Manning leaves Brands disappointed
Darren Manning didn't leave Brands Hatch with the result he would have liked. The British driver finished 10th after spending too much time stuck in traffic. The Walker Racing driver came second out of the three-stoppers - Alex Tagliani finishing ahead of him in eighth - and felt that fifth would have been in his grasp if things had gone more his way
"We weren't getting very good fuel mileage and I had to make three stops, which hurt us," he said. "I could stick with anyone on track and I think we were one of the fastest cars in the middle of the race. After starting out fastest in Saturday's practice sessions, it's a little bit disappointing to finish 10th."
Manning admitted that a necessary compromise in set-up options for the European legs of the Champ Car championship was always going to disadvantage some teams more than others.
"We were running a weird kind of set-up for this track, which is not really an oval, but we always knew we would be compromised round here. We're also giving something away to the Lola chassis at the moment, but having said that, we expect to go better in Germany."
Apart from an over-ambitious passing attempt at the Druids hairpin, which resulted in a marble assisted trip across the grass, Manning struggled with traffic, in the pits and out on the short 1.1-mile course.
"I had a moment behind Fernandez after one of the pitstops. Coming down the pitlane at 35mph, they (Fernandez's pit crew) ended up just letting him out in front of me. I got right up under his wing at Druids, but with full tanks and cold tyres I ran onto the marbles and that just drags you off.
"I also had a bit of a moment on the restart after the yellow, lots of cars were getting sideways. I also think the acceleration cone was a bit too far from Clearways (the final corner) because you had to slow down to get round it after the safety car pulled off. Then I lost at least six seconds running behind Monteiro and a group of backmarkers, I made it back up, but none of it helped.
"The best thing was the crowd, it was great to see packed grandstands and to feel the support of the fans. I hope we have better luck next time."
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