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Adam Carroll lost what looked to be another certain podium on the first lap of race one at Magny Cours when championship leader Lewis Hamilton clattered into his rear at the Adelaide hairpin, necessitating a long stop for a new rear wing and dropping the Ulsterman from third to the back of the field.
A great start by Adam pushed him up from sixth on the grid, and he was running easily with the front runners. The collision was heartbreaking for the Racing Engineering mechanics, who were soon hard at work in the pitlane. Meanwhile Javier Villa had a grip problem at the start and had his hands full trying to hold off his rivals all around him. Despite the problems, however, both drivers were soon able to run at a strong pace throughout the remainder of the race. Adam lost almost two laps in the pits, but when he re-emerged his pace was consistent with the front runners, while Javi soon had his car sorted and was able to fight hard against his rivals.
At the end of the race Adam was a lap down in twentieth position, while Javi passed a number of drivers, including Hamilton, to finish seventeenth behind eventual race winner Timo Glock.
Disappointed team principal Alfonso de Orleans Borbon stated after the race: "Obviously the race was a great disappointment for us: Adam had a good qualifying session and was up to third place, so a podium was definitely there to be taken. It's just a shame that he was hit out of contention, but these things happen sometimes, unfortunately. The boys did a great job to get Adam back out so quickly, and at least he was able to run well afterwards. Javi had a great drive after some early problems, and his overtake on Hamilton was great to see. We can't despair too much, and we'll just hard to work hard tonight and see what happens tomorrow."
A sanguine Adam Carroll later noted: "I had a pretty good start and the race was going well until the hairpin, when I was hit hard from behind under braking and my rear wing was broken. It lost us two laps in the pits, which is a big shame, but at least the lap times were good afterwards. We could have been in a strong position, but that's racing. We'll just have to have a good start tomorrow and see what happens."
Javier Villa sat cooling down in the truck after the race, and said: "At the start of the race I had some grip problems and I really needed to watch out not to damage my tyres too much. I had to still push a bit, because I wanted to keep my position, but I went off track. After the pitstop the car felt much better, and I was able to lap with good, consistent times and fight with the others. Hopefully we'll have the car like that from the beginning tomorrow, and then I can really get out there and push."
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 06 January 2007 )
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