HRT had a mixed day at Spa today. Pedro de la Rosa enjoyed a strong battle with Caterham’s Heikki Kovalainen towards the end of the race, whilst Narain Karthikeyan failed to see the chequered flag after a crash due to a loose wheel.
de la Rosa didn’t escape the first corner carnage unscathed either, and had to pit for a replacement front wing. After that, it was yet another solid run to the end of the race by the experienced Spanish driver, who came close to beating Kovalainen.
“It was an intense race from start to finish. I didn’t completely avoid the accident on the first corner because, besides the pieces of front wing flying through the air, I was trapped between some cars with no space and I got hit a couple of times. That’s why I had to stop before planned to change the front wing,” he explained.
“It went well after that; we were able to fight with the Marussias and Kovalainen until the end. We’ve still got a small way to go to be where we want but today was a fighter’s race but also a fun one.”
“I got off to a very good start and the car was fantastic throughout the first stint, enabling me to keep up a good battle with Pic. But after the second pitstop I had some issues with the suspension and spun off track. It’s a shame because I was having a good race ahead of a Caterham, but I’m happy with our performance and I hope to continue with this level in Monza next week,” Karthikeyan added.
“It was an exciting race for us because we battled with a few of our rivals for a large part of the race. Unfortunately, after Narain’s last pitstop, we had a problem and he had to retire when he was in the middle of a sensational race. The positive aspect is that Pedro was able to finish the event and that the performance of the cars was good so I’m happy because we’re on the same positive line as before the summer break,” Luis Perez-Sala, the team’s principle concluded.
