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Clivio finished a strong 4 th place in today’s GP2 race at Monaco, scoring his and the DPR Direxiv™ team’s first points of the season. After the disappointment of Barcelona, which promised so much and ultimately delivered little, today’s result was a great morale boost for everyone in the British team in the lead up to their home race at Silverstone – the GP2 Series’ next port of call. For the Monegasque driver delight at scoring points was tempered with disappointment that he was not able to make it a podium finish on his home ground. “I’m happy, but would have been happier if I was on the podium. I made a great start and moved up to 4 th by the first corner, and then got past Olivier who was struggling and crashed at the same place I crashed last year. “From there on I just ran my own race. I was running in 3 rd and just tried to put in some consistent lap times but the tyre degradation went pretty quickly and I lost grip in the rear. My pit stop on lap 15 [of the 45-lap race] was okay but not perfect and we stopped a little later than some others. After that I was running in 4 th but started to struggle with gear selection problems going down the box. I nearly crashed twice going into the first corner - it was really close to going completely wrong! Into the chicane I also had these problems so messed up the braking a bit which lost me a bit of time. The track was getting quicker towards the end of the race but the tyres were getting worse so I wasn’t able to make up any further ground. “I tried to be as consistent as possible and finished really close to Premat which is why it was so disappointing to have missed a podium place. But I’m looking forward to the next race even more as we are getting better all the time, and I think we’ve got a real chance of winning. Silverstone was where DPR won their first race last year. We had a bit of luck this time, it’s back with us, and now we have to make the most of it.
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MONACO RACE REPORT 
Monaco . Home to Princes, playboys and the Piccione family. Clivio was born and grew up in the tiny Principality on the borders of France and Italy, and spent his childhood years watching the Grand Prix taking place each year and dreaming of being part of the action. Names such as Rascasse, Ste Devote, Casino Square and the Swimming Pool are familiar to anyone who has watched a Grand Prix at Monaco, but for Clivio these are part of his childhood as well as part of motor racing history. “When I was a kid I always went and watched the racing. Monaco is a very special place anyway so be from that area and now competing there is even better. I am very passionate about the country I live in and racing here in something special, very emotional. “I love the whole track here, it’s something fantastic, but the Swimming Pool is where I get the biggest buzz. When you get that right, and you are going over 200 kph between two walls ….it always feels pretty good! The format of this weekend’s racing is slightly different to other weekends and there are two 30-minute practice sessions instead of the usual one. It all started quite well for the DPR Direxiv team with Clivio and his team mate Olivier Pla taking 5 th and 6 th places in the first session. There was a promise of much more to come. Qualifying today was straight after the second practice session and Clivio was comfortable going into it, feeling happy with both the set up of the car and the overall progress of the team. In the end though he had to settle for 6 th place on the grid, but was cheerfully philosophical about his 3 rd row spot. He had been extremely fortunate to avoid an accident which involved Ernesto Viso and Olivier (the Frenchman got to Ste Devote and found Viso’s car bouncing off the tyre wall and could not avoid hitting it) and managed to shoot up the escape road. “I’m a bit disappointed with 6 th to be honest because, in Monaco, it’s all about qualifying. I got blocked on my best lap and there were so many yellow/red flags it kind of disrupted the session. Everyone was jamming up into Rascasse, you couldn’t find a good lap without too much traffic. If I’d had a better run, we would have been in p2/3 for sure. Now we have to work on our strategy for the race; if it’s right we would win. I’m happy with the car and it feels good to drive and anything is possible in Monaco. “I don’t feel under any particular pressure considering it’s my home race. In fact, I’ve never felt so relaxed. Everyone is here to watch me, to push me on and I’m enjoying that. I’m not putting any pressure on myself and it’s nice that I’m sleeping at home in my own bed. I have my girlfriend beside me, and am feeling really cool. “It will be both physically and mentally very tough tomorrow as you have to concentrate all the time here. There’s no room for mistakes. I’m looking forward to the race and we could do really well.”
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