If the season opener Australian GP would have finished a lap earlier, World Championship debutant Zsolt Nagy would have scored points on his maiden FSR WC race as he started the 58th lap on 9th place.
An unfortunate spin caused a bittersweet end to his race, which doesn't overshadow his fantastic performance throughout the GP.
Zsolt Nagy, driver from our friends at Crown7NetRex, who we thank for allowing him to drive the FTS-P13 this weekend, and team-mate Giuseppe Marconi, qualified in 14th and 20th places respectively.
Zsolt drove an excellent and controlled debut race, executing a two-stop strategy starting with a long stint on hard tyres which allowed him to climb up to 5th place before pitting. Overcoming bodywork damage from contact with a wingless Simoncic and pulling off a brilliant pass on Baldi on the outside of turn 3, Zsolt was on his way to 9th place and defending from Disley, who was quick on fresh-tyres when he entered the main straight for the final lap of the race. Unfortunately, as he tried to take the ideal line to defend from Disley into turn 1, he touched the grass under braking and spun off the track, heartbreakingly ending his race in the gravel trap. Zsolt was eventually classified a lap down in 12th.
Giuseppe had a difficult GP. After showing good pace in the initial laps, Giuseppe had a long unscheduled stop after making contact with Cabo, the incident causing Giuseppe to hit the barriers and then be collected by Masciulli. With a heavily damaged car, Giuseppe concentrated on bringing the car home, which he did in 16th position.
Zsolt Nagy (12th): "I made a big mistake in my Q1 lap, I was only 0.007 behind Bono after the second sector, got a little excited and ran my worst sector 3 so I couldn't make it into Q2: P14.
I was really cautious at the start, could avoid the incidents in front of me and got up to 11th. I was stuck behind De Wit so I decided to save my tyres because I planned to run at least until lap 29 on them. After others pitted I was able to climb up to P5.
After my first stop I fell back to 12th, where I got stuck for a couple of laps behind Disley and De Wit, but after I passed them I had a decent pace.
At the end of the race I had a great fight for 9th, but on the last lap I made a mistake into turn 1, after which I had to give up on the race. I braked on the grass, just like Alonso and Maldonado did in F1.
For my first World Championship race it would have been great to score some points, but even after my mistake I am glad that I had a pace which was good enough to fight for points.
My highlight of the race was on lap 46 when I could pass Baldi into turn 3 after his pitstop. Even though he could pass me back a lap later, it was fun to race with him."
Giuseppe Marconi (16th): "I had a good start, gained 5 positions in the first laps even if my pace wasn't like in testing. I had a good fight with Cabo and Rondon but unfortunately I was spun by Cabo during his overtaking attempt. I was facing the wrong way on track. I waited for 2 cars to pass me. After that I reversed the car but unfortunately Masciulli crashed into me, my apologies. With a heavily damaged car I was able to pit and after a long stop for repairs, I was back in the race but very far from the cars ahead. The car wasn't fast anymore due to the damage so I decided to bring the car to the finish line."
We would like to thank everyone for all the likes, comments and repercussions we received on our FTS-P13 and the 2013 Launch Video on the RaceDepartment Forums, Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and more!
Faster Than Speed will be now heading to the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain, for the second round of the 2013 season. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter (@FTS_Racing) and Google+ for the latest news and live coverage from Bahrain!
Faster Than Speed
Press Release
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