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Patrick climbs up to 6th from the back of the field
Faster Than Speed - Spain Report

Category: Press-release

Patrick De Wit salvaged 6th place for Faster

"Patrick climbing through the field"

Than Speed with a great recovery drive in the World Championship's race at Catalunya, after a spin which left him at the rear of the field on lap 2.

Ralf Gauss, meanwhile, brought the car home for World Trophy points despite enduring a difficult race.

AutoGP World Championship

In yet another incredibly close Qualifying session, where 17 cars lapped in less than half a second, Patrick De Wit was not satisfied with the lap that left him 8th on the grid, despite being less than 3 tenths off the pace of poleman Malezic. The team's third driver, Giuseppe Marconi, replaced Agustin Canapino, who won Top Race V6's 'historic race' at La Plata last Sunday. The Italian qualified 21st.

While Patrick lost a few positions in the first lap, both drivers had clean starts. It suddenly went all wrong for Patrick on lap 2, however, as he locked his brakes and spun while trying to overtake Nilsson, dropping him to 19th place. With plenty of work ahead, Patrick inmeadiately started trying to recover the lost ground, passing Giuseppe, Dominguez and Euler before being the first man to pit on lap 15.

Both his pitstops were perfectly timed, as he gained several places through his strategy. At the end of the first round of stops, though, Patrick had a big scare, as Nilsson didn't see him as he went out of the pits and pushed Patrick onto the grass. He pulled off a great save to stay in control of his FTS-P10. In his very long last stint, Patrick managed the tyres as much as possible and benefited from the retirement of Hahnel and Poniatowski to finish in 6th place. While a better result was expected and deserved, it was an impressive climb through

"Patrick spins on lap 2"

the field considering he was down in 21st position after his first stop.

Team-mate Giuseppe, meanwhile, did a good job on his low-key race, which he finished in 18th place.

Patrick De Wit (6th): "What can I say, pace looked great before the race, but when Qualifying started I couldn't match my form and was only 8th. Anyway, was being very careful in the race start when I got hit from behind and had some damage. Then I tried to gain places, but lost my rear and touched Nilsson, I apologize. Anyway, he got his payback pushing me onto the grass later, hehe. After my spin on lap 2 I was almost dead last and scoring points wasn't in my mind at that point, but my pitstops were perfect and I leapfrogged many drivers, plus I was lucky that some people had failures, so 6th in the end after all that happened, I'm still happy!"

Giuseppe Marconi (18th): "Thanks Christian. It was fun, even if I was off my own and World Championship's pace."

World Series

Unable to allocate for the race on time due to technical issues, Giuseppe Marconi was not allowed to post a time in Pre-Qualifying, only leaving him with the chance of starting at the back of the Grid 2 race. The race start wasn't any better, as he had to pit for a new front wing and bodywork repairs after colliding with a car that spun ahead of him. Giuseppe tried to make progress. However, stuck behind another car for many laps, the engine couldn't handle the ammount of slipstream and decided to let go with 6 laps remaining.

World Trophy

Ralf Gauss and Heinz Vanderhoydonck set the 11th and 23rd fastest times in the Pre-Qualifying session, the former securing a Grid 1 spot. Heinz started

"Nilsson fails to see Patrick as he exits the pits and pushes him onto the grass"

the Grid 2 race from 10th place, while Ralf was 20th on the Grid 1 Qualifying session.

Ralf endured a difficult start, as he made contact with the barriers in a first lap mistake and had to pit for a new front wing. From 25th place, Ralf had a mountain to climb, but brought the car home to score points in a solid drive to 15th position.

Team-mate Heinz was having a very good race in Grid 2, where he climbed up to 4th, before a heavy colission with Johnston ended with any hopes of a strong result. As the team needed a pitstop of almost a minute and a half to get Heinz back in the race, the engine overheated and left him out of the race the following lap.

Faster Than Speed will be now looking forward to this evenings's Monaco GP, the always glamourous event around the tight streets of Monte Carlo. In the Principality, Patrick De Wit took his first FTS podium in 2007 while the team was the winner of all WS Advanced Monaco races, with Florian Pechon and Jorge Maenen victorious in 2008 and 2009 respectively. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter for the lastest news from Monaco, and stay tuned for the race's Live Broadcasts here!

Faster Than Speed
Press Release
http://www.fts-racing.net

Article by: Christian Smirnoff, 2010-05-02 05:52:54

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