As the GP2 Series went finally back on-track after its summer break, teams and drivers lined-up at Spa-Francorchamps for the 8th round of the 2011 season. At the end of a really tough qualifying session, Davide couldn't do more than ending up in 21st place as he experienced a concerning gap towards the front spots.
 
"When you end up 5 seconds away from the pole laptime - explained Davide - that means there's a serious issue to look after. We have to investigate the problem with the whole team in order to discover what's happened and find a solution. Inside the cockpit, it seemed like it was really difficult to drive hard. The car was so nervous I was almost going off-track in each corner. My weekend is now an uphill one but I'm working hard with our staff to be able and recover some spots in the two races we'll be facing."
 
The first race of the Spa-Francorchamps schedule is set to take-off tomorrow at 15:40, with live coverage in Italy by RaiSport 1. Race 2 will round the series' Belgian weekend out on Sunday, with the start scheduled at 10:30 (live on RAI2).

The first race of the 2011 GP2 Main Series at Spa-Francorchamps started with a dry racetrack today, though all the drivers knew that the rain would have come soon. And as it turned out, after 11 laps out of 24, the weather conditions came into play. At that point, everybody had to be back to the pit-lane for  rain tires, and while everybody was expecting an exciting second part of the race, a series of contacts forced to a lengthy safety-car neutralization that eventually lasted until the final lap when almost no changes happened to the charts.

"First thing I want to say is that compared to yesterday's qualifications we proved extremely competitive - said Davide - unfortunately, the race was conditioned by the safety-car and after having fought back in the first ten laps we got stuck behind it for most part of the day. Our car was pretty good on the wet and it's a pity not to have profited of a serious chance to get even more spots back. The forecast for tomorrow looks good, but things can change quickly here at Spa-Francorchamps. I would like to end our weekend with a points spot, but it won't be easy"

Davide ended up in 10th, and will be taking-off from the 5th row spot on tomorrow's grid for race 2. The closing heat of the weekend is set to start at 10:30, with live coverage on RAI2.