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Once
again Frenchman Franck Perera , Prema standard bearer and member
of the TDA (Toyota Drivers Academy) Programme was on the podium.
On the German circuit of Norisring, near Nuremberg Stadium and in
the presence of more than a hundred thousand spectators our drivers
had a good performance. Also the Brazilian driver, Roberto Streit
was in the scoring zone, although he was conditioned by some problems
with the brakes during the qualifying session.
On Friday, Streit , Perera and Hiranaka were competitive from the
very beginning during the hour and a half of free practice and Streit
arrived third , Perera sixth and Hiranaka fifteenth. Bad luck for
the twenty-two-year-old Japanese who was not able to race the whole
session due to technical problem with his vehicle.
In the qualifying session valid for Sunday race Perera marked the
fourth absolute time, a tenth of a second behind pole position.
The other two Prema drivers had problems with brakes and were only
thirteenth (Streit) and nineteenth (Hiranaka). Certainly, the brakes
and the engine are the most stressed parts of the vehicle in a circuit
as Norisring, where the two long straights are joined by two hairpins
at 180 degrees and it is necessary to brake when accessing to them.
On Sunday, in the qualifying session valid for the starting grid
of the afternoon race Perera finished sixth, Streit eleventh and
Hiranaka fourteenth. During this session the leader and pole-man
Jamie Green had an accident and the steward had to stop the session
displaying the red flag. Later on the English driver was penalized
with twenty positions down in the grid by decision of the officials
for breaking the FIA Regulations and the behavior code. In this
way, our drivers ascended a position in the grid
The first race took place in the afternoon. Once more a podium for
Frenchman Franck Perera, leader of the Rookies classification. Fifth
place for Roberto Streit who was able to overtake and recover several
positions. Ninth position for Katsuyuki Hiranaka.
On the following day two of our standard bearers were involved in
accidents which compromised their positions in the scoring zone.
Franck Perera retired two laps before the end when he was fighting
for the fifth place. Hiranaka also had to stop two laps before the
end because his vehicle had been damaged. The only Prema driver
who ran the whole race was Brazilian Roberto Streit. He started
thirteenth and finished seventh obtaining other two important points
in the Championship.
Now, without coming back to Italy the Team will move to Magny Cours
where next weekend the sixth appointment will be taking place, contemporary
to the Formula 1 French Grand Prix. An exceptional event where all
the participants will fight to be protagonists.
Weather conditions were good the whole weekend with temperatures
around 20 degrees. It was cloudy only on Sunday.
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