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RUSSIAN TIME GP2 Series, Round 1, Bahrain Qualifying

04/17/2015

RUSSIAN TIME GP2 Series, Round 1, Bahrain Qualifying

There was mixed feelings for the Russian Time GP2 team after first day action at the new season’s Bahrain championship opener. Twenty-year-old Russian driver Artem Markelov qualified impressively in the top half of a high calibre field, while 2014 double race-winning driver Mitch Evans had to ponder 13th place on the starting grid, which the team suspected was down to an engine issue.

The qualifying session for Saturday’s feature race was topped by McLaren-affiliated Stoffel Vandorne, who lapped in 1m39.237s. The time gave the Belgian more than three tenths of a second advantage over Japanese ART team mate Nobuharu Matsushita. Third place was claimed by GP3 champion Alex Lynn, who makes his graduation to GP2 with the DAMS team.

Markelov, after setting 11th quickest time in practice, repeated that in qualifying (1:39.995) to put himself in a strong position to score points in the opening race, while Evans was 0.04s slower.

Artem Markelov: “I improved on my last qualifying run, carrying a bit more speed into the corners and found some time. Qualifying was my weakness last year compared with my race pace and it is satisfying to qualify in the top half of the grid. I’m looking forward to a strong race and hopefully scoring points.”

Mitch Evans: “I was at a bit of a loss because the car felt fine and we were fourth after the run on the first set of tyres. Although 13th is obviously not what I wanted, it was a bit of a relief to discover the engine issue when the team studied the data. I will be doing my best to make up positions and it will be interesting with GP2 using DRS (Drag Reduction System) for the first time. I need all the help I can get!”

Svetlana Strelnikova, team principal: “It was a great performance by Artem. He has done a lot of work on his approach to qualifying and it looks like he has cracked it and made strong progress. But obviously I’m sad for Mitch and just hope that we can solve his problem and that he can make progress at a track which at least offers a reasonable chances to overtake, particularly in the first sector of the lap.”




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