20/06/2008
NEWS STORY
iSport International - Bruno Senna (Pole) Karun Chandhok (10th)
Bruno Senna recorded iSport's first pole position of the campaign - and the first of his GP2 Series career - during today's qualifying session at Magny-Cours, France. It was not, however, a conventional pole lap. The Brazilian, who swept into the championship lead in Monaco last month, crashed as he completed a 1m 25.250s lap towards the end of the half-hour session. He was in mid-accident as he crossed the finishing line, but his time was still good enough to put him at the head of the 26-car field.
His team-mate Karun Chandhok was unable to get his car tailored to his liking and ended the day in 10th place.
Bruno Senna: "I'm obviously delighted to take pole, but that wasn't quite how I'd planned to do it. The car was really well balanced today - perfect, in fact - but every time I tried to put a lap together I was delayed by traffic. When it came to my final run I just gave it everything I had and, unfortunately, the car got away from me at the final chicane. It was my last chance to set a really good time and the incident was just one of those things. The car felt absolutely fantastic and I'm now in a perfect position to capitalise on that."
Karun Chandhok: "I'm not sure what happened there. I'm disappointed to be 10th and can't really put my finger on the problem. I just didn't feel hooked up and never had sufficient confidence in the car to attack the circuit in the way I'd have liked. We'll sit down and look at the data this evening, but this is a good team that always comes up with good answers, so I'm sure we'll be in better shape tomorrow."
Racing Engineering - Giorgio Pantano (3rd) Javier Villa (24th)
There were mixed fortunes today for the two Racing Engineering drivers with Giorgio Pantano qualifying an impressive 3rd but Javier Villa could only manage the 24th fastest time.
Both drivers made an excellent start to the day in this morning's Free Practice when Javier was on fantastic form to set the third fastest time of 1m 22.874s, less than two tenths of a second behind the fastest driver. Giorgio was similarly as competitive setting the fourth best time in 1m 22.892s, just two tenths of a second behind his team mate. It was clear that all the hard work carried out by the Spanish team and their two drivers at the recent Paul Ricard tests was paying off.
With such fast times in the morning both drivers were looking forward to the afternoon's 30 minute qualifying session confident that their Racing Engineering Dallaras were as fast as any of the other cars on the track.
Giorgio Pantano continued his excellent performance in the afternoon and at the end of qualifying he had set the third quickest time in his Repsol/Telefónica supported car. His fastest lap of 1m 22.301s was only 0.051seconds away from the pole position time and indeed, following a red flag incident resulting from an accident to Bruno Senna, the Italian driver set the fastest time in the first two sectors of the lap but a small mistake in the final sector cost him pole position.
For Javier Villa it was not such a good result, the good setup he had for the morning session did not suit the warmer track conditions in the afternoon and the young Spaniard could only set a time of 1m 23.998s for 24th on the grid.
For tomorrow's Feature Race Giorgio Pantano is clearly capable of taking a podium position and a win is a real possibility as his car is very competitive on the Magny Cours track and the Racing Engineering team have an enviable reputation for reliability this season. Meanwhile for Javier the team will be looking to improve the setup on his car so that Javi can push as hard as possible to try and get a good grid position for Sunday's Sprint Race.
Alfonso de Orleans Borbón (team principal): "A strange qualifying for us. Giorgio did a fantastic job and I am sure he would have had pole without his little error in the last corner. On the other hand, after Javi's fantastic time this morning, it's a pity that he wasn't able to replicate this in qualifying. Hopefully tomorrow he will be able to fight back to allow him to have a good starting position for Sunday. Once again, everyone in the team did a great job and now we have to prepare for tomorrow's race."
Javier Villa: "I don't really know what has happened. In free practice we went really, really quick. Now in qualifying the track was very different as it was much warmer. The set up we had was not the perfect one for these conditions. We have to now check everything as we don't want to be in the same situation in case we encounter the same conditions tomorrow."
Giorgio Pantano: "I am trying to do the best I can everywhere to put all my best sectors in one lap. In the last lap I was heading for pole, but I couldn't take the last corner perfect. In the end I am 0.051 seconds off pole, which disturbs me a lot, but I know that we have a fast car and I will go for the win tomorrow."
DAMS - Kamui Kobayashi (7th) Jérôme d'Ambrosio (13th)
Today, DAMS competed in free practice and qualifying for the fourth round of the 2008 GP2 Series Championship on the Magny-Cours circuit. Jérôme d'Ambrosio and Kamui Kobayashi made maximum use of the 30-minute free session in the morning to fine-tune their set-up. They finished in 12th and 13th positions.
