GP2: NEW PODIUM AT BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX
After clinching the World Champion crown in 2013, and a transition 2014 season, KENNOL starts the 2015 races in a very good position, with a 1st podium for the very 1st Grand Prix this year, at Bahrain, thanks to the talent of a promising american driver, Alexander ROSSI. It’s been a perfect occasion for both cars to shine in the front row and the team is now in a pretty motivated mood for the rest of the season.
We are all here to win that Title and to win back our Driver World Champion crown. Everything else is definitely not my first priority!
Alfonso de ORLÉANS-BORBON, President
▌ TRANSITION AFTER THE WORLD CHAMPION TITLE IN 2013
The main rule in GP2 Series is that you have to quit the series as soon as you have won the World Champion Drivers title, and never come back to the series. Thus, the aim of the category which is to train the future F1 stars is reached. However, this rule has deep effects on the team and its technical partners, who stay after the title, because even if you have the pride of winning this championship, you need to start from scratches the day after, since such a victory is the fruit of a longshot program, working closely with the drivers whose driving style deeply influences the car development…
Clinching the World title in 2013 has been both a huge victory and a big stop to the team’s project. Everyone has to restart from scratches basically in 2014. And meanwhile you still fight against the same other teams, who kept the same drivers, the same settings, a season-long experience on the very same packages, etc. This way one can easily understand the difficulty in being successful 2 years in a row in this sport!
After a soft transition in 2014, and a few encouraging podiums, Racing Engineering decided to push harder with first class goals in 2015, re-boosting the motivation of the whole crew, as well as the programs of the victorious partners, including KENNOL. But even if technically the team is still a leader, you need to find new drivers. Englishman Jordan KING joins the team on car #7. Despite being only 21 years old, he already shown great potential, especially in the Junior categories. Alexander ROSSI is to drive car #8 for the spanish team. At 23, it’s going to be his first complete GP2 season but he already gathered experience on these tracks with the same cars in the last few years. 2015 is eleventh season of GP2 series, and only 4 teams are still here since the early days: Arden, ART, DAMS, and Racing Engineering.
▌ BAHRAIN TORTURES MEN AND CARS
Preparation and race conditions on International Bahrain Circuit are gruelling: hellish temperatures, a hunidity level we don’t even know in Occident, a tough race in the middle of the desert… This sounds like a very complicated season kickoff, but luckily the Winter Sessions ended on the very same track a few weeks ago, which has given the teams a pretty accurate vision of the conditions to expect. The 2 cars started on 3rd and 4th row, then Alexander ROSSI quickly took over his young team mate.
Soon the yellow flag was out due to small accidents, but when the race starts again, the american shows how precise and agressive he can be, taking over every single one of his opponents lap after lap. He eventually took the lead of the race, but had to slow down and let 2 cars passing him, because of the wear of his tires, preventing him to keep his incredible rythm, and his killer trajectories.
ROSSI is 3rd at the World Driver Championship, and Racing Engineering stands on the second place. The 2015 season starts in a very interesting basis, let’s see what happens on the next Grand Prix!
