15/10/2011
NEWS STORY
Just as the weather forecast predicted, the second day of practice sessions at the Korean Grand Prix underwent in dry conditions. There was no time to lose to get the right set-up on the cars so Vitantonio Liuzzi and Daniel Ricciardo gave it their all in practice session three. Liuzzi completed a packed program with soft tyres as preparation for tomorrow's race and finished off with a couple of quick laps on supersoft tyres. Ricciardo also had a lot of work to do but wasn't able to complete his program because of a water leak in the cooling system. Although the issue was fixed before the end of the session, the young Australian could only complete 11 laps. In qualifying Ricciardo faced more problems and, like Liuzzi in Japan, had to return to the garage because of a water pressure drop, which prevented him from setting a time. For tomorrow's 55 lap race, Liuzzi will start from 23rd position, just ahead of his teammate.
Vitantonio Liuzzi: "Overall I was quite happy with the balance and the car was reacting quite well. We've had a good Saturday. In qualifying we were a few tenths behind one of the Virgins and a bit more off the other one, so we need to understand the reason behind this gap. We lost a lot in the third sector because of graining and this will be key tomorrow because the race will be really hard. There will be a lot of problems with the tyres, especially the supersofts, and we will face a lot of pit stops. We just have to be in the right place at the right time to try and beat our closest competitors".
Daniel Ricciardo: "This morning we had some problems which the guys tried to fix and we made it out on to the track before the end of the session. But in the afternoon, already on the first timed lap, my race engineer came on the radio and told me to box because they saw another issue coming up on the data. I'm sure it will be solved and we will try and have a good race tomorrow. Looking at today, as long as we get some miles done then that will be better than nothing".
Colin Kolles, Team Principal: "After yesterday's wet sessions, there was no time to waste today. We had quite a tight plan for the third free practice session and both drivers went out on the track immediately after the green light. Tonio was able to complete his program on soft tyres and had time for some final laps on the supersofts. However, Daniel had a cooling system water leak problem at the early stages and had to go back in the garage. The team worked hard to get it solved before the end of the session and Daniel still managed to do 11 laps before the session ended. Everything looked fine for qualifying. Tonio pushed on the two sets of supersofts but Daniel had to return to the garage after the engine water pressure dropped again. Hopefully, it will all be fixed for tomorrow's race but this lack of track time is not helping us to beat our rivals".
Check out our Korea qualifying gallery, here.