Qualifying could have gone better for the two drivers who had to fight their way through traffic and watch out for yellow flags on a very demanding track. Kamui and Jérôme set the 7th and 13th times. Unfortunately, the Japanese was summoned before the Stewards in the late afternoon, and was given a 5-place penalty for not slowing down enough under the yellow flags, and will start from 12th spot. The team hopes to convert these positions into a top-8 finish tomorrow and why not pole for Sunday's short race.
Eric Boullier, team manager: “We've got mixed feelings this evening. Our two drivers will start tomorrow's race in the top half of the grid but we could have done better, and we're a bit disappointed with our performance today. Kamui was handicapped by traffic when he was going for pole, and then he was penalised by the Stewards. Jérôme pushed a little too hard on his final flyer and went off in Estoril. Despite this, we're adopting a positive approach as our set-up's working well and we're on the pace. We hope we can show this tomorrow by bringing both cars home in the points.”
Jérôme d'Ambrosio: It's frustrating not being higher up the grid and not being able to capitalise on our excellent performances in the last test session on the Paul Ricard circuit. The car's handling well and my aim will be to move up as many places as possible tomorrow to get a good spot on the grid for Sunday's race.
Kamui Kobayashi: My starting position's disappointing; it could have been so much better! I was slowed by several yellow flags and baulked by slower cars in my best lap. Then I was handed a penalty that pushed me back five places on the grid. While I find this decision a rather severe one, I respect it. We've got to put this setback behind us and concentrate on tomorrow's race. A rostrum finish is well within our grasp.
Super Nova - Andy Soucek (12th) Alvaro Parente (21st)
It has been an eventful, but frustrating start to this weekends racing here at Magny Cours circuit, in the French region of Nevers.
This mornings' free practice session took place under heavy clouds where Super Nova was amongst the early pacesetters. The team welcomed back Andy Soucek to the No.7 car, who showed great potential today. As temperatures soared, a hectic qualifying session saw Bruno Senna top the time sheets moments before crashing out. Unfortunately Soucek was unable to better his early qualifying position once the session restarted & consequently got knocked down to 12th.
With so many drivers out on such a short circuit, Alvaro Parente found himself amongst traffic and unable to get a clear lap. Powerless to improve his lap time the Portuguese driver finds himself starting at the back of the grid for Saturdays race.
Team Principal David Sears "After a promising free practice qualifying did not go according to plan. Andy Soucek qualified in 12th place after looking capable of being in the top 6, but ended up in 12th place, after the session was delayed when Senna crashed on the finish line, having just claimed the quickest lap. Alvaro Parente could not put a lap together & ended up way back in 21st position, so tomorrow will be a big challenge."
Trident Racing - Mike Conway (14th) Ho Pin Tung (17th)
Trident Racing experienced a tormented qualification today at Magny-Cours. Mike Conway and Ho Pin Tung took respectively the 14th and 17th place on the grid at the end of a challenging session, stopped by a red flag with 5 minutes to go. While the results were clearly under the expectations, the Italian team is working hard to plan an aggressive strategy for tomorrow's Race 1.
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Managing Director: "Today's session was pretty disappointing for us. We're currently analyzing the reasons of such bad results: the gaps in each of the track's three sectors were under 0.2, 0.3 seconds, and an ideal lap could have brought both our drivers into the top-8. That was our realistic goal. The weekend is still long though, and we'll try to define an aggressive strategy to propel Mike and Ho Pin into the points zone. It won't be easy, since the chances of a full-course caution, with the deployment of the safety car, are marginal".
Mike Conway: "We were waiting for an improvement of about 0.5 seconds after practice, but we managed to shave off just 0.2 instead. I was suffering mainly in the first sector, while in the last part of the racetrack the car seemed pretty good to me. Starting in the middle of the pack it's just unfortunate, because we were expecting more, but we definitely are not going to give up. Tomorrow, we'll try to take points, as well as a good starting spot for Sunday".
Ho Pin Tung: "Today's qualifications were really tough, as I started with a spin after just two laps. Fortunately, the engine stayed up, and I was able to be back on track, ending up right behind Mike despite a small mistake in my best lap. In the second part of the session, I was forced to abort my flying attempt for three times, after being behind some slower cars. After the red flag break, I was just unable to improve my best mark. It was a bad day, and I wish to take something back tomorrow".
Durango - Ben Hanley (16th) Alberto Valerio (22nd)
Ben Hanley finished the qualifying session at P16, Alberto Valerio at P22. Both drivers said to be satisfied with their car set up. Ben's performance is surely positive, especially if one considers that he started with Durango this morning learning to exploit the car lap after lap. Alberto experienced some problems with the traffic not being able to fill the gap with his team mate.
Luca Zerbini Durango Team Manager: "Considering the circumstances Ben delivered quite a solid performance while Alberto has not been particularly lucky. Tomorrow it will be hard but a top ten finish is absolutely not a mission impossible".