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05.07.2010 10.28

STEN PENTUS STARS IN BUDAPEST HEAT

WORLD SERIES BY RENAULT

ROUND 6

HUNGARORING

 

FRIDAY

Free Practice:

Following the last two rounds of the championship which proved both disappointing and difficult for Fortec Motorsport and Sten, the two free practice sessions went well with team's focus of the day being preparation for the two different downforce levels required by the regulations for the two races. As a result, Friday's lap times did not truly represent the team's competitiveness, but the information gathered was invaluable, particularly as the extremely high temperatures predicted for the two race days would be a very big factor in tyre wear and degradation.

 

SATURDAY

 

RACE 1

Qualifying:

All cars were set up to run the obligatory low downforce for the Saturday race and with high track temperatures, tyre management for the session was critical with Sten posting his best laps at the end of the session to grab an excellent 4th place for Saturday "low downforce" race.

Red Bull Junior Daniel Ricciardo took a dominant pole position over half a second ahead of Championship leader Mikail Aleshin and Red Bull Junior Brendan Hartley who edged Sten by only two tenths and half a tenth respectively.

Sten's engineer Stuart King was pleased overall with the result but felt there was more to come, "Sten did a very good job to put his best lap together but I think with the work we did yesterday, we can look forward to a strong race.”

 

Race 1:

Despite starting on the dirtier side of the grid, Sten made an excellent start for the run to the first corner and positioned himself perfectly to pass Hartley around the outside into turn 1, immediately latching onto second placed Aleshin's tail. While Ricciardo soon began to open out a lead on Aleshin, Sten was forcing the Russian to work very hard to hold onto second.  Just as Sten's rhythm was building and the pressure on Aleshin increasing, the Safety Car was deployed to retrieve a car from a dangerous position.

At the re-start Sten resumed his attack for second but in the process quickly lost rear tyre performance and began to fall away to then come under pressure for the remainder of the race from a charging Brendon Hartley. Sten and Brendon turned in a great display of close quarter driving providing a scintillating last lap as they raced side by side to the checkered flag, with Sten taking the final podium position by1.4 seconds from the young Red Bull F1 test and reserve driver.

Sten was delighted to be back on the podium and thoroughly enjoyed the race, "I got a good start and was able to get the advantage on Brendon into turn 1. The car felt pretty good initially but after the Safety Car I really struggled with a lot of over steer and I started to fall back just as Brendon was starting to go quicker. We then had a great battle and I just managed to hang on for third. We learned a lot today from troubles we had after the Safety car and I think we can put this to good use for Race 2 on Sunday".

 

SUNDAY

RACE 2

Qualifying:

With the downforce level for this race left to the teams discretion, the team increased downforce for qualifying which produced a different mix of pacesetters at the front with Ricciardo and Hartley struggling to get the Tech1 cars competitive compared to the Saturday speed, while Aleshin was again looking strong and 2009 EuroCup Champion Albert Costa impressing. For most of the session Sten did not feature in the top ten, but he turned in a stunning performance on his last lap to take a sensational pole position, the only driver to break into the 1minute 32 second bracket with a time of 1.32.957. Behind Sten, Costa (1.33.069) and Ferrari Academy driver Daniel Zampieri (1.33.118) filled second and third on the grid, with Saturday winner Ricciardo placed seventh and Hartley tenth.

The Hungaroring is a very technically demanding drivers circuit, so for Sten it had extra value, "I like this track because you have to get everything absolutely right and there's absolutely no time to rest, so to take my first World Series pole here is specially enjoyable, and it gives me a lot of confidence for the race". 

 

Race 2

From his pole position Sten made a perfect start to lead unchallenged into turn 1 and by the end of the lap had already opened a comfortable gap to second placed Costa with Aleshin and Greg Mansell right behind. Sten continued to open out an unchallenged lead which allowed him to make his mandatory tyre stop and resume in the lead which he then stretched to over 6.5 seconds when the race was "red-flagged" with a lap remaining because Hartley's Tech1 car was blocking the track at turn 3.

It was an almost perfect performance with pole position and a dominant win with only fastest lap missing from Sten's Sunday successes, "Everything went perfectly today and I'm really happy to get my second win of the season. After qualifying I felt confident we could have a really good race, but everything turned out better than I could have imagined. It's great to have such a good weekend to go into the summer break, and I'm really looking forward to the last three rounds of the championship. The Team worked brilliantly all weekend, my engineer gave me a great car, and the result is a great reward for all the effort everybody has made".

The win was also very satisfying for Fortec’s boss Richard Dutton who put this team together from scratch at the end of last year. Dutton's delight was clear, "To take our second win this year in such dominant fashion is tremendously rewarding for the whole team. I am also really pleased for Sten and his group who kept their faith in us to put a new, competitive team together for this year. Sten did a superb job in both qualifying and the race. He thoroughly deserves his success as his commitment, hard work and maturity have set a great example for us all. He really drove a perfect race, all the more impressive in view of his very limited race experience when he stepped into Word Series eighteen months ago."

 

Sten now lies third in the Championship standings with 69 points behind Aleshin who leads with 97 points and Ricciardo on 86 points.

 

World Series Renault resumes at Hockenheim on the 4^th-5^th September, after the summer break.