ROUNDS 21 & 22 – MACAU
QUALIFYING REPORT
Weather: sunny, with a dry track
MENU PLACES CHEVROLET ON POLE
Alain Menu has taken his fifth pole of the season.
In the dying minutes of qualifying Yvan Muller looked to have
secured prime position in Macau with a time of 2:31.395, but
under the chequered flag Menu stormed a lap in 2:31.209. Muller
will line up second with his SEAT Sport team-mate Gabriele
Tarquini behind in third.
Championship contender Augusto Farfus clocked the fourth
best time (2:31.752) for BMW Team Germany but his colleague
Jörg Müller had to settle for 15th on the grid.
Andy Priaulx, who is currently co-leading the championship
with Yvan Muller, qualified in twelfth place (2:32.685). Lining
up fourth on the grid will be Nicola Larini, who too has a
chance of claiming the championship tomorrow. Jordi Gené
and Rob Huff follow him in sixth and seventh positions.
James Thompson, the final man in the title fight, promoted
himself to eighth in the late stages of the session with a
time of 2:32.140. The session was disrupted almost immediately
after Thomspon’s Alfa Romeo N.technology team-mate André
Couto hit the barriers at the Teddy Ip bend on his first flying
lap. “I brushed the inside wall with my front left wheel
and this was enough to send me crashing into the opposite
wall,” he explained. At the time of this report the
N.technology team were not able to tell whether the car was
repairable or not.
Tiago Monteiro and Alessandro Zanardi completed the top-ten,
while the Team AVIVA duo of Duncan Huisman and Colin Turkington
was classified 16th and 18th.
Luca Rangoni secured pole for the independent category with
a time of 2:33.278 which placed him 17th on the grid. His
rivals in the title fight Pierre- Yves Corthals and Stefano
D’Aste qualified 19th and 21st respectively.
BULLET NEWS
PRACTICE 1 - YVAN MULLER ON TOP
Yvan Muller emerged as the fastest with a lap time of 2:32.789
that was 0.078 faster than Zanardi’s best lap. Zanardi
promoted himself to second on his penultimate lap before getting
too close to the barriers and suffering a right rear puncture.
Couto was placed third on the timesheet after clocking a 2:33.037
for the Alfa Romeo N.technology team.
PRACTICE 2 – TARQUINI SETS BEST LAP
The quickest of the bunch was Gabriele Tarquini who completed
a lap in 2:34.005, ahead of Coronel (2:34.023) and Farfus
(2:34.206). Rydell was within the top spots for most of the
session and eventually claimed the fourth fastest lap (2:34.235).
Alfa Romeo was represented in the top five with Couto driving
a lap of his home town in 2:34.346.
JOURDAIN SIDELINED AFTER A CRASH
Michel Jourdain will remain out for the rest of the meeting
after his car’s rollcage suffered substantial damage
in a crash during the first practice. Jourdain hit the wall
and spun at Paiol bend and his SEAT León was t-boned
by Corthals’ identical car. The Exagon Engineering team
worked hard to repair their car, eventually enabling Corthals
to take part in the qualifying.
PROBLEMS FOR THE OLD BMW CARS
None of the five BMW 320i cars entered in the meeting
– Engstler’s, Romanov’s, Luoie’s,
Ao Chi Hong’s and Lee’s – was equipped with
the proper FIA-homologated data acquisition. After they were
not allowed to take part in the first free practice session,
the Stewards decided to admit them to the second practice
and the qualifying.
THEY SAID, THEY SAID…
Alain MENU
“I think that this was my best qualifying
session ever in touring cars. You can push for a good lap
here but it is so difficult not to hit something. The pole
was a result of fantastic team effort and to get it in Macau
is a great achievement for myself and the team. I am a racing
driver so I like to win and that is what I will hope for tomorrow.”
Yvan MULLER
“I am disappointed not to be on pole but it
is important to my championship fight that I am still on the
front row with Farfus and Andy (Priaulx) behind me. Furthermore,
I would prefer to have Menu alongside me than a lot of other
drivers and having Gabriele (Tarquini) behind will help a
lot. I will aim to finish well in race one, then look at where
Andy is and adjust my strategy accordingly.”
