Istanbul: iSport qualifying report

Giedo van der Garde (NED) -- P12
Diego Nunes (BRA) -- P18
Note: will start from P15 and P21 after grid penalties

Traffic and penalties for luckless iSport duo....

iSport were back in action today at Istanbul Park for round 3 of the GP2 Series. After contact with the barriers in practice the iSport mechanics worked furiously to repair Brazilian Diego Nunes' car in time for qualifying. With glimpses of promise early on in qualifying both drivers were hindered on the second set of tyres by yellow flags and traffic. In a session where only 1 second covered to top 18 these valuable fractions of a second made all the difference. To add to iSport's woes both drivers were handed 3 place grid penalties for failing to sufficiently slow their vehicles in a yellow flag zone during the earlier practice session.

Giedo van der Garde

"It was ok. The first set of tyres we were in the top 6. But with the second set we were a bit disappointed as the first flying lap I did I was quick but the last sector a car blocked me so I backed off. The next lap I was quick through the first sectors again but the car in front went off just in front of me and then came back on track and the tyres were finished. We were P12 but we also got a penalty because this morning I did a quick sector time under a yellow flag so we have 3 positions penalty now"

Diego Nunes

"I went well on the first set of tyres; I think I was about P11. But with the second set of tyres I could not get a quick lap with yellow flags and traffic. It was really close in times even 2 or 3 tenths quicker would have been about 10 positions. But we also got penalised down to 21st, they gave us a 3 position penalty. There is nothing we can do but try and have a good race and try to finish P8. The crash in practice was a small crash, a silly crash actually but the car was perfect after the team fixed it for qualifying".

-credit: isport