A weekend of lessons for Ocean Racing Technology in Bahrain

For Ocean Racing Technology, the third GP2 Series meeting held this weekend in Bahrain was a chance to learn the new aspects of the championship which is the Formula 1 feeder series. Nigel Melker and Brendon Hartley did not manage to secure points that the Portuguese team had their eye on, but they finished on the cusp of the Top 10 and completed a great deal of fundamental work that will most likely bear fruit down the road.

Brendon Hartley crossed the finish line of the first race in 13th place, and Nigel Melker finished 19th. In the second race, taking off from 16th position on the starting grid, the Dutch driver scratched out an 11th place finish, while Brendon Hartley finished in 16th.

“The scenario was not ideal from the beginning of the weekend, because qualifying did not go especially well for us, due to the traffic I ran into,” explained Nigel Melker, “In the race, I had brake problems that forced me to give up a few positions. Nevertheless, the second race enabled us to cross a major threshold in terms of the car’s set-up. It was competitive enough to enable us to aim for points, but unfortunately I lost a few positions in the start after a contact with a competitor. Coming in in 11th place, close to the points, was therefore a good result. I am satisfied even if I would have liked to bring home points.”

Brendon Hartley did not have much more success than his teammate in the first race. “I had a good start but someone bumped me from behind when I was entering the 8th corner and that made me shunt. The car went into neutral and it took me some time to get back on track. After this event, which ruined my race, the pace was good and I fought hard to move up to 13th place. In the second race, I was still not very lucky because a competitor spun out in front of me and I had to go off the track. After that, the radiators quickly began overheating. For this race, we had changed the car’s set-up and unfortunately we did not make that pay off but doing that was very useful. It was an immense pleasure to drive with Ocean Racing Technology,” Brendon Hartley concluded.

The next GP2 Series races will be held two weeks from now in Barcelona.