Mr. Buthe , You finished on position 2 after a very exiting battle between Goedhart and de Mautor. How do You feel about this result ?
I'm quite satisfied with this result after the prequalifiing times of Antoine and others. There was no way for me to lap Monaco under 1:28 , but I was concentrated on a stable race setup to have the occation to attack during the race. My team did a great job , the car was perfectly prepaired for a long race and over all I could manage a competitive pace.
What happened at the casino with de Mautor ?
This was my fault. I touched the railguard unfourtunately and spun. Antoine was only 2 or 3 seconds behind me and had no chance because I blocked the whole road. Sorry to Antoine.
But this was a very bad incident for my race. Unsure about the strategie of Jeroen and Antoine I tried to push for enough time gap to refill my fueltank around lap 30. At this time I thought I was quick enough to reach Jeroen and Antoine hadnt his best time at this point of the race. But the crash destroyed my hopes for a better result.
Did You had too much pressure to win the race ?
No , as we all know Monaco needs a patient driver. It was a question of loosing concentration.
But later on You had some good situations again
It was big fun to overtake Antoine when he was blocked a little bit at gazometer. Thats what the race let become exiting again.
Further more, when I saw that Jeroen entered the pits too early for a one stop strategie in lap 27, I thought he wouldnt have enough fuel on board and also Antoine 's pitstop was too early .
I wondered whether they had to stop again for a splash at the end of the race. I was neerly sure about it, because I didnt knew the real reason. So I didnt push when Antoine passed me when I left the pits. At this time he won a gap of more than
8 seconds and I wasnt able to close it. This was my second fault in this race. Now I know he had a bit more fuel as it was necessary for 30 laps.
And Your race impressions over all ?
Very exiting and fair competition with all drivers. No single problem with passing a backmarker, absolute great sportsmanship on all positions in the grid.
A fine race !
thanks for your statement and good luck at Lime Rock Park !
Thank You too !
