News
Marko completes both GP2 debut races
23.06.2008
Fisichella Motor Sport International had a difficult weekend in Magny Cours, France at the fourth round of the GP2 Series 2008 as the team came away with no points. Marko Asmer joined the team to race alongside Roldan Rodriguez, who has competed in each race for FMSI in 2008. The team collected plenty of data to prepare for the next round in Silverstone, where they will aim for strong points finishes. Marko said, "For me the aims of Magny Cours were to get familiar with the car and track as I had never been to the circuit before and had just one day of testing in a GP2 car beforehand. My aim was to stay in the races and I achieved that both times. It was good to get some experience and of course I'm very happy to be racing again. Hopefully we'll make some progress in Silverstone."
Friday morning's free practice session offered thirty minutes on the undulating 4.411km Magny Cours circuit for the team to optimise car set-up to suit the circuit's difficult combination of fast corners and chicanes mixed with slow turns. ART Grand Prixs Romain Grosjean topped the practice times with a lap time of 1:22.676. Rodriguez completed 19 laps and set the seventh fastest time, five tenths of a second behind Grosjeans time. Amser clocked a fastest time of 1:24.918 after his 12 laps of practice.
Rodriguez and Asmer experienced a difficult qualifying session, with the Spaniard setting the 20th fastest lap and the Estonian the 23rd quickest time, securing tenth and twelfth row grid slots for the FMSI team for Saturday's feature race.
In the 41-lap race Asmer brought his FMSI car home in 17th position, completing his first race distance in GP2. Unfortunately Rodriguez failed to finish the feature, retiring eight laps before the flag due to a clutch problem and putting him at the back for Sundays shorter race.
In the 28-lap sprint, both drivers made the finish, with Asmer crossing the line in 11th, after running as high as fifth during the race, and Rodriguez finishing in 16th position.
Round five of the 2008 GP2 Series, which will host races nine and ten of the season, will take place at the Silverstone circuit in Great Britain on 5 and 6 July.
Paolo Coloni, Team Principal: Although we didnt get the results this weekend, we got a lot of information during every session and we know exactly what we need to do for Silverstone for both drivers. I am confident we can run in the top eight at the next race. We didnt have much luck with Roldan yesterday with the clutch problem in the race, but it was good to see Marko running as high as fifth. However, we ran a safe intermediate set-up for him, which wasnt the best for his position, but we didnt want to take any risks and we wanted him to finish the race. We got good and consistent feedback from both drivers this weekend so we now look forward to Silverstone, where it should be easier for us and we should be able to put in a much better performance.
Saturday Race Result
1. Giorgio Pantano (Racing Engineering) - 10pts 2. Lucas di Grassi (Campos) - 8pts 3. Pastor Maldonado (Piquet Sports) - 6pts 17. Marko Amser (FMS International) DNF. Roldan Rodriguez (FMS International)
Sunday Race Result
1. Sebastien Buemi (Trust Team Arden) - 6pts 2. Yelmer Buurman (Trust Team Arden) - 5pts 3. Luca Filippi (Super Nova International) - 4pts 11. Marko Amser (FMS International) 16. Roldan Rodriguez (FMS International)