| Race 2: Dumbrell follows through with finish in 12th |
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The Bottle-O Racing Team continued its good run at Abu Dhabi on Saturday with driver Paul Dumbrell finishing Race 2 in 12th position.
Dumbrell started Race 2 with a long view to the front of the field, but he was determined to make the most of the situation and by the second lap had pushed through to 17th position. The #55 Bottle-O Falcon had plenty of acceleration, but traffic hindered Dumbrell’s early efforts to move up the field. On lap 9 Dumbrell completed his first pit-stop of the race, rejoining the field back in 22nd. He swiftly put the car’s acceleration to good use, making a charge and claiming 13th within the next 10 laps. Dumbrell nudged the car up to 12th position before completing his second pit-stop on lap 26. The car rejoined the field with renewed pace, clocking its fastest lap of the race on lap 28 in a time of 1:59.1640. Dumbrell worked his way back to 12th by lap 33 and defended his position to the close of the race. The team did well to overcome the setback in qualifying and deliver a race performance with plenty of speed and a finish near the top ten. The team’s attention now turns to the next event, to be held in Bahrain in the space of only a few short days. |
The day’s events had an added degree of difficulty, with a mechanical issue arising in qualifying. The brake rotor nuts failed and Dumbrell had to bring the car into the pits for a change to a fresh set of rotors. The delay was costly and Dumbrell was unable to get the most out of the car during the session. He qualified 21st with a fastest lap of 1:59.5690.