27.04.2008

Behind the scenes

Timo Glock arrived early in Barcelona for a taste of another major sporting event in the Catalan capital, the Champions League semi-final between FC Barcelona and Manchester United.

Timo, who enjoys watching football but has no particular affection for a team aside from Germany, was given a prime seat in the Catalan cathedral of football, the Camp Nou for one of the biggest games of the year.

Unfortunately for Timo, a guest of a German TV station, the game was not a memorable one, finishing 0-0 after an early penalty miss by Manchester United.

“It wasn’t a very exciting game to be honest,” he admitted. “The atmosphere was great but there is so much pressure on the players with all the fans making such a lot of noise.”

Back at the track, third driver Kamui Kobayashi kept up his excellent record in GP2 this year by winning the second race of the season in Barcelona. After an impressive GP2 Asia campaign, our third driver made a strong start to the full GP2 season, finishing eighth in race one to earn pole position for Sunday’s contest, which he won. He is fourth in the championship, three points away from joint leaders Bruno Senna and Alvaro Parente.

NEWS FROM OUR RIVALS

Fernando Alonso almost enjoyed an amazing weekend in front of his home Spanish crowd, only for glory to elude him twice.

In qualifying, the two-time world champion almost snatched an astonishing pole position but was denied at the last by Kimi Raikkonen. In the race he was fighting for a podium finish to mark a significant improvement in Renault’s pace before a technical problem forced him out.Raikkonen took his second victory of the season for Ferrari on an eventful day which saw nine drivers fail to reach the finish.

The Finn’s victory from team-mate Felipe Massa gives him 29 points, with McLaren-Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton’s third place giving him 20 points and making him Raikkonen’s closest challenger. Ferrari now have 47 points in the Constructors’ Championship, with BMW Sauber on 35 and McLaren Mercedes a point further back.

Robert Kubica was fourth for BMW Sauber, with Mark Webber fifth in his Red Bull-Renault. Jenson Button scored Honda’s first points of the season for sixth while Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima held off Jarno for seventh.

An action-packed race saw a high number of retirements and the action starting at the first turn when Force India’s Adrian Sutil collided with Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel, causing a spectacular accident.

That was not the only dramatic crash to bring out the safety car. A problem for Heikki Kovalainen’s McLaren-Mercedes saw him hit the tyre hard, although there was widespread relief to see the Finn give a thumbs-up signal to the crowd on his way for precautionary medical checks.

RACE REPORT

Jarno Trulli picked up a point for eighth place in the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, making it three consecutive points-scoring positions for him and Panasonic Toyota Racing out of the four races so far in 2008, while Timo finished 11th.

Jarno lined up eighth on the grid with Timo 14th but both lost ground on the run to the first corner. Jarno dropped to ninth but Timo had to take avoiding action after a collision between Adrian Sutil and Sebastian Vettel, meaning he ended up 17th.

In the first-corner melee, Timo’s front wing was damaged, which compromised his car’s speed in his first stint, although he fought hard to stay in touch with the cars ahead of him after a safety car period to clear the wreckage.

Jarno had a strong first stint and pitted for more of Bridgestone’s option tyres shortly before a heavy crash for McLaren-Mercedes’ Heikki Kovalainen brought out the safety car.

When the pit lane opened, Timo came in for another set of option Bridgestones and a new front wing, which enabled him to push hard to improve his position. By lap 35 Jarno was sixth and Timo 13th, and soon after both made their final scheduled stops for prime Bridgestones.

Timo’s progress up the field was interrupted when he collided with David Coulthard, damaging his front wing again and necessitating another pit stop. “Coulthard came out in front of me and he was slow on his out lap,” Timo said. “He left me a bit of space and then closed it and I crashed into him.”

Unfortunately a communication problem saw Jarno head for the pits, dropping from sixth to eighth while Timo rejoined to finish 11th.

Jarno said: “We’ve scored another point but it should have been more. These things happen but that cost us two points today.”

Chairman and Team Principal Tadashi Yamashina explained the problem: “After Timo’s collision there was confusion between the cars and Jarno received the wrong message. So we must analyse what happened and make sure we avoid this mistake in the future.”

Jarno’s point takes Panasonic Toyota Racing’s total to nine for the season, maintaining fifth position in the Constructors’ Championship. Jarno remains seventh in the Drivers’ Championship.