Driver Database News

Max Chilton qualified in a competitive seventh place in Monaco today, following a chaotic GP2 session around the principality this afternoon. Team mate Oliver Turvey was 16th quickest, having been taken out mid way through the session by eventual pole man Giedo van der Garde.

A 30 minute practice session this morning allowed the GP2 drivers to familiarise themselves with the Monaco circuit. Predictably, it was a session filled with disruptions, with several yellow flags and one red flag period. Chilton was on the pace in the early stages; the 20 year-old was fourth quickest with ten minutes to go while Turvey was 11th.

The main interruption came with 13 minutes to go, when a red flag was needed to clear debris at turn 16. Heading back out on track after the interruption, Chilton was 12th while Turvey was 19th. Chilton would improve in his final laps to finish inside the top ten in ninth.

If this morning’s practice session was eventful, this afternoon’s qualifying session was chaotic. Several drivers were involved in collisions on track and as the pressure mounted, driving standards seemed to suffer.

Both Carlin drivers were on the pace in the first half of the session and were both in the top ten, with Turvey seventh and Chilton ninth. Turvey was soon the innocent victim of an accident however which effectively ended his session. Giedo van der Garde closed in on the Carlin driver through the swimming pool complex and rammed Turvey off the track, bending his front right track rod in the process.

Several red and yellow flags disrupted proceedings with seemingly an accident every lap at Rascasse. With three minutes remaining on the clock Chilton was 10th while Turvey was 12th, but the times soon started to tumble as drivers tried to make the most of new tyres.

Having been forced to pit for repairs, Turvey saw his qualifying session seriously compromised. With no time to make a full repair, the Racing Steps Foundation graduate returned to the track still with a damaged front right corner and wasn’t able to complete a flying lap on his new tyres and finished the session 16th.

Chilton meanwhile found space on his final lap and improved to 8th, which becomes 7th when Jules Bianchi’s five place grid penalty from Barcelona is taken into account.

Speaking about his qualifying session, Chilton said, “Today’s qualifying session was a really good performance by the whole team. I was well within my target to qualify within the top ten and was able to get a couple of clear laps and push really hard with a good car. It sounds like I was pretty fortunate and missed a lot of incidents this afternoon. There was more and more debris on track with every lap but I managed to stay out of trouble and push when the circuit was green. I’m really looking forward to the first race tomorrow.”

The GP2 drivers will take to the track again at 11.15 local time tomorrow for Race 1.

It was a weekend of mixed fortunes for the Carlin team in Nuburgring this weekend, as the team’s Formula Renault 3.5 drivers Oliver Turvey and Jaime Alguersuari enjoyed strong races on Saturday, but mixed results on Sunday. Turvey made the most of his sixth place grid slot in race one to finish fourth, while Alguersuari was on a charge to finsh in fifth. Race two however was a different story, with Turvey retiring due to a mechanic problem and Alguersuari managing to cling on to sixth place.

Both drivers maintained a 100 per success rate in making it through to the Super Pole session on Saturday. With only the top 12 drivers making it through to the 10 minute Super Pole session, Turvey continued his good form to qualify third, while Alguersuari battled with understeer to qualify tenth.

The first race of the weekend kicked off on Saturday and saw the top eight qualifiers from Super Pole reversed. Turvey therefore lined up sixth with Alguersuari tenth. Turvey made a fantastic start and did well to make it round after being squeezed at the first corner. Alguerusari meanwhile had made a lightning start and had catapulted up to fifth place.

The Carlin duo both saw some scrappy racing as the race continued and did well to avoid any accidents as they were passed by John Lancaster and Fairuz Fauzy which pushed them down the order. However, Lancaster was later handed a 10 second penalty, which moved the Carlin racers back up a place. As the race came to a close Turvey and Alguersuari were line astern, with Turvey crossing the line in fourth place, and Alguersuari fifth.

As the drivers lined up for race two, Turvey took his third place grid slot with Alguersuari once again lining up in tenth. While Alguersuari managed to keep his tenth place, Turvey dropped to seventh after losing out at the start. Having dropped down the order, Turvey found himself in stuck in traffic, prompting the team to pit Turvey early to give him space on track. Following quick in and out laps and a fast stop by the Carlin team, the Racing Steps Foundation driver had made up one place by the time he returned to the track. Turvey’s fortunes changed on lap 16 however, when a mechanical problem put him into retirement.

Alguersauri meanwhile was moving gradually up the order. Following a quick pit stop, the F1 racer was sixth, the position he would retain to the chequered flag.

Alguersuari said, “I don’t think this weekend was one of our strongest of the season; I was suffering from understeer in qualifying and again in the races. We made a lot of changes to the car before the second race, and I think the car we had at the end was probably the best it had been all weekend. I think we should be fairly happy with the results this weekend, you have to have some difficult races and some good races to keep learning. I think we have to look forward to the next race at Motorland which will be tough as no-one knows the track, but at the same time it will be exciting.”

