FIA WORLD TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP CURITIBA QUALIFYING
ROUNDS 9 & 10 PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING
Weather: sunny with a dry track for the whole day.
PRACTICE 1 – GIOVANARDI IS FASTEST
Giovanardi is back with a vengeance. The Italian topped the
timesheet in the first free practice session with a lap of
1:24.983 in his JAS Motorsport Honda Accord. He was the only
driver to set a time below 1 minute 25 seconds. The second
best time of 1:25.024 was achieved by N.technology man Augusto
Farfus while behind him was Peter Terting for SEAT Sport.
Alessandro Zanardi posted the best time of the BMW competitors
which was the 6th quickest overall and 0.154 seconds off the
top pace. In fact, the field was as close as yesterday with
19 drivers posting times within just nine tenths of a second.
It was Nicola Larini who completed the best lap for Chevrolet
in 1:25.751. With three minutes of the session remaining however,
he lost the car through oversteer at Entrada do Miolo and
crashed into the tyre barrier; damaging the bodywork on the
front of his car. The session was not resumed.
Tom Coronel continued his command of the Independent category
by setting a lap of 1:25.442 at the wheel of GR Asia SEAT
León which placed him 8th overall. As the drivers improve
their knowledge of the Brazilian track the times were faster
than yesterday’s test despite the addition of tyres
at certain corners to stop kerb cutting.
PRACTICE 2 – FARFUS POSTS FASTEST LAP
Curitiba–born, Augusto Farfus appeared to be getting
accustomed to his home track after posting the fastest time
of the second free practice session. His lap of 1:25.302 was
0.300 seconds better than Peter Terting’s who was second
fastest. Terting’s team-mate, Jordi Gené was
the third quickest of the field only 0.031 seconds behind,
followed by another SEAT man, Gabriele Tarquini.
Just as in the first practice session, Alessandro Zanardi
completed the best BMW lap. His time of 1:26.006 placed him
5th overall. In 6th place was Ryan Sharp of JAS Motorsport
who put in a great lap of 1:26.044 to lead the Independents’
category. Tom Coronel did not take part in the session as
his GR Asia team were working on an engine change after oil
pressure problems.
Robert Huff set the 13th best time in his Chevrolet Lacetti
while Alain Menu and Nicola Larini – whose car was repaired
after the crash in the previous session – were 16th
and 19th respectively.
The session was ended 2.11 minutes prematurely after Brazilian
Lucas Molo lost control of his car at Esse de Alta and crashed
into the tyre wall. Red flags were issued and the session
did not resume.
QUALIFYING - FARFUS GRABS POLE ON HOME TRACK
Brazilian fans will be treated to the sight of home-grown
Augusto Farfus starting from pole position tomorrow after
he topped today’s qualifying.
His time of 1:24.761 was 0.142 of a second faster than the
best attempt of Jordi Gené who will begin from second
position. Peter Terting, who had provisional pole for the
majority of session, will begin Race 1 from third position
tomorrow, followed by a trio of his team-mates; Tarquini,
Rydell and Thompson. The session had not even reached five
minutes when red flags were issued after BMW Team Italy-Spain’s
driver, Alessandro Zanardi spun at Esse de Alta and became
stranded in the gravel trap. The Italian was not permitted
to rejoin the session having received external aid by the
marshals.
Current championship leader Andy Priaulx qualified 7th overall
with a lap time of 1:25.272 which was the best from a BMW.
Yvan Muller, who currently shares the championship lead with
Priaulx, will line up 17th.
From the Chevrolet team, it was Nicola Larini who completed
the quickest lap which provisionally placed him 16th. However,
the Italian will actually begin from 14th as both Tom Coronel
(qualified 12th) and Luca Rangoni (qualified 15th) will be
demoted 10 grid positions each due to engine changes.
With Coronel penalised, JAS Motorsport’s Ryan Sharp
will begin the race ahead of his Independent trophy rivals
in 13th place.
The action was as close as ever with 18 drivers qualifying
within one second. New comers Fabrizio Giovanardi and Duncan
Huisman qualified in 9th and 11th respectively, while Brazilian
youngster Lucas Molo posted the 25th time.
|
