Tag Archives: Luca Filippi

General, Motorsport Mondial, News

GP2

LUCA Filippi blazes to Singapore pole-

Luca Filippi lit up the Singapore circuit with his run to pole in this evening’s qualifying session in Singapore, claiming the top spot in the Series’ first ever night run in a red flag shortened session ahead of Max Chilton and Esteban Gutiérrez.
 
The Italian took the top spot with two minutes remaining with a time of 1:59.444, claiming pole by less than a tenth mere seconds before Nigel Melker hit the barriers underneath the main grandstand and brought the session to an early close.
 
With the track now dry thanks to the warm temperatures and the first F1 practice session, conditions were ideal for a scorching battle under the spotlights: the Lotus pair James Calado and Gutiérrez set the early running, along with Felipe Nasr, but when Series leader Davide Valsecchi took the top spot eight minutes in it looked as though he had taken another step towards the title.
 
However, with most of his competitors in for fresh tyres, Jolyon Palmer had other thoughts and stole provisional pole from the Italian, prompting a rethink up and down the pitlane. As the clock ticked down most of the field were improving, with Chilton, Filippi and Gutiérrez all jumping Valsecchi on the timesheets, and many more looking to move up with them.
 
Unfortunately for them, Melker’s crash came with so little time remaining that no one would have been able to run another lap, and the session was brought to an early end. Behind the top three Palmer, Fabio Leimer, Valsecchi, Johnny Cecotto, Stefano Coletti, Luiz Razia and Sergio Canamasas will instead have to channel that frustration into tomorrow’s feature race.
 
Singapore – Qualifying
Driver
Team
Laptime
Laps
1.
Luca Filippi
Scuderia Coloni
1:59.444
10
2.
Max Chilton
Carlin
1:59.496
10
3.
Esteban Gutiérrez
Lotus GP
1:59.908
12
4.
Jolyon Palmer
iSport International
2:00.102
11
5.
Fabio Leimer
Racing Engineering
2:00.113
9
6.
Davide Valsecchi
DAMS
2:00.287
10
7.
Johnny Cecotto
Barwa Addax Team
2:00.335
11
8.
Stefano Coletti
Rapax
2:00.364
9
9.
Luiz Razia
Arden International
2:00.365
11
10.
Sergio Canamasas
Venezuela GP Lazarus
2:00.634
9
11.
Stéphane Richelmi
Trident Racing
2:00.671
10
12.
Nathanaël Berthon
Racing Engineering
2:00.695
9
13.
Felipe Nasr
DAMS
2:00.720
11
14.
Giedo van der Garde
Caterham Racing
2:00.906
10
15.
James Calado
Lotus GP
2:00.954
10
16.
Rio Haryanto
Carlin
2:01.031
10
17.
Marcus Ericsson
iSport International
2:01.204
10
18.
Nigel Melker
Ocean Racing Technology
2:01.308
10
19
Julian Leal
Trident Racing
2:01.474
9
20.
Fabio Onidi
Scuderia Coloni
2:01.656
6
21.
Simon Trummer
Arden International
2:01.961
10
22.
Victor Guerin
Ocean Racing Technology
2:02.110
10
23.
Rodolfo Gonzalez
Caterham Racing
2:02.260
10
24.
Rene Binder
Venezuela GP Lazarus
2:02.376
10
25.
Jake Rosenzweig
Barwa Addax Team
2:03.218
10
26.
Ricardo Teixeira
Rapax
2:04.174
11
General, Motorsport Mondial, News

GP2

LUCA FILIPPI BACK TO THE TOP FOR HOME VICTORY AT MONZA…

Luca Filippi has claimed a dominant win on his return to the series with a strong start and some judicious overtaking at his home circuit to take the chequered flag in this afternoon’s feature race in Monza, ahead of Johnny Cecotto and Marcus Ericsson.
 
