ROUNDS 13 & 14 QUALIFYING QUOTES
Jörg MÜLLER, BMW Team Deutschland –
fastest “At the first free practice I had a
good feeling which carried through to qualifying. I’m
quite happy with my performance but of course I will not be
on pole tomorrow I will be 11th. Oschersleben is a track where
there are a few places to overtake and last year I started
12th and finished 4th in Race 1. Of course I have not given
up and I am still working towards the championship. Even though
I am a little behind there are still 80 points to give away
and I want some of those. In the past Oschersleben has been
a good circuit for BMW but in this championship it is very
level so it changes with the race situation rather than from
track to track.”
James THOMPSON, Alfa Romeo Racing Team – 2nd
fastest “I’m very happy and have to thank
the team because after free practice I had a problem with
the car and they worked hard to get me ready for qualifying.
I managed to sneak in a good time right at the end. Myself,
Augusto (Farfus) and Gabriele (Tarquini) all have similar
weights and are relatively light. The circuit here becomes
very dirty and it is difficult not to make a mistake. The
race can be a very different proposition than qualifying and
I think it is going to be very difficult.”
Augusto FARFUS, Alfa Romeo Racing Team – 3rd
fastest “I used my second set of new tyres
and decided to keep the third set for tomorrow. I start in
2nd place and aim to get a good start to be up there with
James. The focus here is to get maximum points so we can finish
in the top 5 of the championship. Tomorrow we will have two
long races and I predict the front wheel drive cars will be
faster at the beginning, but in the middle and the end the
BMWs will come through. So if I make a good start I am in
the fight for a win.”
Rickard RYDELL, SEAT Sport – 6th fastest
“I was quite happy with that last run; I was in third
place at the end of the lap, but dropped to sixth by the end
of the session. I’m actually quite pleased, though;
I’m carrying quite a lot of weight and yet I’m
still the quickest of the SEAT Sport drivers. Obviously, I’d
have liked to be higher up the grid but I’m far from
disappointed. We know that the Oschersleben circuit suits
the car and I’m really positive about our chances in
the races.”
Stéphane ORTELLI, Team Oreca Playstation –
7th fastest “We knew we had a good car for
this track and it felt good to drive so I am not really surprised.
Perhaps I was a bit too safe and conservative and could have
been a bit more extreme on the exit of the corners but we
still have things to develop. We have used just two sets of
tyres and saved one set for tomorrow, I’m not sure if
this was a good decision because I think if we had used the
last set I would have a better qualifying position. However,
we are a new team and so for now we can say ‘C’est
la vie’.”
Jordi GENÉ, SEAT Sport – 10th fastest
“I’m actually very pleased with tenth position,
because it’s still a learning experience with the León.
I was fifth and fourth in the two practice sessions this morning,
but that was on used tyres. The team put new tyres on the
car for qualifying and it was completely different. We worked
to try and improve things throughout the session, but we clearly
still have a lot to learn about that particular aspect of
the car! The León has already shown its potential,
though.”
Alain MENU, Chevrolet Racing – 13th fastest
“I am very happy. The car was not too bad on balance.
We put on four new tyres but we thought it could go faster
so we tried with new tyres just on the front and then on the
back, and it went better. On my last out lap I was held up
by two cars, otherwise I think a 1:32.5 would have been possible.”
Michael FUNKE, Ford Hotfiel Sport – 16th fastest
“On my best lap I made a mistake and lost half a second
which meant I did not make it in the top ten. However, 16th
for Ford is good and with Thomas (Klenke) 10th if everything
works perfectly maybe there is a chance to score points.”
Giuseppe CIRÒ, Proteam Motorsport –
17th fastest “Honestly I did not expect to
be the fastest of the Independents today. It is my rookie
season and I’m here to learn, but I also wish to do
well. This result is really encouraging for me and for the
team. We have worked very well this morning to find the right
set-up for the qualifying, and I have to say that I took a
few risks.”
Marc HENNERICI, Wiechers-Sport – 19th fastest
“The last races were really terrible for me and I hope
to come back for the rest of the season. It is important for
me to score well here and at Istanbul because Valencia is
a hard track for the BMWs and every point counts when we head
to Macau.”
Eric HÉLARY, Peugeot Sport Denmark –
26th fastest “We have improved the car a lot
since this morning. And yet it was not enough to be competitive.
We have started with a lot of understeer in cornering, that
changed to oversteer at the exit. Now the car is not sufficiently
balanced, but it’s not quick. We will work again to
change something before the warm-up. We’ll try another
differential and we hope to improve. But definitely we cannot
improve by two seconds, which is the gap we have from the
pole.”
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