WILSON ON TOP IN WET ASSEN DEBUT
British ace Justin Wilson's mobility may have been hampered
this week with a torn meniscus in his left knee, however,
the RuSPORTS driver showed no ill effects of the injury while
in the car today after claiming a front row start for Sunday's
Bavaria Champ Car Grand Prix of Holland.
In tricky conditions, Wilson set the fastest lap in today's
qualifying as the track went from wet to drying, back to wet,
then back to drying - the Dutch weather wreaking havoc on
the session.
Wilson (#9 CDW Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone) strung together
two consecutive fast laps to claim the fastest time, followed
by Team Australia's Simon Pagenaud (#15 Aussie Vineyards Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone).
Wilson’s wet weather lap of 1 minute 30.656 seconds,
just over a second off the Assen circuits all-time record
set by a 2006 Champ Car earlier this month. Young American
Graham Rahal (#2 Medi|Zone Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone) was
third fastest.
Three drivers were penalized during the session, Paul Tracy
(#3 Indeck Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone) spun early bringing
out the red flag, while Will Power (#5 Aussie Vineyards Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone)
and Tristan Gommendy (#22 Pay By Touch-MegaSpirea Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone)
both lost their fastest lap for passing the chequered flag
twice at the end of the session. With the penalty, Gommendy
dropped from third to fourth in the final running order while
Power dropped from seventh to eighth.
Spaniard Oriol Servia (#7 Indeck Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone)
was fifth fastest today with series points leader Sebastien
Bourdais (#1 McDonald’s Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone) sitting
sixth. Bourdais only ran six laps during the wet session opting
to save his tires in case of rain tomorrow or during the race
on Sunday.
QUOTES FROM THE TOP THREE FRIDAY QUALIFIERS
Justin Wilson: "My knee feels a bit
better today. Each day it gets a little bit better and frees
up a bit. It is not too painful it just limits the amount
of motion but fortunately in the racecar my legs are quite
bent anyway so that’s not a problem.
“The #9 CDW car was fantastic. I’ve got to thank
the whole team. They’ve worked hard this weekend and
it’s nice to be quick in the wet. We weren’t quite
as quick in the dry, but we felt we were in with a shout this
weekend. So when it started to rain I thought ‘this
should be good’.”
Simon Pagenaud: "We had a fantastic
car from the beginning to the end but it just was that I got
blocked in the last two laps. I couldn't make a lap at the
end. It was a bit of a shame because Team Australia gave me
a really good car and I can't thank them enough.
Graham Rahal: “It’s always good
to be up front. If it were dry we could have had a better
qualifying session. Our Medi|Zone car was definitely very
good in the dry but unfortunately it rained. We did show that
we had the pace in the rain but obviously we would prefer
it to be dry.”
HOME TOWN HERO AIMS TO IMPROVE TOMORROW
Dutchman Robert Doornbos (#14 Minardi Team USA Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone)
was able to muster the seventh fastest time today in front
of his home fans.
During the brief dry time in the middle of the session, Doornbos
gambled by bolting on the slick Bridgestone Potenza tires
only to have to come in one lap later because the rain started
to fall again.
"It is great to be here in Assen, it’s a big venue
and its excellent to see so many people on the Thursday of
practice.
"The circuit from the first couple of laps onwards was
really fast. The last turn we take flat in seventh gear. The
speed is well over 180 mph.
"We are looking strong and we improved the car quite
a bit before qualifying. It started to rain in qualifying
which makes it a bit of a gamble.
"We were one of the last cars on the track and I had
my engineer shouting at me that I had a chance for pole. I
got caught in traffic behind Figge which was a bit disappointing
from that point otherwise I would have been on the front row.
"Now we have to do it tomorrow."
BOURDAIS AND RAHAL SNEAK AHEAD IN EURO BATTLE
Sebastien Bourdais and Graham Rahal of Newman/Haas/Lanigan
Racing (NHLR) maintained their slim lead in the Phanos European
Team Cup Championship today in Assen by scoring points for
a third (Rahal) and sixth (Bourdais) position in the first
round of qualifying.
The McDonald’s and Medi|Zone NHLR drivers entered today
with a 9.5 point lead, and following today’s results,
the pair now sits 10 points ahead of the second place team
of Simon Pagenaud and Will Power of Team Australia, who respectively
came out of Friday qualifying in second and eighth places.
Champ Car teams earn points during both the Friday and Saturday
qualifying sessions, with first place earning 10 points and
each following position .5 points less than the preceding
driver (10 / 9.5 / 9 / 8.5 / 8 etc.), making the qualifying
sessions an important part of the Phanos Champ Car European
Team Cup competition.
Sunday race points start at 20 for the winner with each following
driver picking up one point less (20 / 19 / 18 / 17 etc.).
The points are then totaled for each teammate to determine
the standings.
Friday Qualifying
Pos Driver Country Time
1 Justin Wilson England 1:30.656
2 Simon Pagenaud France 1:31.550
3 Graham Rahal USA 1:31.858
4 Tristan Gommendy France 1:31.874
5 Oriol Servia Spain 1:31.900
6 Sebastien Bourdais France 1:32.244
7 Robert Doornbos Netherlands 1:32.343
8 Will Power Australia 1:32.473
9 Alex Tagliani Canada 1:32.607
10 Paul Tracy Canada 1:32.719
11 Neel Jani Switzerland 1:33.043
12 Bruno Junqueira Brazil 1:33.299
13 Alex Figge USA 1:33.710
14 Dan Clarke England 1:33.722
15 Jan Heylen Belgium 1:33.769
16 Ryan Dalziel Scotland 1:34.136
17 Katherine Legge England 1:36.110
|
