World Series by Renault rookie Giedo van der Garde put in a sterling performance to cross the line fifth in Monaco, despite racing with a painful shoulder injury incurred in the early stages.
The 22-year old Dutchman made up a position off the line to run fifth from the start, but contact with another car dislocated his shoulder, leaving him struggling to change gear. Fortunately, slower laps under a short safety car period allowed van der Garde to somehow pop his shoulder back into its socket, and he continued to drive, in pain and under constant pressure from Ben Hanley, for the remaining distance to claim five points from potentially the toughest track on the WSbR schedule.
"Giedo did a fantastic job today," team manager David Lowe commented, "He had a good start and showed what a great racer he is to cope with a very painful shoulder
injury during the race."
Victory Engineering team-mate Charlie Kimball suffered pain of a different sort, as his Monaco debut turned sour less than a lap after lining up in an impressive 13th position on the grid.
With only 40 minutes experience on the challenging street circuit, the 22-year old American out-performed more experienced rivals to claim a spot on row seven, but his
weekend was cut short when Alejandro Nunez speared into him on lap one.
"It was a disappointing weekend for Charlie," Lowe added, "He did a great job yesterday to qualify 13th, having never driven in Monaco before, but unfortunately he didn't have the chance to show what else he could do after becoming the victim of someone else's accident."
van der Garde and Kimball now have three weeks to wait until the next WSbR outing, at the Hungaroring, in mid-June.
![Giedo van der Garde tested with Victory Engineering in Valencia and looks set for 2006 race seat [pic credit: Renault Sport media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/283372.jpg)
