Difficult Hungarian weekend for Ocean Racing in GP2

Before even arriving at the Hungaroring circuit in Budapest, Ocean Racing Technology’s drivers did not expect it to be easy and this was eventually verified during the course of the week-end. Nigel Melker and Victor Guerin delivered good performances despite the track not translating their efforts into good results. Melker finished both of the weekend’s races in 14th and 17th places while Guerin was 21st and 23rd.

In the first race, Melker made a good start and was getting into a good rhythm, running in fifth before his compulsory pit-stop. However, contact with an opponent made him lose several positions and he was forced to finish the race in 14th position. Meanwhile, Guerin had an excellent start and was doing very competitive lap times. He was sitting in 13th position when Melker, in an attempt to recover positions, touched him and compromised the Brazilian’s race.

In the second race, Melker fought to defend his position, and while he could do this initially, he later fell back several places and completed the race in 17th position while Guerin was 23rd. Melker stressed the importance of this weekend in terms of learning: “Qualifying was difficult because I never got a clean lap. After the first race I was confronted with problems from different cars that limited my result. In the second, I started and ran well but after contact with one of my rivals I lost several positions. This is a circuit where it is almost impossible to overtake and even though I had a good chance near the end, my rear tyre was completely worn. It was not the result we wanted but we learned a lot and are sure that everything will be different at Spa,” he said.

Meanwhile, Guerin did not hide the frustration of the outcome of the first race: “Everything was going quite well. I had a good run and it was looking good and then the touch from Melker forced me to lose positions. 13th seems a fair result. In the second race, on a difficult circuit to overtake, I failed to do any better. I had to make a pit-stop to change tyres and it did not help me climb places. But the car is much better and I think we are becoming more competitive,” said the Brazilian.

The next round of the GP2 Series will take place in Belgium, first weekend of September.