Problems and penalty scupper Viso podium bid.

In a race full of hard-luck stories, Ernesto Viso insists that he could have finished in the points - and probably on the podium - had his misfortune not decided to gang up on him in 37 laps.

Fortunate to complete more mileage than many of his rivals in both practice and qualifying, the Venezuelan started the opening race of the new GP2 season from fourth on the grid, which became third when poleman Nicolas Lapierre failed to start.

In a race full of hard-luck stories, Ernesto Viso insists that he could have finished in the points - and probably on the podium - had his misfortune not decided to gang up on him in 37 laps.

Fortunate to complete more mileage than many of his rivals in both practice and qualifying, the Venezuelan started the opening race of the new GP2 season from fourth on the grid, which became third when poleman Nicolas Lapierre failed to start.

Although a slightly tardy reaction to the rolling start allowed Giorgio Pantano and Jose Maria Lopez to open up a gap on him, Viso managed to hold off Heikki Kovalainen, Scott Speed and Adam Carroll over the opening laps. The BCN Dallara was already in trouble, however, as the brake problems that affected it in practice returned, compromising Viso's performance.

Kovalainen snuck through at Tosa on lap five, and immediately pulled away as Viso found his stopping power lacking, forcing him to compromise his usual attacking style. His first mandatory pit-stop also went awry, with the team failing to fit the left front wheel first time. Adding insult to injury, Viso was then adjudged to have broken the pit-lane speed limit, something he later ascribed to a faulty limiter button.

In all, the Venezuelan was forced to make twice the required number of stops, a miscommunication with the crew seeing him pit on successive laps and drop him out of the point-scoring positions, and leaving him to chase the bonus on offer for fastest lap, something he achieved with two laps remaining.

"I had a lot of problems with my brakes, and had to pump them four or five times because, if I didn't, the car wouldn't stop," he said, "On top of that, I think the penalty was unjust, because I could not control the speed in the pit-lane. If the button doesn't work, it's not my fault. Without that, I believe I could have been on the podium, because Scott Speed was third and he was always behind me...."

"It was a difficult race, with a lot of problems for both our cars," BCN team director Jaime Pintanel confirmed, "Ernesto had a problem with his brakes right from the beginning, and then had a drive-through penalty. After that, there was a misunderstanding between Ernesto and the team, which saw him pit without stopping, so he had to make another stop later to comply with the regulations.

"The results were not up to our expectations, but at least Ernesto managed to get the fastest lap."

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