Adam Carroll had a potentially perfect GP2 comeback ruined by clutch problems at the start of Sunday's sprint race at Istanbul Park, having already opened the Fisichella Motorsport International team's account on Saturday afternoon.
Despite not having sat in the all-new GP2 Dallara until practice started on Friday morning, the Ulsterman qualified an amazing third for the feature race as he reprised the strong immediate form with the Italian outfit first seen in 2007 but, in a possible portent of what was to come, he made a poor getaway and was swamped by the frontrunners on the run to turn one.
Falling to eighth, Carroll maintained position throughout the 34-lap race, taking seventh from Javier Villa in the latter stages, but ultimately crossing the line in eighth after the Spaniard retook position on the final lap, as the FMSI car again suffered a problem with the clutch.
Due to the series' reverse grid system, however, the Briton's eighth place him on pole for Sunday's shorter 23-lap sprint race and, this time, he made a good start. However, despite being quick off the line, the FMSI machine slowed before the opening corner and retired shortly after with a recurrence of its clutch problems.
“I've really enjoyed the weekend and it's good to be back with the team, but it was a real shame about [the sprint] race because we had a cracking chance to win," Carroll said, "The car felt good on the warm up and my initial start was very good, but it was when I took second gear that the clutch just went and that was that.
“I was disappointed with my start [in the feature race], and really don't know why that happened. It was really important for me to do the full race distance in the new car as it's a bit different to drive, so that was a positive. We had good pace throughout the race and picked up that final point.”
![Adam Carroll - FMSI [pic credit: GP2 Series]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/438558.jpg)
