Sunday Report: HRT – Double Withdrawal for a First

The first race for HRT drivers this season ended with a double retirement, although Vitantonio Liuzzi could have finished the race if not for a damaged rear wing. Encouraging race debut for the Spanish team, which hopes to see the checkered flag in China.

Narain Karthikeyan – Abandon

« I would have preferred to finish the race and accumulate more kilometers, but that was not the case. There were some issues with the water temperature, so we had to withdraw from the race to avoid damaging the engine. The car’s balance was not perfect, but we gathered some information thanks to Tonio [Liuzzi] because he almost finished the race. It’s a shame because I was just finding my rhythm when I was forced to retire, but now I am focused on China where I will try to finish the race. »

**Vitantonio Liuzzi** – Retirement

« It’s a shame to have failed 8 laps from the finish because our goal was to see the checkered flag. We encountered a small problem with the rear wing and had to stop. It’s a shame because we had a really good start, and I was able to overtake a few cars. It was an interesting first lap, but then our pace wasn’t competitive enough, and those cars were able to overtake me. After that, it was really a complicated race because the car was oversteering and sliding a lot during the three stints we did.

We need to work on the car’s balance and settings for the future. We knew we wouldn’t be exactly where we wanted to be, but today, it was important to drive as much as possible and get more information on the car. Now we have data to work on.

Colin Kolles

« We withdrew our two cars for safety reasons. Narain’s engine was overheating, and we advised him to stop. Tonio [Liuzzi] was close to finishing the race and felt instability at the rear. We brought him into the pits twice to check the problem and saw that the rear wing was damaged, so we decided to stop him just as a precaution. Despite everything, it wasn’t such a bad day when you consider it was our first race and our first chance to test the car in race conditions. There were no major problems, so we must progress for the next race in China, where we hope to finish. Our lap times weren’t bad compared to the leading teams, which shows there’s a glimmer of hope. »