An alternate strategy, topping up with fuel on lap seven during an early yellow and then being able to stay on track as the leaders pitted, allowed Martinez to make up a handful of positions, at some points being the quickest car in the field. After the last pit-stop shuffle was completed, the Mexican found himself in eighth position but, although he managed to catch Tagliani with one lap to go, lapped traffic kept him from finding room for a move. Eighth was still a career best for Martinez, however.
"It's a shame that we had mechanical problems during qualifying because we had a great race car today and I think, if we could have started farther up the grid, we could've fought easily for a top five spot," he said, "The first stint of the race was very tough, as I was on the 'reds' and had very little grip, I knew we couldn't push too much, so I just held back and saved fuel. After we changed tyres, things changed completely, I was able to pass a bunch of cars and the team came up with a great strategy that kept pushing us to the front. It was a long race but I just kept pushing every lap and it definitely paid off."
Viso was working on saving fuel when, in traffic, he encountered HVM team-mate Nelson Philippe, who was preparing to enter the pits. The two cars came together, with Viso suffering minor damage, althoug he was able to continue without any issues. His race was fairly smooth after that, with the exception of a stall in the pits, but he struggled to climb higher than his eventual ninth.
“This is what happens when you qualify at the back," the Venezuelan sighed, "That is why qualifying is very important.
"Other than that, when I had the red tyes on, my car was slower but, when we put on the black tyres, I was flying - nobody was quicker on the track at that point.”
![Will Power - Team Australia/KV Racing Technology Dallara-Honda [pic credit: IRL/Payne]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/418436.jpg)
