11 OCTOBER 2011
Read what John, Timo and Jérôme have to say about the Korean Grand Prix
“The championship may have been decided but we can still look forward to some great racing in the remaining four races.” says John Booth, Marussia Virgin Racing’s Team Principal and Director of Racing.
“The team has done an excellent job getting from one race venue to the next in just over 12 hours. It’s been a very tight turnaround but we are now here in South Korea ready to go racing again and hopeful of a positive weekend ahead. The championship may have been decided but we can still look forward to some great racing in the remaining four races.
“We learnt a lot about the track in 2010 but of course this year we go there with the Pirelli tyres for the first time. We’re expecting to encounter a few challenges; finding the right set-up compromise is quite interesting here given the mix of long straights and tight, twisty sections. The track surface will have bedded in now, having been freshly laid just prior to the race last year, so we will see how the tyre choice plays out. The weather played a defining role in last year’s race but so far the forecast indicates a chance of rain earlier on in the weekend.
“I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate our reserve driver Robert Wickens, who won the WSR FR 3.5 Championship last Sunday while we were in Japan. He has done a great job this season and was a very worthy victor after a hard fight all year. We look forward to celebrating with him this weekend.”
“On the way to Korea I went to Kyoto. I took my bike with me and did a bit of cycling and training. I enjoyed last year’s race here in the rain. Let’s see what happens this year, but I’m sure it will be another interesting weekend for us again.” says Timo Glock, Race Driver #24.
“I’m looking forward to Korea; it’s still a young race and the track is quite good. It combines long high-speed straights and slow corners like the start of sector 2: three extremely slow zig-zag turns where you need to find a good rhythm, attack the kerbs a little as well as keeping the speed up. Then you have to accelerate hard out of Turn 6 towards a very fast sequence of turns where it’s very important to get them as clean as possible otherwise there’s a high risk of going off track. So in general there’s hardly a breather to be had in Korea, which makes it even more of a challenge.
“On the way to Korea I went to Kyoto. I took my bike with me and did a bit of cycling and training. I enjoyed last year’s race here in the rain. Let’s see what happens this year, but I’m sure it will be another interesting weekend for us again.”
“I feel that in the last two races - Singapore and Japan – I’ve built up a strong momentum which I hope I can continue to the end of the season. I’m learning so much with each new race and really enjoying all the new experiences.” says Jérôme D’Ambrosio, Race Driver #25.
“I have spent a couple of days in Tokyo before heading to Korea, l did some training and prepared myself for the race weekend ahead. I’m looking forward to this race – the track was definitely a fun one to drive last year, even with just my brief experience of it in FP1. It’s a very different kind of race, coming from somewhere like Japan where F1 is very established and the fans are just incredible with their support, to a new territory like this and seeing how it can grow from the grass-roots level.
“I feel that in the last two races in - Singapore and Japan – I’ve built up a strong momentum which I hope I can continue to the end of the season. I’m learning so much with each new race and really enjoying all the new experiences.”
Credit: Virgin Racing (www.marussiavirginracing.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment