The Hindu : Sport / Racing : Motor : Mallya thrilled

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Monday, Apr 07, 2008
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Sport - Racing : Motor

Mallya thrilled

Sakhir: Force India owner Vijay Mallya was elated after both his team drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil completed the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Fisichella finished 12th, outpacing even Lewis Hamilton, while Sutil finished 19th.

Mallya said that his team showed its potential as a true midfield team.

“Reliability was the priority and the double finish has us vindicated,” Mallya said.

“The idea was to bring both the cars home and we achieved just that. Giancarlo finished ahead of McLaren, Williams, Red Bull and Toro Rosso cars.

“It was a tough race, tough on the cars and the drivers but the strong finish gives us confidence about a good show in the European circuits,” he said.

Asked if he expected Fisichella to come up with a show like this, Mallya said, “We did not qualify well. If you remember, he finished 12th in Saturday’s practice session as well.

“But then we made tactical errors in the qualifying session. Otherwise, a better grid position would have resulted in an ever better show.”

Though Sutil managed his first finish of the season, the German is yet to live up to expectations.

Mallya, however, was not much worried about the youngster.

“I’m not worried with his performance.

“Racing is like this, you can’t predict how the car would behave. I have seen enough strange incidents happening.

“Today his car was damaged early that resulted in a broken nose. So I’m not going to hold it against him,” Mallya added. — PTI

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