GP3 Series

Felix Da Costa wins thrilling season finale

Thursday, 23 February 2012 00:24

Status Grand Prix driver seals first GP3 Series™ victory at Autodromo Nazionale Monza

Antonio Felix Da Costa took his first victory this season in what was a dramatic final race of the 2011 GP3 Series™. The Portuguese driver finished ahead of championship runner-up James Calado, but the Lotus ART driver was handed a 20-second penalty for failing to take a drive-through penalty after causing a collision with Mitch Evans. Marussia Manor Racing’s Rio Haryanto was promoted to second and Nico Müller took the final podium spot.

Felix Da Costa took an early lead when the lights went out until poleman Evans fought back a lap later. Carlin’s Conor Daly held onto his third place at the start but the American was hit up the back into Ascari on the opening lap by champion Valtteri Bottas. Daly was out the race and the Finn was given a drive-through penalty. At the front Calado had put moves on both Felix Da Costa and Evans to take the lead.

With the top six drivers running nose-to-tail and covered by less than two seconds it was a fierce battle at the front. Behind the leading duo there was a three way battle for third between Evans, Muller and Simon Trummer. Evans took advantage diving up into P2 and then taking the lead from Calado. The Brit was straight back on the attack but three laps later when he tried to move ahead Calado went wide tapping Evans, putting the Kiwi out of the race.

Felix Da Costa took the lead and Calado was given a drive-through penalty on the penultimate lap, however he failed to come in and crossed the line in second place before being handed a 20-second post race penalty dropping him to fourteenth. Haryanto and Müller were promoted to the podium, and Trummer, Callum Macleod and Adrian Quaife-Hobbs took the last points paying positions.

Calado could have tied with champion Bottas on points if he had won the race and set fastest lap, as the Finn scored no points. Bottas went on to snatch fastest lap as he crossed the line to seventeenth spot.

Despite not finishing the race Nigel Melker solidified third place in the drivers’ standings with 38-points, two more than Müller in fourth.

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Valtteri Bottas – 2011 GP3 Series™ Champion Thoughts of a champion

Thursday, 23 February 2012 00:24

Following his victory in Race 1 this afternoon in Monza, Valtteri Bottas was crowned GP3 Series™ champion. He sat down with us and shared his thoughts and hopes.

GP3 Series™: Valtteri Bottas 2011 GP3 Series champion! How does that sound?

Valtteri Bottas: It sounds very good; it all went really like planned today!

GP3 Series™: Although it sort of didn’t go to plan throughout this season. Did you see this happening at the start of the year?

Valtteri Bottas: It was difficult to imagine that really. After Silverstone things were not looking great and each race weekend we were changing the car setup and trying to find out what was wrong, and then finally we found the reasons why we didn’t have the perfect car and we found the speed we were missing.

GP3 Series™: GP3 is still a new category so there is not a lot of history to it, but obviously in GP2 we’ve seen before that there have been drivers who win it straight off like Hamilton and others who have taken the experience and done it on the second year. You’ve come against a lot of guys in their second year. How hard was that?

Valtteri Bottas: For sure it’s tough when drivers in their second GP3 season already have a good race routine with the car; know how to handle it at race starts and how to setup the car. So at the beginning of the season it was quite difficult to be a rookie in the Series, but then as soon as I got comfortable with the driving style and how to take the start well it was no problem. I already had two seasons in F3 and two in Formula Renault - it’s still a race car.

GP3 Series™: You had your first podium in Valencia and then all of a sudden something just clicked. What do you put that down to?

Valtteri Bottas: Getting the tyres working! Basically we found something in the setup which we changed to get the tyres working better. That was the key really. We were not getting everything out of the tyres at the beginning of the season, but the second half was just amazing and I am so, so happy! I need to thank the team so much as they never gave up and we just kept on searching for solutions and found them together.

GP3 Series™: The team has obviously played a huge part in this. They’ve won championship and helped the driver who’s come first and the driver who’s come second. You can’t really ask for a lot more than that. How important were the team to you?

Valtteri Bottas: You never win the championship alone. You do it together with the team. We were team champions so this was the perfect place for me to be this season. Maybe it didn’t feel like it after Silverstone but in the end that was the right choice. I have driven with ART before for two seasons and knew that they were really professional, and if something is wrong with the car it doesn’t take them long to find the reason.

GP3 Series™: There have been a few guys who have followed the ART ladder up the ranks, how important has it been to you to stay with the same team?

Valtteri Bottas: I think it’s really important. It’s a great opportunity to be such a successful team, and they have a great GP2 team as well so that’s obviously a bonus. I’m very glad to be with them.

GP3 Series™: Is the next step GP2?

Valtteri Bottas: Yes, that would be logical but at the moment honestly I have no idea about next year.

GP3 Series™: Thanks Valtteri, and congratulations once again.

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Champion win for Bottas in Monza

Thursday, 23 February 2012 00:24

Finnish ace takes victory at Autodromo Nazionale Monza to seal 2011 GP3 Series™ crown

Valtteri Bottas took his fourth victory of the season in a thrilling Race 1 in Monza today to secure the 2011 GP3 Series™ crown after a head to head battle with his Lotus ART teammate and championship rival James Calado. Bottas kept his cool and put his head down to take the win despite immense pressure from the Brit who finished second to secure his runner-up spot in the drivers’ standings.

