Sakhir International Circuit, Bahrain – 19/04/2015

Car #22 – Marlon Stockinger – P19
Car #23 – Richie Stanaway – P11
Race length: 23 laps / 45 mins
Circuit Length: 5.412 km
Tyre use: P Zero medium
Weather: Air temp 30˚C / track temp 46˚C

Status Grand Prix rookies Richie Stanaway and Marlon Stockinger brought their cars home in 11^th and 19^th place respectively in the team’s maiden GP2 Sprint race. Both drivers made clean starts but Stockinger found himself boxed in at turn two. With Stockinger unable to maintain track position Stanaway got the jump on his team mate ending the first lap in twelth place.At half race distance it became clear that Stockinger was struggling with his tyres as he slipped back into the clutches of the more experienced GP2 racers. Stanaway continued to battle for tenth place, holding his own and proving that there is definitely more to come from the rookie.

The team completes a strong debut GP2 weekend and now looks ahead to the Barcelona race on 9/10 May where they hope to capitalise on what they have learnt this weekend.

Richie Stanaway “Today was a much better race than yesterday. I got a clean start which helped track position and we made some really positive changes overnight to improve our race performance and pace. I was able to compete reasonably well with the rest of the field and finishing just outside the top ten is a positive step in our first race weekend.

I’m feeling much better after today, the more I understand the characteristics of the GP2 car, the more closely I can work with my engineers.”

Marlon Stockinger “My start was really good today. It’s just unfortunate that I got boxed in at turn two and four which lost me quite a few places. I found the race pretty difficult to be honest and for some reason we just couldn’t hang on to the tyres. Lots of teams seemed to be suffering with tyres and it’s just a shame I couldn’t hang on towards the end of the race.

There are some really good things to take from this weekend. We’ve had two clean races and it’s all about experience and getting as many laps in as possible plus the team worked really well. There are some really experienced guys in the GP2 field and the more laps I do the quicker I can learn and progress.”

ENDS

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