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ROMANIAN HEAT MAKES RACING TOUGH AT BUCHAREST RING
By Lewis James Houghton
Aug 24, 2008, 22:31
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In contrast to last year’s rain soaked street race, temperatures of 38 degrees made the 2008 Bucharest City Challenge a demanding weekend for the Scuderia Ecosse team.
Saturday’s one-hour qualifying race saw Fabio Babini get off to a flying start with the car leading right up to the driver change over. Jamie Davies then took over behind the wheel and maintained Fabio’s earlier form around the tight street of Bucharest until a spin in the final quarter of the race knocked the team back to 7th position on the starting grid on day two.
The oppressive heat was the talk of the circuit in the Romanian capital on Sunday as Fabio took charge of Car 62 for the first stint. In the opening 33 minutes Fabio fought his way up to fourth place before handing over to Jamie, who having refuelled and changed to new tyres pushed hard throughout the final stage of the race. By the end of the race Car 62 crossed the line in fourth place and despite achieving a respected result under difficult circumstances there was disappointment that the team was unable to repeat last year’s podium finish.
As he cooled off immediately after the race Fabio Babini said, “The Bucharest circuit is just awesome and we were really unlucky not to achieve a podium finish this weekend. The car and Pirelli tyres worked well together and our race strategy was really good. We deserved better than fourth place but the heat made things very tricky for all of the team, but they did a great job over the two days”.
Jamie Davies added “The car was really fast this weekend and Pirelli have done a superb job with the tyres. I was really able to push the car and the consistency of its performance was encouraging, from start to finish. It has been a tough two days for everyone involved and the team, as ever, did a fantastic job”.
Team Principal Stewart Roden commented “I really thought we were heading for the team’s first podium finish this year, which would have been a real achievement because we have always looked at this being a transitional season for the team. Even though we have just passed the half way mark, behind the scenes an incredible amount of work has already taken place in preparation for next season. Jamie and Fabio really pulled out all the stops over both days this weekend, in unbelievable heat and it was a credit to them both that we achieve fourth place finish. Now we need to look ahead to the next race in Brno next month”.
For additional information on the Scuderia Ecosse 2008 Bucharest City challenge Round 6 race results, CONTACT: Lewis J Houghton +44(0)7990823936 lewis@lewspics.com
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