Kazuki's Column from Silverstone
10 July 07
Silverstone was far and away my best race weekend in GP2. I scored my first podium finish in Saturday’s feature race and then repeated that result in Sunday's sprint race. I drove home on Sunday night feeling very happy and very satisfied.
My DAMS Dallara was good to drive all weekend. I was third fastest during Friday practice and while I wasn’t able to repeat that same level of competitiveness in qualifying – I lined up sixth on the grid – I knew that I would have a competitive car for the race.
After a cautious start to race one, I spent the opening laps stuck behind Lucas di Grassi. I was quicker than him, but couldn't find a way passed and the team did a great job to get me ahead of him during the pitstops. I then gained another couple of places when Timo Glock and Adam Carroll had problems, which placed me third at the chequered flag.
I had a bit of luck in this race, but I've had my share of bad luck this year so I felt that I deserved the result. It felt very good to be on the podium and to spray the champagne.
With the top eight reversed on the grid for race two, I started the sprint race from sixth place. I made a better start than in race one, passing one car at the start, and then settled into a rhythm. The car was a bit oversteery to begin with, but the balance improved when the front tyres started to grain.
I overtook two more cars before the end of the race: Roldan Rodriguez into the Abbey Chicane and Lucas di Grassi into Copse, at more than 220kph. The move on di Grassi was very exciting and a very satisfying way to take third place. The icing on the cake was to get fastest lap, taking my tally of points for the weekend to 11.
These two podiums give me a lot of confidence for the next race at the Nurburgring, which is a track that I already know from Formula 3. My next goal is to move higher up the podium - one step at a time.
See you soon,
Kazuki
My DAMS Dallara was good to drive all weekend. I was third fastest during Friday practice and while I wasn’t able to repeat that same level of competitiveness in qualifying – I lined up sixth on the grid – I knew that I would have a competitive car for the race.
After a cautious start to race one, I spent the opening laps stuck behind Lucas di Grassi. I was quicker than him, but couldn't find a way passed and the team did a great job to get me ahead of him during the pitstops. I then gained another couple of places when Timo Glock and Adam Carroll had problems, which placed me third at the chequered flag.
I had a bit of luck in this race, but I've had my share of bad luck this year so I felt that I deserved the result. It felt very good to be on the podium and to spray the champagne.
With the top eight reversed on the grid for race two, I started the sprint race from sixth place. I made a better start than in race one, passing one car at the start, and then settled into a rhythm. The car was a bit oversteery to begin with, but the balance improved when the front tyres started to grain.
I overtook two more cars before the end of the race: Roldan Rodriguez into the Abbey Chicane and Lucas di Grassi into Copse, at more than 220kph. The move on di Grassi was very exciting and a very satisfying way to take third place. The icing on the cake was to get fastest lap, taking my tally of points for the weekend to 11.
These two podiums give me a lot of confidence for the next race at the Nurburgring, which is a track that I already know from Formula 3. My next goal is to move higher up the podium - one step at a time.
See you soon,
Kazuki