Gabriele TARQUINI
“The target was to get Yvan at the front and despite
giving him two good tows there was just not enough to keep
pole. The TDI engine is fantastic, in fact, the whole car
is fantastic. I am optimistic for the race because tyre wear
seems to be good here also.”
Augusto FARFUS
“It was definitely a good result. However, we were hoping
for pole and in particular to have Jörg, Andy and myself
at the front of the grid, or at least in the top eight. Unfortunately
it didn’t work out like that so now I look forward to
being on the pace and trying to get through Lisboa as trouble-free
as possible tomorrow.”
Luca RANGONI
“It is very satisfying to have achieved pole in the
independent category here at Macau. Tomorrow will be much
more difficult as the races are always tough, but I am in
the best position possible to fight for the title.”
2007 FIA World Touring Car Championship
QUALIFYING
POS NO CL DRIVER NAT CAR TIME LAPS GAP KPH
1 8 Alain MENU SUI Chevrolet Lacetti 2:31.209 12 145.70
2 12 Yvan MULLER FRA SEAT Leon TDI 2:31.395 9 0.186 145.52
3 11 Gabriele TARQUINI ITA SEAT Leon TDI 2:31.565 12 0.356
145.36
4 3 Augusto FARFUS BRA BMW 320si 2:31.751 13 0.542 145.18
5 7 Nicola LARINI ITA Chevrolet Lacetti 2:31.816 12 0.607
145.12
6 9 Jordi GENE ESP SEAT Leon TDI 2:31.851 11 0.642 145.09
7 6 Robert HUFF GBR Chevrolet Lacetti 2:31.904 11 0.695 145.03
8 15 James THOMPSON GBR Alfa Romeo 156 2:32.140 14 0.931 144.81
9 18 Tiago MONTEIRO POR SEAT Leon 2:32.411 15 1.202 144.55
10 4 Alessandro ZANARDI ITA BMW 320si 2:32.493 14 1.284 144.47
11 5 Felix PORTEIRO ESP BMW 320si 2:32.497 12 1.288 144.47
12 1 Andy PRIAULX GBR BMW 320si 2:32.685 12 1.476 144.29
13 20 Tom CORONEL NED SEAT Leon 2:32.909 13 1.700 144.08
14 88 Rickard RYDELL SWE SEAT Leon 2:32.956 11 1.747 144.04
15 2 Jorg MULLER GER BMW 320si 2:33.067 13 1.858 143.93
16 25 Duncan HUISMAN NED BMW 320si 2:33.163 11 1.954 143.84
17 30 I Luca RANGONI ITA BMW 320si 2:33.278 13 2.069 143.73
18 27 Colin TURKINGTON GBR BMW 320si 2:33.764 13 2.555 143.28
19 23 I Pierre-Yves CORTHALS BEL SEAT Leon 2:34.026 7 2.817
143.04
20 14 Fredrik EKBLOM SWE BMW 320si 2:34.075 10 2.866 142.99
21 26 I Stefano D'ASTE ITA BMW 320si 2:34.153 12 2.944 142.92
22 43 I Franz ENGSTLER GER BMW 320i 2:34.291 12 3.082 142.79
23 28 I Carl ROSENBLAD SWE BMW 320si 2:35.386 14 4.177 141.78
24 31 I Sergio HERNANDEZ ESP BMW 320si 2:35.883 14 4.674 141.33
25 22 I Maurizio CERESOLI ITA SEAT Leon 2:36.554 13 5.345
140.73
26 33 I Miguel FREITAS POR Alfa Romeo 156 2:37.871 13 6.662
139.55
27 63 I Henry LEE jr HKG BMW 320i 2:39.826 11 8.617 137.85
28 44 I Andrey ROMANOV RUS BMW 320i 2:41.587 14 10.378 136.34
QUALIFICATION MAXIMA 2:41.793
46 David LOUIE HKG BMW 320i 2:45.915 13 14.706 132.79
66 Andre COUTO MAC Alfa Romeo 156 14:22.645 1 11:51.436 25.54
|
