The first race of the GP2 Main Series at the Hungaroring won't provide a lot of strategy options for Davide Valsecchi, as the Italian will have to recover from 24th place. The 7th round of 2011 started in a tough way for the Italian who'll be forced to take-off from the back of the pack. In qualifying held today, Davide couldnt do more than 14th, but he'll also have to serve a 10-spot penalty on the grid due to an infringement committed at the Nurburgring.

“The penalty was already taken into account – explained Davide – but what got me really concerned is that I just couldn't get a good grip with the car. In qualifying, I simply had no chance to complete a full flying lap on new tires because they kept wearing out in a few corners. Now we're investigating the causes, to avoid the same problem on tomorrow's race 1. It's something that could be really hard to face for us...”

Race 1 is set to take-off tomorrow at 15:40, and will be run on a 39-lap distance, with live coverage by Rai Sport 1.

Davide Valsecchi expected a tough race today at the Hungaroring, as he was forced to take-off from the back of the pack. His instinct though didn't allow him to surrender, and he started to fight back right from the start, taking 5 spots back. Then, together with the team, he decided to play a gable by anticipating the pit-stop.

"After having entered the pit-lane earliest than possible, I rejoined with no slower cars in front, and for several laps I clocked some fast laptimes.
Then, unfortunately, the others made their stops too, and I was stuck again in traffic. I hoped to come close to a points spot, but I haven't been that lucky today. In the final corner, while I was in 12th, I was hit by Aleshin and lost control, losing 4 spots in the last few meters. In general, in the latest laps I wasn't in great shape with the tire wear".

Davide ended up in 16th under the checkered flag, and due to this result he will be taking-off from row 8 on Race 2, starting at 10:30 with live coverage in Italy by Rai 2.

The closing race of the Budapest round of the 2011 GP2 Series has been heavily conditioned by some tough weather conditions which made things almost unpredictable over the full distance. Before the beginning of the race, a slight rainfall made everyone on-track, including Davide, opt for a start with wet tires. Then the track started getting progressively drier, forcing the team to call the Italian back to the pits for a change to slicks.

“At that point I gave all I had – told Davide – and once back on-track I pushed incredibly hard in spite of the treacherous conditions we had to face. I recovered several spots and at one point I was running in second behind Pic. Then we delayed the following move back to rain tires, and when I did the pit-stop I was already out of the top-10. At that point, a good result was already precluded.”

Davide ended the race in 14th place. The GP2 Main Series will now be enjoying a 4-week summer vacation. The penultimate round of 2011 will be held at the Spa-Francorchamps venue on the last weekend of August.