Super Nova - Parente 2nd Bakkerud 19th

The 2008 International GP2 Main Series began today at the Circuit de Catalunya, Spain. Although practice was successful, the qualifying race got off to a slow start with the session being stopped just short of 10 minutes into qualifying after an incident involving another car.

However, Alvaro Parente continued to show the great form he had displayed during the practice session where he set the third fastest lap. He went on to further improve this time and finish 2nd during qualifying giving him an excellent start for tomorrow's 180km main race.

Christian Bakkerud put in a solid performance for the team from beginning to end and knocked over five tenths of a second off his time this morning. Unfortunately, due to the initial crash and further yellow flags, his time out on track to work his way up the rankings was shortened and he will start 19th tomorrow afternoon.

The team is confident of a good result from each driver tomorrow during the first race of the season at this high profile circuit.

Team Principle David Sears: "The whole Super Nova team were incredibly impressed with Alvaro Parente who qualified 2nd this afternoon, only one tenth of a second from pole position and the highest placed rookie driver by a long way. In fact Alvaro had overall fastest 1st and 2nd sectors and unfortunately made a little mistake towards the end. Otherwise he would have been in pole. Let's wait and see what happens tomorrow.

Christian Bakkerud was looking good for a top half position but unluckily got caught up in traffic and yellow flags on his last set of new tyres. However, in the GP2 Asia Series, Christian has managed to move from the back to 9th position before and so the team will now be practicing their speedy pit stops".

Alvaro Parente: "Our testing had gone well and so I was confident as soon as I got to the track today. I knew that if I could get up front I could stay there. Once I had set a lap time after the red flag I knew I was in a good position and I could go from there. I have adapted to the car very well, but now I have to work hard to stay in this position. Being the fastest rookie is one thing, but I want to be the fastest of all. I am looking forward to tomorrow".

Christian Bakkerud: "I expected to do better today as the car is quick and Alvaro's position shows that. I could have got up to 12th place but a driver came out on the last lap which slowed me down and I lost a bit of time, but by then it was too late. Tomorrow is 39 laps and a long race. I will obviously be aiming for 8th place to get pole for Sunday's race. That is what I am always going to go for".

iSport International - Senna 4th Chandhok 7th

Bruno Senna: "I'm pleased with my qualifying position, although things could have been even better but for a technical problem. The team changed my gearshift paddles after this morning's free practice session, because the original ones were a bit too big, and the replacement was sticking a little. I had already completed one quick run on my first set of tyres and was just starting a second when the paddle jammed again. I was stuck in fourth gear and looking at the steering wheel, trying to sort things out, when I came into Turn Two. With all that going on I lost concentration for a second and spun off.
"I would obviously have improved my lap time if I'd been able to use my second set of tyres, but by how much? I don't know. It will be a tough race tomorrow, because this circuit is incredibly hard on rear tyres, but at least I still have one fresh set available after today's problems. I think we have a very well balanced car in race trim, too, so overall I'm pleased with the way things have gone."

Racing Engineering - Pantano 5th Villa 9th

It was a promising start for Racing Engineering in today's qualifying for the first round of the 2008 GP2 Series with both drivers qualifying in the top 10.

This morning's first practice session showed that the Racing Engineering team had developed a good set-up for the Montmeló track when the team's new driver, Italian Giorgio Pantano, was immediately on the pace setting the fifth fastest time of 1m 28.808s less than seven-tenths of a second slower than the fastest time.

Javier Villa completed the session with a time of 1m 30.094s to finish in eighteenth place but he was confident that he would be able to run with the pace of the fastest for qualifying.

With both drivers certain that they had a good setup for their new 2008-design Dallara they were both looking forward to being up at the front for qualifying.

As the afternoon's 30 minute qualifying session began Giorgio was immediately on the pace and setting some very quick times and he was soon at the top of the timesheets. Following a red flag incident Giorgio pitted to have a new set of tyres fitted but as he returned to the track Bruno Senna had an accident resulting in yellow flags being deployed. Sadly for Giorgio the yellow flag lasted for four laps and in that time his new tyres lost their edge, nevertheless the experienced Italian was still able to set a 1m 28.290s to take the fifth fastest time. Afterwards Giorgio was confident he could have been on the front row had he not made a small mistake in one corner as a result of his tyres being past their best.