An unfortunate first-lap colission involving several cars, ended hopes for both Faster Than Speed drivers from taking points away from the FSR World Championship race at Monte Carlo.
Giuseppe Marconi retired from the Monaco GP on the opening lap, while a long first-lap pitstop meant Zsolt Nagy had a very long recovery race ahead.
In the World Championship, Crown7NetRex's Zsolt Nagy and Giuseppe Marconi set the 16th and 19th fastest times in Q1 respectively. Due to the Hungarian asking the Race Direction to have his time removed due to a possible cut on his flying lap, Giuseppe and Zsolt started the race from 18th and 19th respectively.
After making it through Saint Devote in one piece at the start, disaster struck FTS at the Grand Hotel hairpin. Leppala, Cabo and Van der Linden braked hard into the hairpin, making minor contact with each other. Tali braked very hard behind to avoid crashing into Van der Linden, causing Zsolt to slam on his brakes. This left Giuseppe with no time to react as he ran into his team-mate's FTS-P13. Lapchin was also caught off guard and heavily collided with the back of Giuseppe's car. It was an unfortunate chain-colission involving several cars which left Giuseppe out of the race and caused Zsolt to require a long first-lap pitstop for repairs.
Starting lap 2 almost a lap down and 30 seconds behind the penultimate driver on track, Zsolt had a very long recovery race ahead. However, he drove a very strong race, showing fantastic race pace and setting the 2nd fastest lap of the GP. Despite his handicap, he managed to pass a few drivers, including a fantastic outside manouvre on Moises Rondon into the Nouvelle Chicane. While points were impossible after the opening lap mishap, it was a very good performance on his way to 13th at the finish.
Zsolt Nagy (13th): "I had a bad Qualifying, couldn't get a clean lap and I felt like I might have even cut so I asked the Race Director to remove my time. I hoped that starting from the back I could avoid a start crash, which I did, but then at the hairpin there was a huge pile-up, resulting in someone hitting the rear of my car which caused a lot of damage. I had to pit, rejoined almost a lap down. After that, I had quite a good pace, but I could only get a 13th place out of it. Looking at the race pace, the finish was rather disappointing, but I hope I'll have the chance to drive a few more races in WC this year and maybe score some points."
Giuseppe Marconi (DNF): "Race ended at Grand Hotel hairpin in the first lap, as I was involved in an incident with several other cars. Rear suspension was badly damaged and I had to retire."
In the World Series, Thomas Mundy drove his first race for FTS, while Kevin Russo was able to make his FSR debut after passing the Pre-Qualifying cut for the first time. Unfortunately, while Thomas showed strong race pace and Kevin had a promising debut performance, Monaco's unforgiving nature is a known fact, and neither driver was able to see the checkered flag.
Hoping for a much better weekend, Faster Than Speed will be now heading to another street circuit, the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve at Montreal, for the fifth round of the season. In previous Canadian GP's, FTS took its maiden World Championship Pole Position, while it celebrated several victories and 1-2 finishes in the World Series. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter (@FTS_Racing) and Google+ for the latest news and live coverage from Canada!
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