By: DAMS Racing
September 5 2016
DAMS driver Alex Lynn rounded off the ninth weekend on the GP2 calendar with an assured display and points in the Sprint Race from the iconic Autodromo Nazionale Monza (September 2-3), while team-mate Nicholas Latifi was demoted from eighth with a post-race time penalty.
Race number 250 in GP2 Series history was looking like a more complete performance from the DAMS pair when compared to the mixed fortunes they endured on Saturday.
A frenetic opening to Sunday's Sprint saw both Lynn and Latifi running their own clean race, picking their way through from 12th and 15th respectively to strong points-paying positions by the halfway stage.
After a mid-race charge, Lynn took a net fifth in a photo finish over the line, with a trio of cars just up ahead, while Latifi looked to have sealed eighth. Post-race, the latter was docked 20 seconds and demoted to 15th for failing to react within the allotted time to the deployment of the Virtual Safety Car.
The Feature Race on Saturday saw the duo hampered early on. Lynn was due to line up sixth on the grid but was forced into starting from the pit lane, leaving the Williams Martini Racing Development Driver with work to do. Latifi, having qualified 14th, was compromised by a flat-spot on his option tyres enforcing a change of strategy and a longer-than-planned stint on the medium compound rubber.
The Englishman responded to his setback, battling from the rear of the field through to 12th by the chequered flag. Renault Sport Formula One Team Test Driver Latifi reached as high as ninth after a string of incisive moves but fell away to 15th place as the Canadian contended with fading tyres and a badly-timed safety car which halted his charge.
Round 10 of the 2016 GP2 Series season will take place in Sepang (September 30 - October 2). DAMS are currently fifth in the Teams' Championship; Lynn lies eighth in the Drivers' classification and Latifi is 16th.
Alex Lynn, P12/P5: "In general, it was a bit of a disappointing weekend. We qualified seventh, which isn't what we'd want then we had to unfortunately start from the pit lane in Race One. We battled through to P12 and the chance at finishing in the top eight was taken from us. In the second race we had good pace - coming from P12 to P6 but from my side it's just a shame that with the speed we had we didn't follow through with the results we deserved."
Nicholas Latifi, P15/P15: "It was a bit of a disappointing one for us. In qualifying, I didn't get the potential out of the car. It would have put me around P8 where my team-mate was. In the first race, I flat spotted the option tyre early on which forced me to pit straight away - that was a mistake. I was forced to go much longer than anyone else on the medium tyre and struggled towards the end. I undercut a lot of people early on but it just became unmanageable and I slipped back. Race Two was much more complete. I made good improvements on the driving side and I moved forward which was great and got myself into the points before the penalty. There are things to analyse but we'll go from here."
François Sicard, Managing Director: "In Race One we had good pace until the safety car, which came at a bad time for us and Nicholas. It was going to be a good result. On Sunday, Nicholas did a good job coming through to P8 from P15. Unfortunately, he was penalised and lost out on points, dropping eight places for reacting too late to the Virtual Safety Car notification. It's a shame as he fought well for it. Alex performed strongly in the Feature event but with the long safety car period there was little time to progress further after starting from the pit lane. He got caught in traffic but his pace was strong. Without that, he could have finished fourth or fifth."
Canadians In BOLD