Jules Bianchi: “My season starts in Valencia”
Valencia, 22 June - For teams and drivers in the GP2 series, there has been a long gap since the last race in Monaco and now that’s over as they pitch up in Valencia for the fourth round of the season. Jules Bianchi is determined to turn things around after a less than satisfactory start to his year.
“Unfortunately, the first part of the championship was packed with lots of negatives,” commented Jules. “I made mistakes, then there was some bad luck and there were times when the team was also unable to reach its objectives. We have used this long break to go over the situation in detail, me and the ART team people together. I spent a lot of time with them trying to understand what went wrong and how to fix it.”
The Valencia street circuit is nothing new to Bianchi, as he had a great debut on the Spanish track last year. “2010 went well for me there,” recalled the Frenchman. “I started by setting the third fastest time in qualifying, going on to get a good second place in Race 1. Unfortunately, at the start of the second one, I was hit, but nevertheless I still have fond memories of this rather untypical street circuit, which actually has some good passing places. I drove the track on the simulator at the start of the week and I can’t wait to drive it for real, without feeling under any pressure, even if I really want to do well. We now have no less than four events in just over one month, which actually means eight races in total and a lot of points up for grabs. The championship is still very open and I want to start picking up the points that match what I feel is a very good performance potential.”
In Valencia, the GP2 cars will use the Pirelli soft compound tyres for the first time, as the Italian manufacturer feels these will be the best suited to the track characteristics and the high temperatures expected over the weekend. After running to a unique schedule in Monaco, the GP2 timetable returns to normal for this Spanish weekend: Friday features free practice at 11.55, then qualifying at 15.55, both sessions lasting half an hour. Race 1 gets underway on Saturday at 15.40 and the final race of the weekend starts at 10.30 on Sunday.
Credit: Ferrari S.p.A. (www.ferrari.com)
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