Caterham Racing Barcelona race preview

The GP2 Series returns to Europe for the Spanish Grand Prix this weekend at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, marking the start of the European season of the GP2 series 2012.

Being an official GP2 test track Caterham Racing has plenty of data from the circuit to call on for this weekend’s race, but this will by no means lessen the challenge to both cars and drivers. The technical 4.655km track has a good mix of high and low speed corners and the bumpy surface adds to the physical demands the driver endures, as well as being abrasive on the tyres. This event will also see the GP2 Series use the Pirelli soft tyre option for the first time this year.

Looking forward to the Barcelona Grand Prix is Team Manager Phill Spencer: “As ever we are feeling optimistic coming into our fourth round of the season. We are all glad to be back in Europe and pleased to be at a familiar track where we have a lot of experience of testing and races. With one season under our belt we come here feeling a lot more confident than we did last year.

“Since the freight returned back from Bahrain last week the team have been working incredibly hard to come here well prepared and in good shape for the race. The drivers are looking forward to it too. They know this circuit well and were quick here in testing and the team did ok here last year too, so let’s hope we can have a good qualifying session, even better racing and add to our trophy cabinet!”

Rodolfo Gonzalez: “I feel relaxed and confident coming here following a positive Formula One test and I feel like a different driver since the last time I tested here with the team. We have been making good progress and I hope to continue doing so here in Barcelona. I feel confident we can do a good job here and be in the points. This is a great circuit - it’s fun to drive on but it’s quite hard as well, on the cars and the tyres so it will be interesting to see how the soft tyres run this weekend. The atmosphere here is great too. I saw lots of Venezuelan flags when I did my track walk earlier so I hope to give my supporters a good race to watch!” 

Giedo van der Garde: “I am very happy to be back in Europe! The travel is a lot easier and I really like coming to the Barcelona circuit. It is a technical track and not so easy on tyres or the drivers but I am looking forward to the race. We have been working hard over the past two weeks since returning from Bahrain and step by step I think we are making improvements while to get us to where we want to be, so let’s hope we can take home some more trophies this weekend! I think the biggest challenge for everyone here will be using the soft tyre for the first time this year. It will be tricky to see where we are, especially in qualifying, but hopefully we will have a solid car that will help us to qualify at the front and have a competitive weekend.”

Chief Engineer Humphrey Corbett: “It is nice to be back in Spain for the first European race of the season. We had a successful test here a few months ago and have learnt a lot in the races since then. Engineering wise we will adapt what we learnt in Malaysia and Bahrain and will update the setups we ran here in testing to give us the best possible chance of success.

“I feel reasonably confident ahead of this event. We secured pole in Bahrain and I hope we can capitalise on that and get both our drivers up there for qualifying. We will be running both the hard and soft tyre here - it is the first time the soft tyre option has been run this season so it will be new territory for everyone. We have done lots of work to try and make our tyres last longer so I look forward to putting this all into practice and having a strong race weekend.” 

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