JULY 31, 2006

Premat in trouble

ART driver Alexandre Premat has been given a 10-place grid penalty in Hungary for crashing into Hiroki Yoshimoto in the GP2 race at Hockenheim on Sunday. Premat had a poor race on Saturday and started only 19th on the grid on Sunday and found himself fighting with Yoshimoto. In the end Premat shoved Yoshimoto off the track but made such a mess of the move that he too spun and both men retired. Yoshimoto showed his displeasure with an impressive display of Italian-style gesticulation which left little doubt about his views of the lacklustre Frenchman, who has been overshadowed this year by his team mate Lewis Hamilton. The high point of Premat's season was when he shoved Hamilton off the road in Spain to win his only GP2 victory of the year so far. With a 10-place penalty in Hungary Premat is unlikely to win there although there is always hope that he could aim to finish eighth in the first race and thus get pole position for the second, as GP2 has the irritating system of reversing the positions of the top eight finishers which allows middle-ranking drivers the chance to look better than they are really are.