Friday: Virgin suffers from Cosworth engine failure
The day's report for Virgin is very mixed this evening. Timo Glock completed only 12 laps before his Cosworth engine broke, while D'Ambrosio managed to complete his entire program despite some delays. The team is therefore determined to do better tomorrow, especially since the car seems to perform better here than in Malaysia.
Timo Glock – 22nd and 23rd:
«It was not a very good day for me. We encountered many problems. In my first practice session, I had a problem at the rear. We were able to fix it. During the second session, the engine broke. I could only do 12 laps today, and I was never able to focus my work on adjusting the car, which is very frustrating.»
Jérôme D’Ambrosio – 20th and 22nd:
I’m happy with my performance today, and it’s a shame we couldn’t improve earlier. I ran on hard tires, but I didn’t have a good stint in the second session. I hope it goes better tomorrow and that we are closer to the times we expected to achieve today.
John Booth – Team Director:
«This Grand Prix weekend here in China is not off to the best start. This morning, we waited for track conditions to improve before driving and at that moment, Timo Glock had a problem… In the afternoon, the Cosworth engine broke down and we couldn’t do better. He stayed in the garage for too long. He couldn’t try the soft tires and therefore improve his times. Jérôme d’Ambrosio was luckier and made good progress with the car. Unfortunately, he had a problem with the underbody once the hard tires were fitted. So it wasn’t the best possible stint, but a good one nonetheless. We will be there for the rest of the weekend hoping for better.»
Mark Gallagher – Head of F1 Cosworth:
« The Glock CA312 engine had a broken valve this afternoon. It’s believed that during disassembly in Australia, the engine swallowed a very thin piece of metal which then damaged the valve… The engine had been inspected but seemed fine for the tests. The engine covered 352 km, so the breakage was not entirely unexpected. »
