25/05/2007
NEWS STORY
Pastor Maldonado - Pole: We needed this so much! You can't imagine the joy this Pole Position brought to me, and not only from a personal standpoint. I know how hard the team worked to make it possible and how frustrating it was to see anything fall apart due to the technical problems we experienced until now. This weekend was really perfect so far, and I have to say a big thank you to all the crew members. Though this track suits me in a great way, I think I may have room for improvement by using the car's full potential. Tomorrow's race will still be hugely tough since the start. Having a nice takeoff is always important, especially on the narrow streets of Monte Carlo.
Luca Filippi - 7th: I do feel confident. We were fast, even without a clear lap. The second set of tyres were good, but didn't really get to use them, so we have an almost new set for tomorrow, when I'm sure we can go quicker. Starting in 7th position is good…the race is long, & difficult to overtake, but with good strategy we can definitely gain places.
Bruno Senna - 9th: It's a really nice feeling to be racing here. It's the first time I've raced a very fast car around the streets, and it's good to see the challenge that my uncle faced when he was racing around here. It's also great to be here, competing in GP2 which is a very competitive series. I qualified ninth, which was okay, but we had a bit of a nightmare with traffic and getting the set-up right. It's the first time I've driven a GP2 car on a street circuit, so it's all about gaining experience. Anything can happen at this track so I'm just ready now for the race tomorrow.
Mike Conway - 10th: The car seemed to improve as the session went on. Yesterday seemed like a bit of a waste, however it was an opportunity to familiarise myself with the track. I feel much better about today's progress & am positive we can improve on 10th position in tomorrows race & get some points.
Nicolas Lapierre - 13th: This qualifying session is really disappointing for me. We did a good job during the free practice this morning and I know that I could have obtained a better result. Unfortunately, I never found a clear lap.
Javier Villa - 14th: I got a lot of traffic so it was really hard to have a clean lap but we've managed to improve the car from yesterday and now it's running really well. For tomorrow's race we are still fine tuning it and we hope to have a good race.
Kazuki Nakajima - 18th: It was my first time in Monaco and it was not easy to find the good way for the qualifying, especially with the incidents that occurred on the circuit. Now I am concentrated on the race. Everything can happen on this track and I will try to finish the race and to score points.
Sergio Jimenez - 21st: We had problems with the engine from low oil pressure that started free practice and that stopped us from doing more than 4 or 5 laps and we couldn't do some changes for qualifying when we almost couldn't run. Now I'll have a new engine fitted for the race and I hope things go better tomorrow.
Kohei Hirate - 25th: It's definitely a pity. My qualifying session actually didn't even start, because of a driving mistake at St. Devote. I missed the braking point, without hitting anything, but when I tried to get back into the track, I probably made an error in selecting the first gear, and the engine stalled. There's a lot of regret: I was targeting a top performance and I wasn't even able to play the game. I hope to find some space for a recover tomorrow, but on this track it could be nearly impossible.
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