The win was set up with a solid start as poleman Max Chilton moved across to cover his rivals: the Italian was the first man to the Rettifilo, but was unable to slow down enough to make the second part of the chicane. Filippi ceded ground to the Briton but led Ericsson, Davide Valsecchi and Cecotto around  his home circuit as he waited for the pitstops.
With hot and sunny conditions, and little in the way of collisions, there was no need for the field to pit early, and so it was simply a case of who blinked first: Filippi, Valsecchi and Fabio Leimer came in on lap 8 (the Swiss driver and series leader Luiz Razia coming together on his outlap), forcing Chilton and Ericsson to pit next time by. The Briton emerged side by side with Filippi, who popped out of the tow for a pass between Lesmo and Ascari to put one hand on the trophy.
Cecotto stayed out, and in the lead, until lap 13, eventually emerging just in front of Ericsson and looking for more while, behind them, Leimer and Felipe Nasr came together at Roggia: the Brazilian was out on the spot while the Swiss driver started to hunt down Valsecchi. The pressure 5 laps later, with the Italian cutting the corner at Roggia and having to hand track position to his rival.
Chilton was losing ground to Filippi, and was clearly struggling: Cecotto made short work of the Briton at the Rettifilo on lap 20, with Ericsson repeating the move 2 laps later while Filippi ran away, building up an unassailable lead. And when the flag dropped he eased back to win from Cecotto by 4 seconds, with Ericsson one second behind, and Chilton holding on for P4. Leimer was the next man across the line (and holder of the fastest lap), while Valsecchi finished in 6th but looking in his mirrors at Joylon Palmer. Stefano Coletti mugged Esteban Gutiérrez for P8 and tomorrow’s reverse pole in the closing laps, with Julian Leal staying out long to claim the final points position in 10th.
Razia’s retirement meant that Valsecchi has reclaimed his lead in the driver’s championship, 212 points to the Brazilian’s 204, while James Calado stays on 160, ahead of Gutierrez on 152. The Lotus pair combine for 312 points in the team’s title, ahead of DAMS on 297 and Arden on 208, with more to play for in tomorrow morning’s sprint race.
General, Motorsport Mondial, News

Motorsports Mondial

2011 GP2 Car

Fabio Leimer leads Day 2 Rapax driver quickest at Yas Marina Circuit in post season tests The second day of GP2 Series post-season testing at Yas Marina Circuit saw a few changes in the drivers’ entry list with some racers switching teams and new ones joining, namely Pal Varhaug at Dams, Daniel Macinelli at Rapax, Dani Clos at Ocean Racing and Luca Filippi at Coloni.

The morning session was dominated by Fabio Leimer at the wheel of the #14 car for 2010 Team Champions’ Rapax: the Swiss topped the timing sheet from the moment the pitlane opened until the chequered flag, leaving only scraps to his closest rivals. Charles Pic at Addax looked like the man who could come the closest to Leimer’s best laptime as he stayed P2 for most of the session, but with five minutes left on the clock, GP2 returnee Filippi picked up some pace and finished two tenths from Leimer.

The session was briefly interrupted by three red flags, the second one due to Jake Rosenzweig damaging his Super Nova car on a curb and ending the American’s session prematurely. In the afternoon, yesterday’s quickest man James Jakes – this time at the wheel of a Racing Engineering car, set the early pace, until Sam Bird at Dams bettered his laptime. On the one hour mark, Michael Herck at DPR reminded everyone that he had been the fastest man on track in yesterday’s morning session by going top again, but not for long: Leimer and Josef Kral at Addax bettered the Romanian’s laptime. It was then Stefano Coletti’s turn to place his Trident car at the top of the timesheet.

The fight for today’s top honour continued relentlessly with GP3 Series Champion Esteban Gutierrez at ART claiming the top spot temporarily until Leimer went quickest again, improving his morning’s laptime by four tenths. He was then never dethroned despite Kral’s best efforts: the Addax man finished just one tenth behind the Swiss. In the dying seconds of the session, Clos improved, edging Bird out of the Top 3. Gutierrez finished best rookie of the day. The post-season test will resume on Saturday.