A majeur change happened for thoses races: the introduction of the french tyre supplier Michelin, instead of Bridgestone, the championship supplier from years. Wiser for his second position in the championship, despite many mechanicals problems, Gerbi was immediatly the quickest on the Otodrom. Fastest time in the morning free sessions, one second before the next competitor.

In the qualifying, Mert Tahinci realised the pole position, few tenth of a second before Julien who spun in his first fast laps. Cemil Cipa is 3rd, but two seconds behind the first drivers.
At the first start, Gerbi is quickly under Tahinci's rear wing. In the second lap, he tries an unstoppable attack in the corner n°11, and takes the lead. From there, the frenchie and the turkish have a very strong fight till the checkered flag, wheels against wheels, taking and overtaking each other at the brakings. This way, the two leaders take a 35 seconds advantage over Berke Bayindir, 3rd. In the last lap, Tahinci takes the lead at the end of the starting line, and win the race with 0.5 second over Gerbi.

"In the last laps, I had a very important lost of pressure in the front wheels, which caused a lot of understeering. We discovered afterwhile a deep cut in the front right tyre, responsable of the unstability. In the last laps, the car was just undrivable, and it was really hard to resist. At least, I had the fastest lap."

The second race won't be really good either, Julien couldn't finish his formation lap because of engine troubles. Starting from the pitlane, he comes over the pack really quickly. Still having those engine cuts, he reaches over the 4th position. But the Fiat exploses 5 laps before the end of the race, and Gerbi canno't finish.

"The team worked a lot in order to get the car competitive and reliable. We solved the problems we had in Izmir and Körfez, and we must find now what was the one in Istanbul. I am 3rd in the championship and nothing is done for the title. We maybe lost a battle, but the championship is long, and we still have many races in order to catch it back. I go back immediatly in France in order to perfect my physical condition and being again better for the next race end of July in Körfez. And, as well, I guess I will keep an eye on the World Cup and the French team... Allez les Bleus !"

www.juliengerbi.com