No joy for Conway in Spain

British single-seater ace Mike Conway was left mystified after a hugely confusing penultimate round of the GP2 Series at Valencia in Spain. He was classified 16th, two laps down, but believes he actually finished much higher.

Mike started the weekend brightly in his Super Nova International car, running well inside the top 10 in free practice on Saturday morning and he was confident of a good qualifying position.

Despite setting the fastest first sector of all the 26 cars, Mike qualified in a disappointed 12th position.

"The car was brilliant through Turn 1, so we were fastest in that first sector," said Mike. "I just struggled over the rest of the lap. The rear of the car was very tricky, so I couldn't commit any speed into the corners without it braking loose."

However, he didn't even get to start in 12th position, as a block that was placed in front of his left-front wheel, to stop the car rolling on the grid, wasn't removed ahead of the green flag lap. As he ran over it, Mike's engine stalled: "The anti-stall system just didn't kick-in as it's meant to," he rued.

That meant he was forced to start from the pitlane, after the entire field had rushed past him. Mike started on wet tyres, as a rain shower had soaked the circuit, and quickly caught up with the pack over the opening laps.

"The pace was really good at the start," he said. "But as the track dried out, my wets were getting eaten. Then it rained again, and it was liked driving on ice when I got to Turn 1 after a couple of laps and I went straight on into the gravel.

"The front tyres were completely shot, well past the point of working, so I had another trip into the gravel and then came in to switch to slicks," he added. "The car felt quite good again for the next 10 or 12 laps, and I was able to pass people. The only thing was, I was passing them but not moving up the order on the timing screens.

"For some reason they were scoring me as two laps down, and I'm sure I was only one down, like the majority of the others. I think what happened is they didn't score my first lap, as I started from the pitlane. The team are going to query it with the organisers."

Mike even had to let one of the car he'd already passed back ahead of him again, because a rival team had asked him to because he was being scored as a lap behind it: "I'm sure it was wrong - I certainly didn't stop for a lap at anytime!"

Mike was eventually classified in 16th place, although his fastest lap times were easily comparable to those in the points.

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 final GP2 round is tomorrow at Valencia, starting at 10am, and Mike will start 16th on the grid.

"I'm just going to go for it," he said. "It's the last race of the year, so I'm going to make the most of it."