25/06/2011
NEWS STORY
The qualifying session for tomorrow's European Grand Prix in Valencia ended with the two Marussia Virgin Racing cars of Timo Glock and Jerome d'Ambrosio classified 21st and 23rd.
In the morning session, the team worked through a busy programme without any problems to finalise the set-up for qualifying and the race. As in yesterday's afternoon session, the team ran both Medium and Soft Pirelli P-Zero tyres over various distances, including simulation of a qualifying run.
By the start of qualifying, the track temperature had risen to 44°C - much higher than during the previous session - but both drivers were immediately up to speed. The number of laps required on each set of tyres meant that three qualifying runs is not a viable proposition and both drivers expected to set their fastest laps on their second run. Timo was able to achieve this, despite encountering traffic, but Jerome's efforts were hampered when a suspension issue caused him to slow and he was unable to improve on his first run.
Timo Glock: "I'm very pleased with how things have gone so far this weekend and today my car crew did an amazing job, so thanks to them as everything has been very smooth. One little mistake we made was sending me out in a bit of traffic on my second run. Petrov blocked me into turn one which put me in the way of other cars which were on a fast lap and I had to get out of the way, so I didn't get the best chance on my second set of tyres and therefore set my best time on my third timed lap. Overall though a much better day. I was only 0.3s away from Trulli, my lap was good and hopefully we can have a good race with Lotus tomorrow."
Jerome D'Ambrosio: "A bit of a disappointing end to the day. We've had a good weekend until qualifying, when something broke at the rear of the car. But at least it's better that it happens today rather than tomorrow so we still have the opportunity for a good race."
John Booth, Team Principal: "As we've seen on a number of occasions this year, it's a case of mixed results. Timo continued his good start to the weekend and stepped through some set-up changes in FP3 which seem to have improved the car again, so going into qualifying he was happy with the balance of the car. Unfortunately we made a little mistake with the timing of his second run which undoubtedly lost him some time as he was unable to set his time on the optimum lap for the tyres. With this in mind we are looking forward to the race tomorrow where I'm sure further improvements will be seen. Jerome was also running well and again experimenting with set-up in P3, although we chose to make a reasonably big change on his car going into qualifying, as it had shown good results on Timo's car. This is always a risk with the driver not having used the set-up before, however Jerome was initially running quite well. Unfortunately on his second run, whilst braking for turn 17, he felt a problem with the car. From the data and an initial inspection of the car, this was found to be a problem with the rear spring. We will inspect under Parc Ferme and rectify the issue for tomorrow, after which I'm sure Jerome can look forward to an equally good race."
To check out our Valencia qualifying gallery, click here.