Faster Than Speed had an unlucky weekend at Silverstone, with several technical problems affecting driver performances.
Chris de Jong made his FTS debut in the World Championship's British GP, with a fuel shortage problem denying him a good result after a blistering start. Carlos Hernandez saved a few points from the World Trophy race despite suffering a brake failure.
In the World Championship, NetRex's Chris de Jong made his Faster Than Speed debut, setting the 16th fastest time in Q1. Team-mate Giuseppe Marconi qualified 20th.
Chris made a blistering start on his soft tyres, moving up to 12th place in the opening few corners, before making excellent moves on Lapchin, Puschke and Baldi to move up to 8th place. As part of his two-stop strategy, Chris switched to the hard compound at the end of lap 7. During his second stint, he protagonized a fantastic battle with Blair Disley, with Chris defending his position despite carrying much older tyres during over 7 laps. The very fair battle included several passing attempts from the Australian, with Chris retaking the position on several occasions. Unfortunately, un unexpected fuel shortage problem meant Chris had to drive at a very slow pace during the last 15 laps to be able to see the checkered flag, in what was a highly frustrating exercise which dropped him down to 14th at the finish.
Giuseppe Marconi made a good start to move up to 17th, when he unfortunately got stuck in traffic, being unable to make good use of his tyres. On lap 7, Giuseppe was hit by Cabo in the arena section, costing him two positions. Just a lap later, unfortunately, Giuseppe felt victim to a track/kerb altitude issue after going wide with a damaged suspension in Club corner, ending his race in the barriers.
Giuseppe Marconi (DNF): "I'm a bit angry becasue this is one of my favourite tracks and I thought I would do better but I was a bit unlucky. I started well, gained 2 positions at the first turn, then I had a good battle with Martin. My times weren't as good as in testing as I was in battles every lap. Before the end of lap 7 I was 17th when Cabo decided to do an illogical move that caused me to spin and lose 2 positions. At lap 8, my race ended. I don't know if it was due to a damaged suspension or a puncture, but the car went wide and straight on the kerb and then onto the grass, where I lost control, finishing in the wall."
In the World Trophy, Carlos Hernandez had a good race despite limited testing and looked set for a top-10 result, when a brake failure dropped him down to 18th. He was still able to save a few points for the team. Team-mate Attila Szekely had a tough race after starting from the back to comply with a penalty for a technical infraction in the previous race. To make matters worse, first-lap damage caused a problem with his engine, which unfortunately did not see the distance, causing Attila to retire with 6 laps to go. Kevin Russo took the red & white FTS WT Panthers car to the track for the first time, but unfortunately just missed out on the Grid 1 Pre-Qualifying cut.
After a three-week break, the Nurburgring will host the seventh round of the 2013 season: the German GP. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter (@FTS_Racing) and Google+ for the latest news and live coverage from Germany!
Faster Than Speed
Press Release
http://www.fts-racing.net
