picked up some marbles on my tyres and lost grip in the last part of the circuit. I then pushed as much as possible until the pitstop. I had a good out lap and Lynn exited the pit lane in front of me, so I started to push to get back positions on cars on the different strategy. I was preparing my overtaking on Giovinazzi when Lynn hit the back of my car and sent me into a spin, I stalled so my race was over there.”
Jordan King:"Staying on the positives, I think our race pace was good. We showed good pace at the start of the prime stint while still managing tyres and we also had a good pace at the end on option tyres. It’s just disappointing to get knocked off and make the race really difficult for us. We know we’ve got the pace for tomorrow so let’s see what we can do, the weather might also play a part.”
Race 2Another disappointing race for Racing Engineering at Hockenheim as Norman Nato’s race is again ruined by another competitor.For the third day in a row it was cloudy at Germany’s Hockenheim circuit but it was noticeably cooler than it had been for the last two days with air and track temperatures of 22° and 29° respectively for today’s 27 lap Sprint Race. Yesterday’s Feature Race saw Racing Engineering’s drivers, Norman Nato and Jordan King, have very disappointing results when, following both men being hit by other competitors, Norman retired and Jordan finished 16th. However, a post-race penalty to Gasly meant that Jordan would start from the eighth row in 15th with Norman on the row behind in 17th. Both men would be starting on the Pirelli P Zero White medium compound tyres as there would be no mandatory pitstop in the race but the cooler track temperatures would help reduce the stress on the tyres.
Norman made a great start moving up to 13th place but, as the cars started lap two, he made contact with Jeffri in Turn 1 damaging his front wing and losing a place to Gasly. Despite the damage to his car Norman was racing hard and he repassed Gasly to regain 13th place on lap three and he was now just 0.4 seconds behind Jeffri. On lap seven Norman tried to pass the Malaysian driver but the Arden car didn’t leave any gap and both cars spun off the track. Norman was able to continue in last position but he had to return slowly to the pits with damage to his nose, Jeffri retired and was immediately given a penalty by the Stewards for driving another car off the track.
Norman was able to continue racing after some repairs in the Racing Engineering pit but he was now a lap down and all hopes of scoring a good result were now over. The young Frenchman continued to lap quickly but he was too far behind to gain any further places and he had to settle for a very disappointing 18th place.
Jordan gained one place at the start as he passed Latifi but he ran wide at Turn 1, he was able to regain the track but on lap two he lost two places to Gasly and Evans to lie 16th. Following Norman’s incident, a Virtual Safety Car period came into effect and as racing resumed Jordan, now in 14th place, was only 0.4 seconds behind Evans and on lap eleven he passed the Campos Racing car for 13th and his next target was Gasly. The retirement of Giovinazzi, which resulted in another Virtual Safety Car period, promoted the young Briton to 12th and he was now chasing Matsushita who had been passed by Gasly.
On lap twenty the Racing Engineering car passed Kirchhofer to take 11th and once again he was behind Matsushita and closing in on the Japanese driver and two laps later he was up to 10th. Jordan’s next target was Eriksson who was 0.8 seconds ahead but he was being chased by Markelov who had pitted and changed to fresher tyres and although he passed the Swedish driver on lap twenty-four he was passed by the Russian Time driver to remain 10th. With his tyres now at the end of their life Jordan was unable to gain any more positions and he lost a place on the final lap to cross the finishing line in 11th.
This has been one of the worse weekends Racing Engineering has had in their long GP2 history with Norman having both of his races ruined by other drivers and Jordan also suffering from contact with other cars which left him with too much to do in today’s race so neither driver added to their points tally this weekend. There will now be a one month’s break before the GP2 teams race again at the Spa Francorchamps circuit in Belgium.
Alan Queille, Race Engineer:"It’s a real shame that Norman’s race was once more compromised by another driver hitting our car, especially as he was so happy with the handling of his car today. After starting from 17th, he was in a promising position to take a good amount of points home today, but instead he was sent into a spin and had to pit for new tyres and front wing. After that, Norman found himself at the end of the field without any chances left. As for Jordan, he recovered positions after starting from 15th and overtook several competitors on track. In the end it wasn’t enough and we had to settle for 11th. It was a tough weekend for us where the pace was good enough to fight at the front, but incidents with other drivers left us without the chance to show this. The entire team has worked very hard this weekend and it’s a shame this wasn’t rewarded with points, but we will make good use of the summer break and come back as strong as normal in Spa."
Norman Nato:"My start was OK. I was 13th at the end of lap 1. I was behind Jeffri and tried to overtake, but backed off a bit to not stress the tyres too much when I saw Jeffri was driving at the limit. At the same point I saw he started to struggle with tyres and lost pace. I decided to pass in turn 8 and already prepared this move exiting turn 6. But Jeffri pushed me off the track so I went over the kerbs to avoid a collision and we both spun. It’s positive that the pace was good as well as the general handling of the car. We improved our car from yesterday and it’s a shame that because of yesterday I started so far back and thus had to fight with Jeffri. Performance-wise it was a good weekend, but if others hit us, there is nothing we can do.”
Jordan King:"It was a solid race, the pace was quite good. We managed to make some places, but then didn’t quite have enough pace to come into the points. There are some positives to take away from this weekend but also a few things we can work on for Spa.”