Poleman Adrian Quaife-Hobbs had a good start to hold onto the lead of the race from Nico Müller, but it was Bottas who flew off the line when the lights went out. The Finn made up two places to take third before the first corner ahead of Rio Haryanto and Mitch Evans with Calado holding his ground in sixth.

There was then a furious race-long battle for the podium spots from the leading drivers. With Müller pushing Quaife-Hobbs hard for the lead, Haryanto was first to make a move passing Bottas for third and leaving the Finn in the clutches of his teammate Calado. But a few laps in the Marussia Manor Racing squad received a double blow with Müller snatching the lead from Quaife-Hobbs and Bottas taking back the final podium spot from Haryanto. The top three were then side-by-side with the British driver loosing another spot to the Finn.

Calado made up two more spots by passing Evans and Haryanto, and the battles continued to rage as the laps counted down, until a mistake from Quaife-Hobbs at Ascari led the Manor driver to hit the wall on lap 10 and the safety car was deployed. With just three laps left after the re-start Calado prepared for an attack on his teammate and by the final lap he was pushing Bottas hard to keep his title hopes alive. But the Finn defended perfectly keeping his teammate at bay until the chequered flag came out to crown Bottas champion. Haryanto and Müller swapped places numerous times in the closing laps with the Indonesian eventually grabbing the final podium place.

Simon Trummer finished an impressive fifth for MW Arden ahead of Conor Daly, Antonio Felix Da Costa, Evans, Melker and Richie Stanaway.

As so the champion was crowned and greeted in parc fermé by his team Champions Lotus ART to celebrate.

GP3 Series™ will be back on track tomorrow morning for Race 2 at 09:20 local time with Mitch Evans on pole position for MW Arden.

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Quaife-Hobbs clinches Monza pole

Thursday, 23 February 2012 00:24

Adrian Quaife-Hobbs took his second GP3 Series™ pole position for Marussia Manor Racing in the final seconds of qualifying at Autodromo Nazionale Monza today. The British driver finished 0.062 seconds ahead of Nico Müller who was on course to take his maiden pole position of the season for Jenzer Motorsport.

When the lights went green all thirty cars fed out the track on slick tyres for the early morning session. Rio Haryanto was the early pace setter for Marussia Manor Racing, and except for a brief spell at the top for Series leader Valtteri Bottas it was the Indonesian who led the way for the first half of the session. Title contender Alexander Sims was the first to better Haryanto’s time going 0.050 seconds quicker than the Manor driver, but was soon bumped down the order by Bottas and Haryanto who moved back on top.

Midway through qualifying Bottas had regained P1 before the field made their way back into the pits for fresh rubber and last attempt at snatching the top spot. It was all about who could get that all important tow around the high-speed Italian track. With the session coming to a close Haryanto was still looking strong at the top until Nico Müller went quicker on his final attempt at pole. With the rest of field unable to match the Jenzer driver’s pace it looked he had done enough, but Quaife-Hobbs put together the perfect last gasp lap to bag pole.

Muller ended the session second followed by Haryanto, Mitch Evans and the Lotus ART duo of Bottas and James Calado. Sims qualified 11th and Nigel Melker 13th.

GP3 Series will be back on track this afternoon for Race 1 of the weekend at 17:20 local time.

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Trummer tops dramatic practice session

Thursday, 23 February 2012 00:24

MW Arden’s Simon Trummer quickest in Practice 2 in Italy

The final round of the GP3 Series™ continued this afternoon with the second practice session at Autodromo Nazionale Monza. Simon Trummer eventually claimed the top spot with a time of 1:45.103 set on his very last lap. The Swiss driver beat out Tom Dillmann who had been top for the majority of the incident filled session. Lotus ART’s championship contenders Valtteri Bottas and James Calado watched the session from the pits choosing to save their tyres for qualifying tomorrow.

The field hit the track in scorching hot conditions, and it was MW Arden who was quickest straight out of the pits with Williamson setting the fastest time ahead of his teammate Trummer until Dillmann set a time to beat, going nearly one second quicker than the leading pair.

Title contender Alexander Sims had a session to forget when just ten minutes in he went off track at the Parabolica, hitting the tyre wall – the Brit rejoined the session but was unable to better eleventh spot. Sims wasn’t the only driver to find trouble: Adrian Quaife-Hobbs, Lewis Williamson and Daniel Mancinelli were getting a bit too racy on track, and the result was a clash between the two Brits, also at the Parabolica, with Mancinelli also running off at the same corner.

As the session came to an end Dillmann was holding firm at the top of the time sheet for Addax Team, but with just one minute remaining on the clock Trummer snatched the honours from the Frenchman after slipstreaming teammate Mitch Evans, who had to settle for second. Quaife-Hobbs clung onto third despite his incident, while Evans, Gabby Chaves, Richie Stanaway, Conor Daly, Tamas Pal Kiss, Nigel Melker and Williamson rounded out the top ten.

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