Kazuki's Column from Germany
24 July 07
My two third-places at the Nurburgring, added to the two thirds I got at Silverstone, mean that I’ve scored more points in the last four races of the GP2 Series than any other driver. That’s a great achievement and I have to thank my DAMS team for giving me a good car at both tracks.
My preparations for the weekend were not helped by the weather. I got only two dry laps in practice before rain began to fall and while the car handled well in the damp conditions, it was the only wet running we had all weekend!
Qualifying was dry, so we elected to do one long run at the start of the session to allow me to learn the track. I raced at the Nurburgring last year in Formula 3, but that race was on the short circuit, so the whole of sector two was new to me. We then made a small change to the set-up of my car before my second run and I qualified sixth.
Race one went very smoothly. I made up one position at the start, to be fifth, and then pitted at the end of lap two. That might seem like an early time to stop in a 35-lap race, but it was the right thing to do. I could lap in clean air early on - setting my fastest lap on lap six - and made up two places when others pitted later on.
My car was slightly faster than Lucas di Grassi at the end of the race, but I couldn’t find a way passed. Still, third position was a good result and it meant that I started in sixth place for race two.
I made up one place at the start of Sunday's race and then had to push very hard because I had Timo Glock running behind me. When he dropped back, I could focus my attention on passing Pastor Maldonado, which I did into the chicane. It was a clean manoeuvre and a very satisfying one. In the end, I was quite lucky to get third place because Adrian Zaugg slipped off the track ahead of me, so I must thank him for that!
Looking ahead, we have the Hungaroring next, which is a track I have never seen before. It looks quite twisty, so qualifying is going to be very important there. Prior to that, however, I am testing for Williams at Jerez on Tuesday, so it’s a busy few days ahead.
Until next time,
Kazuki
