TheSportsCampus

Caterham Racing is celebrating the team's first race win of the season after Giedo van der Garde took control to win the first GP2 race of the Barcelona weekend in convincing style.

A clean start saw both Giedo and team mate Rodolfo Gonzalez leap several positions in the opening lap and maintain strong pace throughout the 37 lap race. The team chose to wait for the race leaders to make their pit stops before calling in the Dutch driver for two new rear tyres. The crew then made and excellent pitstop and sent Giedo back out at the front of the field, from where he led the race until the chequered flag and took his second podium finish of the season.

Rodolfo Gonzalez also drove an intelligent race from P20 on the grid, passing several cars in a series of clean overtaking manoeuvres. He showed good pace throughout the race and finished P15.

Caterham Racing Team Manager Phill Spencer: "I am incredibly happy with the result today. All the hard work from the engineers and the pitcrew has paid off so well done to them! We had a good pit stop strategy that worked well today but I must also say big congratulations to Giedo for driving a faultless race from the start. Rodolfo also had a good clean race which is very encouraging. His pace was right up there with the rest of the pack so now it's just a case of getting him further up the grid in Friday qualifying. I would like to thank everyone in the team for their hard work, as well as all the guys back in England. We said we were aiming for a bigger trophy and we got it! Bring on tomorrow!"

Giedo van der Garde (P1 / Best lap 1:36.304): "I am really happy for the whole team. Yesterday we were a little unlucky but we had a good car and I am just glad we could show that today. Winning the race from P5 is a fantastic result I think I drove a controlled race and maintained the tyres well. Our lap times were very consistent throughout the race so I am very pleased about that and the car felt very good so it looks like all our efforts have paid off today. I have been working very hard with the team recently to get things how I want them and they have proved we are capable of winning races, and getting our hands on a bigger trophy! It was very nice to be on top of the podium and hearing my national anthem - it gives me even more motivation for the next race, so let's see what we can do tomorrow."

Rodolfo Gonzalez (P15 / Best Lap 1:36.707): "First of all well done to Giedo! I am very pleased for him and the whole team for getting P1, it is very well deserved. For me - my race today started well. I made a few good, clean overtaking moves in the first couple of laps but I think we lost a little time before our pit stop, so perhaps we should have come in a little earlier. But overall we had good pace and the tyre degradation was better than in practice, so I am pleased with that. It was just a shame we had to start so far back but we have a good car andI will do my best in the race tomorrow."

Caterham Racing Chief Engineer Humphrey Corbett: "What a fantastic result for the team today! I must admit it was a relief when the chequered flag fell as we took a bit of a gamble on our tyre strategy this afternoon. We chose to only change Giedo's two rear tyres, whilst most teams changed all four, but as a result we had a quicker pit stop and passed the guys in front to take the lead. Giedo then managed to hold onto the tyres until the end of the race so it paid off for us and it was a risk worth taking. It is also pleasing to see how consistently both cars performed today - Giedo set one of his quickest sector times with one lap to go which shows he drove within his limits all afternoon. I am also happy for Rodolfo. Although he was further back he had a similar car and said he was very happy with it so we just have to get him up there in qualifying. All in all we are very happy, so let's bring on tomorrow and see if we can do the same again!"