Fat Burner Racing Engineering were again hampered with engine woes as the team tested Roldan Rodriguez and Charles Pic on Wednesday in the second of the group GP2 test.
Following the first day, which saw engine problems curtail Christian Veitoris' efforts, the Spanish team worked through the night changing the Renault engine in the car, hoping the switch had cured the problem.
This time the unlucky man was Roldan Rodriguez. The GP2 veteran finished the morning session eighth fastest, three tenths off the pace of James Jakes. However, the afternoon session saw the return of engine problems, with Rodriguez forced to wait in the garage while the team completed yet another change of powerplant. When the change was complete it only left enough time for the Spaniard to complete 10 laps in the session, including his fastest lap of the day (1:12.500), which but him sixth fastest in the session as Luiz Razia led the session (1:12.416).
World Series by Renault alumni Charles Pic, driving the other car for the day had an equally eventful day. His lap of 1:12.837 was fast enough to put the 19-year-old 11th fastest in the morning session. The afternoon saw the Frenchman run on used tyres as he continued the test program, however the driver's times, which would put him 13thh fastest for the session were deleted as his car was found to be 2kg underweight by scrutineers, an error the team feels would not have given a performance advantage.
I think this was a positive day. It’s a shame we were so limited on running time due to the engine problems, especially in the afternoon,” said Rodriguez. “But I am less than a tenth off first. This is such a small difference which can be easily explained by having had little track time. We tried decent changes on the car, but the day was mainly characterized by us struggling to find the time we lost due to the engine change.”
Pic was similarly positive, despite his problems. “It was very good today. In the afternoon we worked on the car’s set up and found a good direction to follow. Before I came back for new tyres, on my last run, it felt like we made a good step. We then decided to come back to one of our morning set-ups. This was a pity, as we think the other would have worked better with new tyres.”