Jake Rosenzweig joins Carlin’s British F3 racers for this weekend’s round of the 2009 Cooper Tires British F3 International Series in Spa. The American racer comes fresh from his first F3 Euro Series podium in Zandvoort last weekend and will be hoping for a repeat performance on his British F3 debut. Rosenzweig will be racing alongside championship leader Daniel Ricciardo, Max Chilton, Henry Arundel and Philip Major.

Last time out at Donington, Daniel Ricciardo took a podium in race one to boost his championship standing, but lost out in race two having been the innocent victim of an over ambitions overtaking manoeuvre by Renger van der Zande. Chilton meanwhile came home in a strong sixth place in race one, adding a seventh place to that in race two. Having struggled in qualifying and suffering a clutch problem on the grid for race one, Henry Arundel fought back with a 13th place and a solid sixth place finish in race two. The newest member of Carlin’s British F3 squad, Philip Major, finished 15th in race one but was unable to finish the second race of the day following an incident on lap three.

Meanwhile team mate Jake Rosenzweig made it three podiums in three different countries for Carlin last weekend, with a well fought third place in race two at the Zandvoort circuit in the Netherlands. The American racer finished seventh in the first race of the weekend; earning him a second place grid slot for the reverse grid race on Sunday. From there, Rosenzweig raced hard to hold off fourth place man Christian Vietoris and take his first ever podium in Formula 3. Rosenzweig’s podium in Zandvoort followed podiums for Oliver Turvey and Jaime Alguersuari in the Formula Renault 3.5 race in Le Mans and of course Ricciardo’s third place at Donington.

Speaking about joining his Carlin team mates in the British series, Rosenzweig said, “I’m really excited to racing in Spa this weekend, it’s always good to get as much race experience as possible and it will be a new challenge to compete in a new championship on different tyres. It was a good confidence boost to finish on the podium at the last Euro Series round at Zandvoort, so I’m hoping to make the most of this opportunity in the British Series this weekend.”

Team Principal Trevor Carlin added, “Spa is always a highlight on the British F3 calendar and is a particular favourite of the team having been the location for our first ever 1-2-3-4 finish last season. As other teams have become more competitive we’re not expecting the same result this year, but we’ll still be aiming for the top step. Spa is a great challenge for all the British F3 drivers; let’s hope they can just get on with racing, rather than playing the team orders game which may have been the case at previous events this year.”

Jaime Alguersuari and Oliver Turvey took a podium each for Carlin Motorsport this weekend, with two third places at the Le Mans round of the Formula Renault 3.5 championship. Alguersuari took third place in the second race today, while Turvey took his consecutive third place in race one yesterday. The Racing Steps Foundation driver had looked good for more solid points today, until a problem in his mandatory pit stop dropped him down the order.

With both Carlin drivers having made it through to Super Pole on Saturday, both Turvey and Alguersuari started in the top 12, Turvey qualifying third, with Alguersuari fifth.

With the top eight reversed for race one yesterday, Alguersuari lined up fourth, with Turvey sixth. Both drivers made a clean start despite a long wait for the lights to go out, although Alguersuari dropped to fourth, while Turvey moved up to fifth. Turvey stayed close to his Carlin team mate for duration of the race, keeping the Spanish racer under pressure until a locked brake on lap 23 caused Alguersuari to run wide, allowing Turvey to surge through to fourth. Unbeknown to Turvey, the British racer had just claimed the final podium spot, with second placed man Marco Barba having been handed a ten second time penalty for exceeding track limits, which also put Alguersuari fourth.

Lining up for race two today, Turvey was third with Alguersuari fifth. At the start Turvey dropped to sixth place, just behind team mate Alguersuari in fifth. With all drivers required to make a mandatory pit stop in today’s race, Alguersuari was the first Carlin driver to pit for new tyres on lap six, returning to the track following a quick stop by the Carlin crew. Team mate Turvey made his stop a few laps later, but a problem with the rear left wheel nut delayed his exit, meaning the British racer lost several places on track.

With all drivers having made their pit stop, Alguersuari had made up one place to lie third, while Turvey had dropped to 13th. Currently the top rookie in the series, Turvey pushed hard to make up for his misfortune in the pits and crossed the line in 11th place. Alguersuari meanwhile took his first Formula Renault 3.5 podium and finished as top rookie.

Commenting on his podium, Alguersuari said, “We had a good race, I think we are definitely making progress, so it was nice to see that rewarded with a third place today. For sure we still have a lot to do, in particular in improving front end grip. We need to focus now on raising our game and arriving at each race with the possibility to win.”

Speaking about his podium on Saturday Turvey said, “Qualifying went well, and we made a good improvement in Super Pole to qualify third. I got a good start and was able to overtake Charles Pic and got alongside Jaime but couldn’t get by. We had good pace and then Jaime made a mistake in turn four and I was able to get past him. I didn’t realise that we were competing for a podium, but it was great to finish third in the reverse grid race.”

Team principal added Trevor Carlin added, “With the quality of the drivers in the team this year, I’m not surprised to see both of them challenging for podiums and once again they have been consistently amongst the front runners all weekend. It’s a great shame that Oliver lost out on a probable fourth place today due to a problem in the pit stop, which wasn’t his fault at all, but he can be very proud of his pace and racing this weekend.”