ROUNDS 15 & 16 – OSCHERSLEBEN, GERMANY
QUALIFYING REPORT
Weather: sunny in the morning, overcast in the afternoon;
the track was dry.
QUALIFYING – SEAT TRIO DOMINATE
SEAT drivers dominated the qualifying session for the FIA
WTCC’s eighth race meeting at Oschersleben. Gabriele
Tarquini signed a last gasp pole position, beating team-mate
Yvan Muller and Independent Roberto Colciago by 11 and 14
thousandths of a second respectively.
BMW’s fastest driver was Jörg Müller who
set the fourth fastest lap on his home track, just ahead of
Chevrolet’s Alain Menu and of his own team-mate Augusto
Farfus. Again the session was incredibly close, with 21 cars
qualified within the same second.
Andy Priaulx was the first man to set a credible provisional
pole, completing a lap in 1:37.061 nine minutes into the session.
A few moments later James Thompson and Jörg Müller
swooped together on the finish line: the Briton set a provisional
pole at 1:36.620, with the German second fastest with a time
of 1:36.635. Tiago Monteiro promoted himself to third with
a lap in 1:36.657, but immediately afterwards Yvan Muller
drove his turbo-diesel SEAT to a new provisional pole at 1:36.302.
Jörg Müller and Farfus responded to the Frenchman
with laps in 1:36.353 and 1:36.558 which were good for second
and third for the time being. Then the session was disrupted
by the red flag with only six minutes remaining, after Michel
Jourdain’s SEAT hit the tyres at Turn 9.
When qualifying resumed many drivers tried a last shot to
the pole. Pierre- Yves Corthals set the 7th fastest time and
best of the Independents, but he was soon beaten by Colciago’s
1:36.305 that provisionally placed the SEAT Sport Italia’s
man in second. Eventually Tarquini settled the matter for
good, clocking a 1:36.291 to claim his first pole position
of the season and the second consecutive for SEAT after Tiago
Monteiro’s in Sweden.
Yvan Muller’s second position is the best qualifying
results achieved so far by a diesel car in a World Championship
race.
BULLET NEWS PRACTICE 1 – PRIAULX
FASTEST
Andy Priaulx put in a strong performance to set
the fastest lap towards the end of the session. The BMW Team
UK driver ousted a couple of SEAT Sport men – Tarquini
and Monteiro – who had led the timesheet for most of
the 30- minute practice in which the four fastest (Priaulx,
Tarquini. Monteiro and J. Müller) were covered by only
two hundredths of a second, while the top-20 were all within
8 tenths.
PRACTICE 2 – THOMPSON ON TOP
James Thompson placed Alfa Romeo on top clocking a 1:36.151
a few minutes before the session expired. Again Monteiro was
the first one to break the 1:37. barrier completing a lap
in 1:36.982. Halfway through the session Tom Coronel managed
to oust him clocking a 1:36.863 that remained the fastest
lap until the final stages.
With only 5 minutes to go, Jörg Müller improved
dramatically with a lap of 1:36.353 but Thompson crossed the
line immediately behind and set the fastest lap for good.
THEY SAID, THEY SAID…
Gabriele TARQUINI
“It was a good time and also the good timing. Sometimes
in the previous qualifying I was among the top three at the
beginning of the session and then I lost some positions. This
time I waited until the last five minutes as I had realized
that the track was getting faster and faster. I put on a new
set of tyres, waited until the very end and didn’t find
any traffic. In these conditions was quite easy to claim pole
position.”
Yvan MULLER
“Of course I’m a little bit disappointed
to lose pole position at the end by only one hundredth of
a second. Previously this season I had already lost pole position
to Thompson in Valencia; this time is better, because I lost
it to another SEAT driver. In the morning practice I was not
happy with the car, so I asked the team to change a few things.
But I did not expect to make the top-three.”
Roberto COLCIAGO
“I’m really happy because this was my
best qualifying result so far in the season. And I’m
even happier because I don’t have any grid penalty to
pay like in Sweden. I really hope to achieve some good results
in tomorrow’s races. Although I don’t want to
make any special predictions…”
Jaime PUIG – SEAT Sport Director
“We are very proud with these results, because we have
placed one petrolpowered car one diesel-powered car and one
independent car on top of the qualifying sheet. This proved
that we have worked very well on all the fronts and also that
we deliver to the independent teams cars that are equally
competitive to those of the works team.”
2007 FIA World Touring Car Championship
POS NO CL DRIVER NAT CAR TIME LAPS GAP KPH
1 11 Gabriele TARQUINI ITA SEAT Leon 1:36.291 10 138.18
2 12 Yvan MULLER FRA SEAT Leon TDI 1:36.302 8 0.011 138.16
3 19 I Roberto COLCIAGO ITA SEAT Leon 1:36.305 10 0.014 138.16
4 2 Jorg MULLER GER BMW 320si 1:36.353 10 0.062 138.09
5 8 Alain MENU SUI Chevrolet Lacetti 1:36.471 9 0.180 137.92
6 3 Augusto FARFUS BRA BMW 320si 1:36.558 11 0.267 137.79
7 18 Tiago MONTEIRO POR SEAT Leon 1:36.582 12 0.291 137.76
8 1 Andy PRIAULX GBR BMW 320si 1:36.608 11 0.317 137.72
9 15 James THOMPSON GBR Alfa Romeo 156 1:36.620 12 0.329 137.71
10 5 Felix PORTEIRO ESP BMW 320si 1:36.629 12 0.338 137.69
11 23 I Pierre-Yves CORTHALS BEL SEAT Leon 1:36.699 10 0.408
137.59
12 40 Peter TERTING GER SEAT Leon 1:36.715 12 0.424 137.57
13 34 I Massimiliano PEDALA ITA SEAT Leon 1:36.996 9 0.705
137.17
14 6 Robert HUFF GBR Chevrolet Lacetti 1:37.000 8 0.709 137.17
15 26 I Stefano D'ASTE ITA BMW 320si 1:37.054 13 0.763 137.09
16 20 Tom CORONEL NED SEAT Leon 1:37.121 14 0.830 137.00
17 16 Olivier TIELEMANS NED Alfa Romeo 156 1:37.136 13 0.845
136.97
18 9 Jordi GENE ESP SEAT Leon TDI 1:37.156 4 0.865 136.95
19 7 Nicola LARINI ITA Chevrolet Lacetti 1:37.177 10 0.886
136.92
20 10 Michel JOURDAIN MEX SEAT Leon 1:37.261 6 0.970 136.80
21 4 Alessandro ZANARDI ITA BMW 320si 1:37.314 15 1.023 136.72
22 30 I Luca RANGONI ITA BMW 320si 1:37.422 11 1.131 136.57
23 35 I Timur SADREDINOV RUS SEAT Leon 1:37.451 11 1.160 136.53
24 31 I Sergio HERNANDEZ ESP BMW 320si 1:37.588 12 1.297 136.34
25 22 I Maurizio CERESOLI ITA SEAT Leon 1:38.293 10 2.002
135.36
26 33 I Miguel FREITAS POR Alfa Romeo 156 1:39.127 12 2.836
134.22
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