ROUNDS 5 & 6 – VALENCIA, SPAIN QUALIFYING REPORT
Weather: sunny and hot, with a dry track.
THOMPSON PLACES ALFA ON POLE
James Thompson gave the Alfa Romeo N.technology team their
first pole of the season. In fact, the last time they were
on pole was at Valencia last year. Thompson’s time of
1:43.954 was set halfway into the session and beat Yvan Muller
of SEAT Sport into 2nd place by an astonishing one thousandth
of a second. Andy Priaulx posted his best time (1.44.114)
on the last lap to line up third on the grid for BMW, making
it three manufacturers in the top three. Jordi Gené
and Michel Jourdain qualified fourth and fifth respectively
for SEAT Sport’s home race; this was the Mexican’s
best performance so far. Chevrolet also had a successful session
with all three drivers making the top nine. Nicola Larini’s
time of 1:44.261 placed him 6th while Alain Menu and Robert
Huff will line up 8th and 9th. It was Augusto Farfus of BMW
Germany who split the trio on his penultimate lap.
The top ten was rounded up by independent SEAT Sport Italia
man Roberto Colciago who was 0.398 off pole position pace.
The other Spanish drivers qualified 13th Félix Porteiro,
16th Sergio Hernández and 23rd María De Villota.
The top twenty was covered by just one second. GR Asia’s
Emmet O’Brien did not take part in the session due to
transmission problems, while SEAT Sport Italia’s Massimiliano
Pedalà did not post a valid qualifying time because
of a clutch failure.
BULLET NEWS
PRACTICE 1 – GENÉ IS FASTEST
Jordi Gené topped the session with a lap of 1:44.633,
which was 0.084 of a second faster than Yvan Muller. Nicola
Larini was third fastest, 0.253 off the pace. Andy Priaulx
was the best of BMW, fourth overall; Roberto Colciago set
the pace for the independents with a lap of 1:45.165.
PRACTICE 2 – TIELEMANS IN A SEAT SANDWICH
Gabriele Tarquini set the fastest time of 1:45.812 with his
team-mate Tiago Monteiro in third. Olivier Tielemans has his
best result so far by being second quickest, one tenth behind
Tarquini. Alain Menu was fourth and Andy Priaulx fifth. Roberto
Colciago topped again the independent category.
FREITAS’ PENALTY STAYS SUSPENDED
In Zandvoort Miguel Freitas was given a suspended
penalty of 2000 euros because his car was not equipped with
the up-to-date FIA data logging system. As the team did not
succeed in updating the Alfa Romeo due to a late delivery
of parts, the Stewards raised the penalty to 4000 euros, but
suspended it again until the next event.
ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS FOR FRIDMAN
Lev Fridman from Russian Bears Motorsport did not
take part in any of today’s three sessions due to electrical
problems. The team is working to try and fix the problem for
tomorrow’s warm up.
UPDATED CAR FOR HERNÁNDEZ
In Curitiba, Sergio Hernández drove Luca Rangoni’s
BMW 320si from last year. However, since then, Proteam Motorsport
have updated the car completely to 2007 specifications for
the Valencian event.
THEY SAID, THEY SAID…
James THOMPSON
“A gap of one thousandth over Yvan was just
enough! I wanted to improve my time but on the second attempt
I tried too much and made mistakes. It’s nice to be
at the front again and when it comes to the race I have nothing
to lose because I haven’t scored any championship points.
The team and I don’t want 2nds and 3rds, we want wins.
A lot of credit has to go to the team for this pole because
they have worked exceptionally hard with very little testing.”
Yvan MULLER
“A gap of one thousandth was far too much for
me! I am pleased to be second though, especially after the
last two events. In a couple of attempts to improve my time
I pushed too hard and made mistakes so I gave up. I will be
looking for a podium finish and to try and keep Andy behind.”
Andy PRIAULX
“I’m exceptionally pleased with qualifying
third because it all came down to my last lap where I had
to give 100%. When you are pushing 100% it is easy to make
mistakes like I did in Zandvoort. I’m not looking to
win tomorrow, I just want two good races with good points
from each.”
Nicola LARINI
“After free practice I thought a position in
the top six should be possible, which is exactly where I ended
up. The first set of tyres didn’t work the way they
should have due to a pressure problem, but after that everything
worked fine. I’m quite confident for the race, I’ll
go flat-out all the way.”
Roberto COLCIAGO
“I had a serious problem with my braking at
the corners. On the first two attempts of a fast lap the problem
completely ruined my chances so on the third I was a bit more
conservative. I think without any problems that I could have
done much better. We will try to fix everything and see what
happens tomorrow.”
2007 FIA World Touring Car Championship - FREE PRACTICE
1
POS NO CL DRIVER NAT CAR TIME LAPS GAP KPH
1 9 Jordi GENE ESP SEAT Leon 1:44.633 11 137.79
2 12 Yvan MULLER FRA SEAT Leon 1:44.717 14 0.084 137.68
3 7 Nicola LARINI ITA Chevrolet Lacetti 1:44.886 10 0.253
137.46
4 1 Andy PRIAULX GBR BMW 320si 1:44.889 14 0.256 137.46
5 18 Tiago MONTEIRO POR SEAT Leon 1:44.938 15 0.305 137.39
6 6 Robert HUFF GBR Chevrolet Lacetti 1:45.129 12 0.496 137.14
7 19 I Roberto COLCIAGO ITA SEAT Leon 1:45.165 8 0.532 137.09
8 2 Jorg MULLER GER BMW 320si 1:45.263 14 0.630 136.97
9 20 Tom CORONEL NED SEAT Leon 1:45.302 14 0.669 136.92
10 8 Alain MENU SUI Chevrolet Lacetti 1:45.362 11 0.729 136.84
11 15 James THOMPSON GBR Alfa Romeo 156 1:45.432 13 0.799
136.75
12 10 Michel JOURDAIN MEX SEAT Leon 1:45.458 13 0.825 136.71
13 3 Augusto FARFUS BRA BMW 320si 1:45.462 13 0.829 136.71
14 5 Felix PORTEIRO ESP BMW 320si 1:45.719 12 1.086 136.38
15 31 I Sergio HERNANDEZ ESP BMW 320si 1:45.763 11 1.130 136.32
16 30 I Luca RANGONI ITA BMW 320si 1:45.827 14 1.194 136.24
17 23 I Pierre-Yves CORTHALS BEL SEAT Leon 1:45.839 13 1.206
136.22
18 11 Gabriele TARQUINI ITA SEAT Leon 1:46.054 11 1.421 135.95
19 4 Alessandro ZANARDI ITA BMW 320si 1:46.125 13 1.492 135.85
20 34 I Massimiliano PEDALA ITA SEAT Leon 1:46.548 8 1.915
135.31
21 26 I Stefano D'ASTE ITA BMW 320si 1:46.567 14 1.934 135.29
22 22 I Maurizio CERESOLI ITA SEAT Leon 1:46.610 14 1.977
135.24
23 16 Olivier TIELEMANS NED Alfa Romeo 156 1:46.636 15 2.003
135.20
24 36 I Maria De VILLOTA ESP Chevrolet Lacetti 1:47.468 14
2.835 134.16
25 21 I Emmet O'BRIEN IRL SEAT Leon 1:47.472 10 2.839 134.15
26 33 I Miguel FREITAS POR Alfa Romeo 156 1:47.987 13 3.354
133.51
27 52 I Viktor SHAPOVALOV RUS BMW 320i 1:50.608 12 5.975 130.35
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