The Azerti Files
26/07/2011
While Azerti may have missed out on a second consecutive win at their home Grand Prix, after Davide Rigon success at Zolder last year, team principle Wim Coekelbergs still came away from the weekend in a positive frame of mind.
With three driver´s in Neel Jani, Yelmer Buurman and Tristan Gommendy all looking capable of winning races, things began well. “The weekend started very promisingly in Free Practice, but we had a few small setbacks in qualifying. Yelmer got a little blocked on a really quick lap by the Brazilian car, otherwise he´d have been P1 in his group.“
“We sent Neel out very early which is not ideal, but we wanted to set a time to get to the shoot out. So unfortunately it meant that he was drawn against Yelmer. We thought at that stage that we could get two or three cars through but we only ended up with just one, Neel´s.”
“Then in the semi-final we had the Dolby issue. Craig stalled his car right in front of Neel, which meant that we had to go out first, and it left Neel just a little bit wound up. I have to say Craig put in a great lap to take it.”
Assen pole man Tristan Gommendy was surprisingly amongst the slowest qualifiers, so the team decided to look to Race Two for the French driver to make his mark. “In Race One we sent Tristan out on old tyres keeping new ones for the second race, but he made a mistake in the final chicane and ended up in the wall – which was not the best position for him!”
“Yelmer was quick in the race but the problem at Zolder is executing the overtaking opportunities and we didn’t want to take any silly risks as he’s running for the championship.”
While Craig Dolby took the race win, Jani battled him all of the way. “Neel took second in the first race which was very good. He´s certainly quick enough and I feel his first victory will come very soon.”
“In Race Two Yelmer had a great run, and we got both cars into Race Three. Unfortunately we had the same situation with Neel that we had in Assen. He was blocked very heavily again by the Australian car, otherwise I think we´d have won the Super Final. Yelmer did what he could but over five laps its tough starting in P7.”
With Jani eventually taking third on the podium, it was more of a case of ‘what-might-have-been’ for the Azerti team. However, the better than expected weather and a large and enthusiastic crowd helped create a fantastic atmosphere around the famous old Belgian circuit, which the Azerti team and their guests readily contributed to. “We had over 400 guests on Sunday and we thought that we were going to have a very big party. I guess that we still did, but we had planned to christen the swimming pool by throwing the winning driver in, but sadly no one ended up in the pool!”
“We sent Neel out very early which is not ideal, but we wanted to set a time to get to the shoot out. So unfortunately it meant that he was drawn against Yelmer. We thought at that stage that we could get two or three cars through but we only ended up with just one, Neel´s.”
“Then in the semi-final we had the Dolby issue. Craig stalled his car right in front of Neel, which meant that we had to go out first, and it left Neel just a little bit wound up. I have to say Craig put in a great lap to take it.”
Assen pole man Tristan Gommendy was surprisingly amongst the slowest qualifiers, so the team decided to look to Race Two for the French driver to make his mark. “In Race One we sent Tristan out on old tyres keeping new ones for the second race, but he made a mistake in the final chicane and ended up in the wall – which was not the best position for him!”
“Yelmer was quick in the race but the problem at Zolder is executing the overtaking opportunities and we didn’t want to take any silly risks as he’s running for the championship.”
While Craig Dolby took the race win, Jani battled him all of the way. “Neel took second in the first race which was very good. He´s certainly quick enough and I feel his first victory will come very soon.”
“In Race Two Yelmer had a great run, and we got both cars into Race Three. Unfortunately we had the same situation with Neel that we had in Assen. He was blocked very heavily again by the Australian car, otherwise I think we´d have won the Super Final. Yelmer did what he could but over five laps its tough starting in P7.”
With Jani eventually taking third on the podium, it was more of a case of ‘what-might-have-been’ for the Azerti team. However, the better than expected weather and a large and enthusiastic crowd helped create a fantastic atmosphere around the famous old Belgian circuit, which the Azerti team and their guests readily contributed to. “We had over 400 guests on Sunday and we thought that we were going to have a very big party. I guess that we still did, but we had planned to christen the swimming pool by throwing the winning driver in, but sadly no one ended up in the pool!”
