04/04/2008
NEWS STORY
Romain Grosjean - ART Grand Prix (Pole): I'm very happy. This is my third pole position, but this one tastes a little bit different: I didn't know the track whereas Karun and Bruno did. Now, I will try and make a good start. Last time, in Malaysia, things went wrong, but I'm over it and tomorrow will be another day!
Karun Chandhok - iSport International (2nd): I hope this time around, we won't have a problem at the start, like we did in Sepang. Hats off to Romain: he did a very good lap again. I'm pleased to be back on the front row. The car wasn't perfect for qualifying. I hope we have some better ideas for the race. We should be out there: the win is definitely in my reach. We've given away so many free points and podiums this year it's giving me the extra will to do a great performance tomorrow.
Bruno Senna - iSport International (3rd): We didn't have the best set-up for qualifying and then I was a little bit unlucky with traffic on my second set of tyres. All in all, it wasn't enough for pole position. It will be a close fight tomorrow: we're always quite competitive in terms of race set-up, so I have great hopes for tomorrow.
Kamui Kobayashi - DAMS (5th): I'm both happy and frustrated. Overall, my fifth time is a good effort but I could have got onto the front row if I'd been a few thousands of a second quicker. We're on an upward trend at the moment, and I think we're becoming more competitive race after race. I'm feeling pretty confident ahead of the weekend's first event.
Jerome d'Ambrosio - DAMS (7th): I'm satisfied with the session and my lap in the closing minutes. It's my best qualifying performance this season. My aim will be to get as close as possible to the podium and not make any mistakes tomorrow. We've had no technical problems with the car since the start of the weekend, and we were able to make steady progress on each run. I'm pretty optimistic for the races, and hope to able to capitalise on my encouraging results in Malaysia.
Luca Filippi - Qi-Meritus.Mahara (12th): All drivers are very close to each other. We were not yet running at our top speed. I am pleased with our work on this track. It is a modern track with all kind of corners just like I like it and overtaking is easy. The track also has an incredible record of overtaking! It may be dirty because of the sand, but with the right tyre strategy and a perfect line, you should be able to finish well. However, if you go to the dirty part of the track, you can lose big time! It was slippery in the morning just like I expected. With the team we did some changes to prepare the qualifying round. My car went particularly slower than in the morning, which is the sign that we did not get the balance right. But in the race anything can happen. We need a good pace for the race.
Hiroki Yoshimoto - Qi-Meritus.Mahara (18th): In the morning I felt that we were a bit far away from top performance, but the track was better than expected. Driving was tricky because I was afraid of damaging my rear tires. It was kind of a gamble. I hope it will work tomorrow even if I lost it today in the afternoon qualifying round only coming out in 18th place. The session was difficult because the car was more difficult than in the morning. I just could not get it to react in the corners. I kept sliding a lot today. I was sideways a lot. We need to understand the key to the traction tomorrow and really need to work hard and push to improve the pace for the race.