2007 FIA World Touring Car Championship
ROUNDS 7 & 8 – PAU, FRANCE
QUALIFYING REPORT
Weather: sunny, with a dry track.
SECOND POLE POSITION FOR MENU
Alain Menu will line up on pole for race one at Pau tomorrow;
the second time for him this season as he aready topped qualifying
in Zandvoort. The Chevrolet man was battling with Yvan Muller
for the duration of the session and eventually clocked a time
of 1:21.930 which was 0.398 of a second faster than the SEAT
man. Augusto Farfus qualified third but due to a penalty incurred
at Valencia he will line up 13th.
The dying seconds saw Farfus’ BMW 320si fly up in the
air at the Foch bend and roll twice before landing upside-down.
The young driver walked away from the incident with no injuries
but his car was badly damaged. Tiago Monteiro achieved his
best qualifying result: fourth with a time of 1:22.391. Below
him in fifth and sixth is a pair of Chevrolet cars: Nicola
Larini’s (1:22.416) and Rob Huff’s (1:22.458).
Larini’s Lacetti suffered problems in the late stages
of the session and stopped along the track. Andy Priaulx qualified
seventh, and with Farfus’ penalty, will line up as the
best BMW. Jordi Gené clocked a 1:22.591 which placed
him 8th overall ahead of team-mate Gabriele Tarquini. Tarquini
suffers the same penalty as Farfus following Valencia so the
Italian will line up 19th. Olivier Tielemans had a successful
session despite straying from the track a couple of times.
He qualified 11th for N.technology Alfa Romeo while his team-mate
James Thompson was 13th fastest. Tom Coronel split the duo
in 12th with a 1:22.948. Anthony Beltoise accomplished a great
lap to qualify 14th overall and the best independent competitor,
stealing pole from Stefano D’Aste with only a few minutes
to go in the session; a great start for the guest in the WTCC.
BULLET NEWS
PRACTICE 1: SEAT MAKE 1-2-3
Yvan Muller dominated the session, the only driver to break
the 1:23 barrier (1:22.830). Two other SEAT Sport men completed
the top three: Gené (1:23.089) and Monteiro (1:23.243).
Farfus set the fourth best time ahead of Zanardi. Two independent
drivers, Rangoni and Colciago occupied eighth and ninth positions
on the timetable.
PRACTICE 2: MENU BACK ON TOP
Chevrolet’s Alain Menu topped the timesheet in the second
free practice. His time of 1:22.795 demoted Yvan Muller to
second by almost half a second. Tarquini was third fastest,
0.631 of a second off the pace. Coronel, clocked an impressive
1:23.494 placing him fourth overall. Farfus set the best time
for BMW in fifth place. Colciago crashed into the tyres at
Virage Foch after his early time of 1:23.860 was good enough
to place him ninth overall and best independent.
DOCTORS SIDELINE COLCIAGO
Roberto Colciago was victim of an unfortunate incident
just before the start of the qualifying session. The SEAT
Sport Italia drivers slipped on a wet floor and while trying
to keep his balance he made a wrong movement that caused his
right shoulder to be dislocated. Because of this the doctors
declared him unable to drive again in the weekend.
THEY SAID, THEY SAID…
Alain MENU
“It’s not easy to go fast here without making
a mistake so I’m pleased with pole. I had to keep pushing
right to the end because my initial time was only one tenth
faster than Yvan Muller’s. After an attempt in which
I lost some time behind Porteiro I tried again and on that
lap I don’t think I could have gone any faster.”
Yvan MULLER
“I am disappointed because it would be better to be
on pole but Alain (Menu) was quicker than me today. On my
last runs to improve I was stopped by yellow flags due to
Tielemans and Larini’s incidents. Tomorrow I will put
Alain under pressure and if he makes a mistake I will make
a move.”
Augusto FARFUS
“My crash came because I pushed too hard. It was my
mistake because I lost the rear, hit the wall, then hit the
grass which made me jump and roll. I’m sad and angry
about it because despite the penalty my aim was to qualify
first.”
Anthony BELTOISE
“I think I had as many problems so far this
weekend that many other drivers have in a whole season. Also,
from lap one of qualifying I had drive shaft problems. Fourteenth
may be good on one hand but on the other hand I’m over
second behind Alain and that’s quite a difference.”
Andy PRIAULX
“I’m disappointed because I did not
do a good lap on new tyres, because of yellow flags. Disappointed
because I think we had potential to be in the top three. To
be honest if you have given me this position yesterday I would
have taken it.”
Olivier TIELEMANS
“This is a very difficult track and for me is the first
time on a street circuit. So it was very difficult to find
the limit of the car and the track. I made some mistakes and
suddenly… I don’t know, probably I will never
repeat that lap again. How did I do I still don’t know,
but it was a very good lap!”
FREE PRACTICE 1
POS NO CL DRIVER NAT CAR TIME LAPS GAP KPH
1 12 Yvan MULLER FRA SEAT Leon 1:22.830 13 119.95
2 9 Jordi GENE ESP SEAT Leon 1:23.089 14 0.259 119.58
3 18 Tiago MONTEIRO POR SEAT Leon 1:23.243 17 0.413 119.36
4 3 Augusto FARFUS BRA BMW 320si 1:23.275 20 0.445 119.31
5 4 Alessandro ZANARDI ITA BMW 320si 1:23.471 16 0.641 119.03
6 11 Gabriele TARQUINI ITA SEAT Leon 1:23.584 15 0.754 118.87
7 20 Tom CORONEL NED SEAT Leon 1:23.598 14 0.768 118.85
8 30 I Luca RANGONI ITA BMW 320si 1:23.655 18 0.825 118.77
9 19 I Roberto COLCIAGO ITA SEAT Leon 1:23.669 19 0.839 118.75
10 1 Andy PRIAULX GBR BMW 320si 1:23.715 16 0.885 118.68
11 6 Robert HUFF GBR Chevrolet Lacetti 1:23.739 15 0.909 118.65
12 2 Jorg MULLER GER BMW 320si 1:23.752 19 0.922 118.63
13 5 Felix PORTEIRO ESP BMW 320si 1:23.769 18 0.939 118.61
14 8 Alain MENU SUI Chevrolet Lacetti 1:23.869 17 1.039 118.47
15 26 I Stefano D'ASTE ITA BMW 320si 1:23.877 19 1.047 118.45
16 10 Michel JOURDAIN MEX SEAT Leon 1:24.085 15 1.255 118.16
17 15 James THOMPSON GBR Alfa Romeo 156 1:24.117 16 1.287
118.12
18 23 I Pierre-Yves CORTHALS BEL SEAT Leon 1:24.321 17 1.491
117.83
19 7 Nicola LARINI ITA Chevrolet Lacetti 1:24.324 13 1.494
117.83
20 24 I Anthony BELTOISE FRA SEAT Leon 1:24.366 8 1.536 117.77
21 31 I Sergio HERNANDEZ ESP BMW 320si 1:24.366 17 1.536 117.77
22 33 I Miguel FREITAS POR Alfa Romeo 156 1:24.774 15 1.944
117.20
23 16 Olivier TIELEMANS NED Alfa Romeo 156 1:24.781 8 1.951
117.19
24 21 I Emmet O'BRIEN IRL SEAT Leon 1:24.933 15 2.103 116.98
25 22 I Maurizio CERESOLI ITA SEAT Leon 1:26.292 17 3.462
115.14
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