Pace but no more points for Conway

22 July 2007

British single-seater star Mike Conway had to settle for the point he scored on Saturday after today's sprint race at the Nurburgring in the GP2 Series.

The Super Nova International ace, who set the fastest lap of Saturday's race, started down in 18th following his startline problem a day earlier. Although he was determined not to stall his engine at the start, Mike made a slow getaway.

"I made sure I gave it plenty of revs this time, easily more than enough, but it almost stalled again," he said. "We're going to have to look at the data to see if we've got a problem."

Having lost even more places off the grid, Mike found congestion at Turn 1: "People were dicing everywhere ahead, I just had nowhere to go and had to stay in the middle of the track," he said. "I picked off a couple of them on the exit, and gained one at Turn 3."

Although he struggled for pace in the early laps, his tyres came on strong in the middle stages of the race. However, he became stuck behind German Formula 3 champion Ho-Pin Tung, and took until lap 14 to find a way past.

"I just couldn't get close enough to him to pass," said Mike. "Then I saw an opportunity at Turn 3 and got down the inside of him."

Once ahead of the Dutch-Chinese driver, Mike quickly closed on and passed Borja Garcia at the first turn two laps later. His pace was such that he immediately gained ground on Xandi Negrao, but just as a top ten finish was within his grasp, disaster struck.

"I just locked the rear wheels under braking for the chicane and spun,"

admitted Mike. "It took a while to get going again, and I spent the last few laps racing with Adam Carroll. It was really good fun, very clean racing, and I almost got him on the finish line when he messed up his braking at the final corner.

"It's a shame not to score any more points, and to come away with only one point isn't what we were looking for after such a successful Silverstone weekend. I still believe we have the pace to win a race, we just have to address some issues in high-speed corners."

The GP2 series is the final stepping stone on a drivers path to Formula One, and with the races taking place at the Grands Prix, is a showcase of their talents in front of their peers and the F1 paddock. Conway is reigning British F3 champion and graduated to the GP2 series for this season.

The next GP2 round is at the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend at the Hungaroring on August 4/5.