Parthiva 11th in F2 at Spa
Spa Francorchamps, 24 June 2012: Indian racing driver Parthiva Sureshwaren finished Race 2 of the FIA Formula Two (F2) Championship at Spa Francorchampsin in 11th position after the race was red-flagged just into 3 laps due to severe wet and unsafe conditions. Parthiva passed 4 cars on the third lap and crossed the finish line in 7th place but Red Flag rules take results on the previous lap thereby pushing him to 11th position. Parthiva had earlier finished Race 1 also in 11th position.
The weekend started off very strongly for the Indian as he set the 4th fastest time in the Friday Practice session, his highest position all season. For the first race of the weekend he qualified in 10th position after making a mistake on flying lap. He had a tough start to the race fell back to 12th position before overtaking PlamenKralev& Max Snegirev to be in a points scoring position. He then fell to 11th position on the final lap when Chinese driver David Zhu got past him.
Qualifying for Race 2 started with a dry track with Parthiva yet again qualifying in 10th position, ahead of Championship contender MatheoTuscher. With dark clouds looming the race was always going to be a wet one. Due to the adverse weather conditions, the race was started behind the safety car. Parthiva passed Hector Hurst and Dino Zampiarelli on the third lap as cars were falling by the wayside. However, with visibility deteriorating, the race director was forced to deploy the red flag and suspend the race for driver safety.
Unfortunately, the 40-minute time limit expired before conditions improved with the result declared final and drivers awarded half points. Due to the regulations the classification was taken from the lap before the red flag came out.
Parthiva showed real pace this weekend but was unfortunate to finish just outside the points in both races.Parthiva said,“I had one of my best starts to this weekend when I finished 4th in practice. The car felt really good and I was really confident going into qualifying. I made a mistake on my fast lap which left me in 10th position, which was a shame since we could have been in the Top 6. In the race I struggled with my rear tyres and ended up just outside the points.”
“While qualifying was run in dry conditions we always knew the race was going to be wet. For the first time this season the car felt comfortable in the wet and I seemed to have more grip than the guys around me. I managed to move up to 7th on the third lap while other cars were struggling to stay on track. When the race was red flagged I was happy I could at least move up to 7th but was later told that results would be based on the previous lap. It is a shame but am really optimistic for the rest of the season after our performance at Spa.” added Parthiva.
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