Monte Carlo – May 27, 2007. Fairuz Fauzy’s
Monaco World Series by Renault race lasted only a handful
of laps after he was forced to retire with a mechanical
problem.
After making a terrific start off the line, the Cram Competition
made two positions as the field filed around the tortuous
streets of Monaco for the opening lap.
As Fairuz dispatched both Italian Marco Bonanomi and Frenchman
Guillaume Moreau at Ste Devote the safety car was suddenly
deployed following a collision between Charlie Kimball
and Alejandro Nunez.
Shortly after the restart, Fairuz felt an imbalance at
the rear of his car and as he approached the tight right-hander
at Mirabeau the rear wheels locked up and he went straight
into the escape road.
On getting his ‘Macho’ sponsored Dallara back
to the pits, the team discovered a problem with the suspension
and the cause was a broken rear damper. He tried to continue
but eventually retired his car after just 16 of the 25
laps.
“This is such a big disappointment and a really
big shame,” said the Malaysian. “We had the
pace over the weekend and would have been in a position
to get some points in this race – but it’s
just one of those things and there is nothing we can do
about it.”
Fairuz said he first felt a problem with the rear of his
car as he approached the starting grid, then after the
safety car period it got worse. “Initially the team
thought that it might be a problem with the roll bar. But
it was obvious there was no chance to continue so we retired
the car.”
With big hopes for success on the streets of Monaco, the
Etihad Aldar Spyker Formula One test driver has six weeks
now to focus ahead of the next race in Budapest [July 14/15].
“This is such an important year, but the competition
is so high that you can’t afford to lose anything
to your rivals,” says the 24-year-old. “With
such a long break to the next race we can sit down, clear
our heads and focus on the next part of the season and
then start our championship campaign.”
Monaco race result
1 Alvaro PARENTE, TECH 1 RACING, 25 laps, 37m 48.007s
2 Sebastian VETTEL, CARLIN MOTORSPORT, 25 laps, 37m 49.280s
3 Salvador DURAN, INTERWETTEN.COM, 25 laps, 37m 55.197s
DNF Fairuz FAUZY, CRAM COMPETITION, 16 laps, 32m 20.957s
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