Jeddah Corniche Circuit

SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX

Commentary: Cameras:

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September 13, 2000
Published on tags: Superleague
Gijs Herpers, the Dutch driver of Goffin Racing, expressed himself to the press this morning, and took his chance to explain the situation that led to his disqualification in the Italian GP.

"I drove qualification, which was good for me because I didn't expect to drive a low 1.26 after my attempts to go below 1.27. After I changed the setup I drove immediatly a second faster. So 13th position, good starting point for the race and just one place behind points!

I started to drive a race what was very difficult. I had a lot trouble with my start and I decided to save after every lap I completed.

After the start I was 3rd but because of my little experience I had a lot of trouble with other cars. Because there was not much time left I decided to drive and see where it ends. I spun off two times and had to make a pitstop because my nose was driven off.

After my pitstop I drove my fastest lap of the game and a lot faster then the other cars were, 1.26.893. The result the computer gave me for the race was 34.20.580.

I didn't realise what this time was till I spoke with my manager and teammate. We were confused about this time because it was 5 minutes faster then my teammate who is more experienced and faster. I checked again and still the PC gave me that 34 minutes. Because I couldn't drive another race and we didn't know what was wrong I submitted this time.

Now I know that it is possible a bug in the game (or the GP3Commander from alphaf1, wich I used to edit the quickrace after asking Dan how to do that).

I totally agree with my DQ because it is not fair to al 12 drivers who are now in the points, I hope you see it was not my mistake and I hope this won't happen again (with me or someone else).

At last: I read that I was talking to other drivers about my time. I just discussed this with my teammate and teamowner (of what I can remember). I know for sure that I didn't just gave anyone my time without telling that I didn't know how it could be so fast because I knew that it was a bit strange!

I hope you all can forgive me if you think I cheated (which is not!). If everyone now still thinks I'm cheating then please tell me because I don't want to be in a championship were everyone thinks I'm a cheater!"

Gijs Herpers is now preparing for the Hungarian GP, in which he qualified in 13th position.