06/07/2007
NEWS STORY
 |
Andi Zuber (iSport International) Pole - For me it was very hard, but for everyone it is the same - there is a lot of wind, it's very cold, and as I said before it's really hard to get the tyres to the temperature, so you've just got to do the right lap at the right time. And obviously we did a very good job.
Mike Conway (Super Nova International) 2nd - I have raced here before in British F3, and enjoy the track a lot. From free practice today we had a good balanced car. We made a few small improvements before qualifying, which worked well. Now I feel we are in good stead for tomorrows race with a consistent car & compared to previous positions I'll take P2 happily!
Kazuki Nakajima (DAMS) 4th - It was a good day for me; the car balance was good both sessions. I am happy with the qualifying results, even if I feel a bit frustrated because of the traffic and many yellow flags. We need to think about the tyres strategy for the race, but we recently showed that we have a good race pace so it should be good for tomorrow.
Adam Carroll (FMS International) 6th - I had traffic on my best lap which was a shame but I am happy - it's my best qualifying all year as well as the team, so I'm very happy! The car was good in practice and we just changed some small things for qualifying. There are some more small things to improve, but it's also up to me to get right back into things and feel completely comfortable with the car. I'm feeling a lot better this weekend already, but I still know there's a lot more
to come. But it's very encouraging to qualify sixth in only the second weekend with the team. The boys have worked really hard and the car has improved.
Hopefully we can top that off by having a good race and getting some points for everyone tomorrow.
Nicolas Lapierre (DAMS) 10th - Qualifying result is satisfying, bearing in mind my problems from this morning. We should do a step forward tomorrow during the race, with the objective to take as many points as possible. We then also hope to end the weekend by a good result on Sunday.
Luca Filippi (Super Nova International) 11th - We made some improvements, so this afternoon the balance was much better, but took a little time to get used to the differences. Towards the end we had a slight problem upshifting, which I think hindered us getting a quicker lap. But we gained places in Magny Cours, so I'm confident we can do the same here….I'm really please for Mike too. I know how important it is to perform well at your home race.
Pastor Maldonado (Trident Racing) 14th - My day started well, with the 10th best time in this morning's practice. Unfortunately we weren't able to confirm our performance level in qualifying. I can't be satisfied even though it's my first experience here. I didn't experience any handling problem, but the laptimes were just disappointing...
Filipe Albuquerque (Racing Engineering) - 19th I didn't know either the car or the track and I spun in free practice as I wasn't used to how much these tyres slide when they are cold, so I had to start working on setup in qualifying. On every lap I was going faster and on the last one I caught some traffic so I was trying to create some space with the cars in front but the session was over and I didn't have any more track time. It could have been a bit better as with just one more tenth I'd have been in the middle of the grid so I think that I can go well in the race.
Kohei Hirate (Trident Racing) 20th - I had the same impression of my team-mate: the car doesn't give any bad feeling, there's no oversteer or understeer, it's good. The laps are just not fast enough to clinch the top spots. I was really impressed by the track, and especially by the "Complex", a very technical and tough sequence.
Javier Villa (Racing Engineering) 21st - With the hard tyres we are using on this track the first two laps are very difficult although that's the same for everybody. We still have to change several things in the car for tomorrow and starting 21st we'll also need to carefully prepare our race strategy … and to run really fast to recover positions!
Jason Tahinci (FMS International) 25th - Today was really not a good day and I'm really disappointed. I had five laps to set a time in qualifying, and I can't believe it because every single lap I had traffic. I could have gone so much quicker but every single time I was on a fast lap somebody was leaving the pits right in front of me. I'm not sure we had the timing exactly right on but the situation is very frustrating. Tomorrow is a long race though so I'll just try to do my best.
To check out our Qualifying gallery, click here