Motorsport: Kiwis to race at Monaco

Mitch Evans will be one of two Kiwis racing at the famous Monaco track in the GP2 this weekend. Photo / Paolo Pellegrini

It's the jewel in Formula One's already glittering crown. No other race does glamour quite like Monaco, and this weekend kiwi GP2 drivers Mitch Evans and Richie Stanaway have had the chance to make a statement at one of the world's most famous racetracks.

The two had contrasting fortunes during Friday's feature race. Both suffered from a rainy qualifying run and started lower down the order, Stanaway in 14th and Evans 18th.

Stanaway took the initiative and wound his way through the pack to end up a more than creditable seventh, 25 seconds behind winner Stoffel Vandoorne. Evans, however, had no such luck and crashed attempting a pass at the end of the famous tunnel on lap 18.

GP2's reverse grid rules meant Stanaway starts in second place for tomorrow's sprint race.

The two New Zealanders have raced at Monaco several times before, although this is Stanaway's first time in GP2. Evans has done particularly well at the track, finishing less than half a second behind winner Jolyon Palmer in last year's GP2 feature race.

"It's such an incredible event," he says. "Still, I've been on the podium three times and haven't stepped on the top step yet. Every year I've really wanted to do it and I think this year I've got a really fair shot."

Evans currently lays fourth on the GP2 points table, seven points ahead of Alex Lynn and 23 behind Rio Haryanto. He's had an uneven start to the year, his usual blinding pace punctuated by mechanical failure and racing incidents. Still, the season is only two rounds old and it's easy to get the feeling that he expects things to come together quickly.

"It hasn't been that smooth, to be honest," he says, "but I'm doing a lot better than I was at this stage last year. The car's been quick and the team (Russian Time) is going good. We have a whole new management and engineering team this year, and although it's taking a bit of getting used to we're doing a lot of testing so hopefully we can do well this weekend. If we do it'll set us up nicely for the rest of the championship."

It's a rather different scenario for Richie Stanaway. Unlike Evans, who has been competing in GP2 for nearly three years now, 2015 is Stanaway's first shot in the ultra-competitive category. It's also a first for his team, Status GP, and they've unsurprisingly found the going tough. Not that the always realistic Stanaway expected anything different.

"We've been hovering just outside the top ten, which I guess is pretty standard given the amount of experience we've got," he says. "It's not the type of championship you can just expect to go into and start winning races. Running time's pretty limited, but hopefully we can keep progressing and moving up the order and get some better results. We've got the potential to do better than in the first two rounds, for sure."

Despite the team's initial troubles Stanaway has shown glimpses of his undoubted talent. With yesterday's seventh place and Barcelona's tenth - the latter being the first point for Status GP - he climbed to 16th on a very congested points table. Given his recent run, it appears as if his GP2 fortunes are rapidly improving.