June 19, 2013

 

Vod:Bul's Canadian Grand Prix week report finally hits GPVWC! Quotes from Morten Wernersen, Dan Rusu and Mikko Jakonen inside.
The Vod:Bul Racing camp flew into Canada high off the back of Wernersen's Monaco podium. Although slightly disappointed in his qualifying time, Wernersen still lined up a solid 8th place on the grid. Dan returned to the car after sitting out Monaco, with fighting spirit, securing 19th position on the grid despite his ongoing wheel issues.

A wet race, brought an interesting turn of events. After the Monaco result, both drivers were hungry to take full advantage of the potentially unprepared to pull in the points.

It was a rocky start for Rusu, having to pit on Lap 2 with suspension issues leaving him a lap down. The car was obviously challenging, but Rusu was determined to bring the car home. Five cars went out in the early laps, leaving Rusu in 16th position. After what must have been a trying race, Rusu's fortunes changed. Bulgin's crash cost him over a minute, allowing Rusu to sweep into the points.

Wernersen also had arduous beginnings, sustaining small, but significant damage to the suspension. However Wenersen's skills behind the wheel became once again apparent, with both Davakos and Grimseth buckling under the pressure, gaining Wernersen two places.

After catching and taking Monaco race winner Loknovski, Wernersen's sights were fixed on the podium. A fierce battle with Schroten displayed both speed and skill, making up enough time for a very confident pass of Schroten once he pitted. A solid and well earned 5th place was on the horizon, but a small error at Turn 3 drove Wernersen into the wall. The damage to the car allowed Loknosvski to take 5th position. Wensersen tookhome a well-merited 6th position.

Morten Wernersen

"RAIN! opted to go for the wets, which was a good choice as it was just wet enough to put them on, but too wet for dry tires, got a bad start and was lucky I wasn't caught up in something, had a little tangle with Tommi Kuivonen, which damaged my front left suspension a little, got passed Davakos and Sindre too and was in 7th by then after about 10 laps, had a battle with Pavel and Roy got passed Pavel, but was stuck behind Roy as he was too fast down the straights, so I decided to take an early stop on lap 20, as the wet tires were much more durable than the options I had planned to run on, so I possibly could leap frog Roy, the plan worked and I managed to keep Roy and Pavel behind me, Roy got into trouble, and felt behind, so now I only had Pavel to keep behind, everything was going good when suddenly I spun out of t3 and slightly hit the wall, but even with it only being a small bump it was enough to damage the right side suspension too, so now I had a set of yellow front suspension glowing at me, which made the car steer a bi to one side, and of course I lost my place to Pavel and was back in 6th, the next car behind me was Sindre but he was 15sec back, Pavel had a little meeting with the wall to I think because he lost some time at one point, so I caught up with in 3-4sec off him but couldn't get closer, I then had another spin and lost 10 sec. But kept my 6th as Sindre now was over 20sek. behind me, so I had to settle for 6th, but good points, it could have been a 4th."

Dan Rusu

"To be honest i love the track but even if is not Monte Carlo, still got the worse from my wheel.
I think after 1st or 2nd lap my wheel blocked, damages were huge, heavy damage on front right suspension, broken win .I Stayed in pit about 40 sec and i was already 1 lap down, in the second part of the race lost another wing and damaged also rear wing.3rd incident lost the car pushing the car to much in the last corner, damaged the left front suspension, crawled to pit stop. At that point i just wanted to finish. In the last lap i was praying that somebody DNF, the guy in front of me had an issue and i got 15th.
Frustrating and disappointing race, one of my worse races but glad that i got another point. I hope Korea to be my last race with this wheel, which is blocking more often.
Hope in the next race to do better."

Tanskanen Racing

The Tanskanen guys were hoping to bounce back from what had proved to be a very tough round in Monaco. Some kinks in the armour were still apparent, as qualifying proved with Jakonen starting 21st on the grid and Williams lining up in 28th; not the best lap times for either driver.

Race one was not likely to leave any fond memories for either driver, with both getting caught out with early race incidents. Jakonen's car suffered significant damage and could not finish the race. Williams, despite being a lap down managed to respectfully finish the race, classified in 31st position.

The Tanskanen team's luck did not improve much with race two. The race was over in minutes, for both drivers crashed out on the first lap.

With so much hope being rested on Canada, it proved to be a bitterly disappointing result. Rumours are circulating that Williams will be leaving the team for a higher series. At this stage the team will be hoping that Korea brings a new chapter for Tanskanen...

Mikko Jakonen

R1: "P20, tried to avoid the S/F line pile up but got rammed from several directions. No wings, no suspension, finally DNF later in the race due to car getting undriveable."

R2: "P35, unbelievably no carnage at the start. Missed the wet offline braking point badly at T3, sorry for any trouble I might have caused there. Ended up sideways on the T4 kerb, tried to carefully reverse away from the track for a safe rejoin, then a couple of late pack cars came flat out cutting the corner straight at me. DNF there."

Once again VBM has been on an emotional rollercoaster of highs and lows. For Vod:Bul,
Korea is a place to build on the momentum of Canada and keep the points flowing. For Tanskanen it's a place to pick themselves back up and show their real potential. All in all its one notch on the bumpy road to success.