ROUNDS 15 & 16 PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING
Weather: the weather changed from sunny in the early morning
to overcast and finally to rainy during qualifying; the track
was dry until the second half of the qualifying session.
PRACTICE 1 – BMW ITALY - SPAIN MAKE 1-2
BMW Team Italy-Spain reigned in the first free practice session
at Istanbul. In fact, the last few minutes turned into a battle
between team-mates Duncan Huisman and Alex Zanardi. Huisman
set a time of 2:06.717 on his penultimate lap which was the
best of the field until Zanardi went 0.093 of a second faster
on his last lap. The third best time of the session was set
by Rickard Rydell in his SEAT Sport León.
Nicola Larini was the 8th fastest overall for Chevrolet.
Team-mate Rob Huff was 14th while the third Chevrolet man,
Alain Menu, didn’t take part in the session. This was
due to a new engine suffering an oil leak and therefore needing
to be replaced. Behind Larini, with the 9th quickest time
of 2:078.046 was Farfus at the wheel of his N.technology Alfa
Romeo.
The best of the independent drivers was Proteam Motorsport’s
Stefano D’Aste whose lap of 2:07.877 was an excellent
7th overall.
Peter Terting only managed to complete two laps in his SEAT
León because of an engine problem.
PRACTICE 2 – ZANARDI AND HUISMAN ENCORE
In a re-creation of the first free practice session, Alessandro
Zanardi and Duncan Huisman placed their names at the top of
the timesheet in the second practice. Zanardi was the quickest
of the two with a time of 2:06.415, while Huisman was 0.740
of second slower.
SEAT Sport man Yvan Muller set the 3rd fastest time with
a lap completed in 2:07.229. In the position behind him was
Nicola Larini of Chevrolet. Despite an engine change, his
team-mate Alain Menu was only able to complete two laps as
a result of another leak. Chevrolet’s third man Rob
Huff lost control of the rear of his car coming into turn
3 early in the session but re-joined.
Peter Terting, who suffered difficulties in the morning practice
received a engine change which seemed to have resolved the
problems as he was 8th best in the second session.
This time it was Salvatore Tavano who set the best time of
the N.technology Alfa Romeo team. He completed a lap in 2:07.727
which was the 12th quickest overall.
Tom Coronel of GR Asia was 5th overall and the best independent
competitor with a time of 2:07.332. His team-mate, Maurizio
Ceresoli was the 2nd fastest independent and an impressive
10th on the timesheet.
QUALIFYING – RYDELL ON POLE FOR SEAT
Qualifying was a session of two halves. The track was dry
for 15 minutes until rain fell and wet conditions ensued.
All of the drivers posted their best times in the dry with
the top 14 within one second.
Rickard Rydell claimed his third pole position of the season
for SEAT Sport after clocking a time of 2:06.289 in his first
flying lap. Rydell had topped the qualifying already in Brands
Hatch and Puebla; and this is the fifth pole for SEAT so far
in the season.
Alessandro Zanardi, who came out top in both free practice
sessions, will line up on the front row alongside the Swede
after posting a time of 2:06.427, onloi 0.138 seconds slower.
Rydell’s team-mates Gabriele Tarquini (3rd) and Yvan
Muller (4th) will fill the second row of the grid for tomorrow’s
race one. Duncan Huisman rounded up the
BMW - SEAT top five.
Nicola Larini continued to be the quickest of the Chevrolet
trio and his time of 2:06.871 was good enough to place him
6th on the grid. Farfus was 0.623 of a second off the pace
and will line up 7th tomorrow at the wheel of his Alfa Romeo
156. His car loaded with 80 kilos of handicap weight, current
championship leader Andy Priaulx qualified only 15th.
The best time of the independent drivers was set by Luca
Rangoni of Proteam Motorsport which was 16th fastest overall.
His competitors Tom Coronel and Stefano D’Aste qualified
17th and 18th respectively.
Peter Terting’s lap in 2:07.061 was 9th quickest but
the young German will begin from 19th as a result of the mandatory
10 place penalty issued for an engine change.
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