Interview
Minì satisfied with ‘fun’ charge through to sixth from P21 in Melbourne Sprint
Gabriele Minì put in a performance to remember in the Melbourne Sprint Race, going from the last row of the grid in 21st to the points in sixth place.
The MP Motorsport driver was unfortunate on Friday to miss out on a stronger Qualifying result due to an issue that left him stranded without a competitive time.
One day later though and he was driving with a point to prove, scything his way through the field and into the top places.
Speaking in the paddock afterwards, Minì reflected on the ‘amazing pace’ he and MP had.
“Almost everything went well, straight away at the start we gained three places, then I gained two more, I don't remember exactly how, but I remember that after the second lap I was in P12. And then we just had an amazing pace so I could still save the tyres and keep on overtaking.
READ MORE
“We ended up in front of Alex at some point and just behind Martinus after the Safety Car restart. I managed to overtake Rafa and then Alex overtook me back. We had amazing pace, but I just tried a bit too hard and went in the gravel, so I lost a position there and then managed to stay where I was.
“In the end it was a P6, we gained three points from last basically which I couldn't imagine, so a very good one.”
He added that there had been expectations of moving forward in the race but not to the extent that he achieved.
The Alpine Academy talent already has his eyes on tomorrow, with a few more laps to play with and a lot of pace he says he didn’t have to show.
“It's amazing, especially in the Sprint where there are no pitstops, to be able to fight for the podium already if you are in the reverse grid is really good, but from last it's something that I didn't even think of.
“Today, for me, the goal was to try and score some points, but we knew that it was going to be really hard. But in the end with the pace we had and the pace I usually have around this track, we made it possible.
“It’s not so easy to manage while you are also attacking but I was quite calm, I was having fun in the car, so it was quite easy for me to be able to manage and attack at the same time.
“Even in the last laps if I wanted to, I could have pushed for the fastest lap. So it was clear that we had really good pace and we showed it.
“I am looking forward to tomorrow, we have ten more laps to gain even more places so we will see what happens.”
Asked what he thought was possible, the Italian driver said he was expecting another strong challenge for points but admitted things might have to go his way some more for a better result on Sunday.
“If everything goes smoothly, I think we can - I'm not saying fighting for the win but for sure we can again fight for the points at least.
“Today was a very chaotic race, if it went normally maybe we would have been in the same position in the end but not as easily because in the last laps we didn't really make up so many places, it was just fighting and losing time.
“We will see what happens tomorrow. Also, the reverse grid makes things a bit more chaotic because the quicker guys are starting more in the back and slower ones a bit more in the front so let's see what happens.
“We will try to have the same pace, I'm sure that both me and the team know what to do and we have some things that we can even improve for tomorrow. Then we will see how it goes.”