ROUNDS 17 & 18 – BRANDS HATCH, UNITED KINGDOM
QUALIFYING REPORT
Weather: cloudy, with a cool breeze and patches of clear
sky; the track was dry.
MENU CLAIMS LAST GASP POLE
Alain Menu claimed his fourth pole position of the
season for Chevrolet. The Swiss man stole it from the grasp
of James Thompson who had set a superb 1:33.032 on his first
flying lap. Menu beat it by only 0.014 seconds with just one
and a half minutes left on the clock.
Thompson’s opportunity to reclaim pole was dashed whan
Félix Porteiro went off at Paddock Hill Bend and was
stranded in the gravel; yellow flags were deployed for sector
one and Thompson, along with the rest of the field who were
hoping for a last lap attempt, had just the second and third
sectors in which to push to the limit. Eventually nobody improved.
On the second row will be Colin Turkington. The Ulsterman
was in contention for a strong grid position for the entire
session and eventually completed a lap of 1:33.082 with four
minutes of the session left. Alongside him in fourth place
will be Tiago Monteiro, making four different manufactuters
– Chevrolet, Alfa Romeo, BMW and SEAT – at the
front. The Portuguese driver achieved a time of 1:33.207 which
was 0.053 seconds better than that of his team-mate Yvan Muller
who will line up fifth. Jörg Müller qualified seventh
with a time of 1:33.297 that he set on his last attempt. Jordi
Gené will line up alongside the German driver in eighth
position.
British drivers Rob Huff and Andy Priaulx will occupy ninth
and tenth positions on the grid, with Championship leader
Augusto Farfus in 13th. Alessandro Zanardi, qualified 15th,
but he will be dropped 10 grid positions due to a penalty
he received for being involved in a pile-up at Oschersleben.
The Independents’ pole position was claimed by Pierre-Yves
Corthals who qualified an impressive sixth overall. His closest
rivals are SEAT Sport Italia’s Roberto Colciago and
Massimiliano Pedalà who qualified 17th and 18th.
BULLET NEWS
MAX MOSLEY VISITS WTCC
The FIA President Max Mosley paid a visit to the FIA WTCC
paddock in Brands Hatch today.
Mosley arrived at the track in the late morning and had different
meetings with the championship promoters, the event promoter,
representatives of the manufacturers and a restricted number
of journalists. After a walk along the pit lane he watched
the qualifying session on the TV screens in the FIA bus.
THOMPSON DOMINATED PRACTICES
Alfa Romeo’s James Thompson dominated both the morning
free practices, clocking nearly the same time: 1:33.578 in
the first session and 1:33.518 in the second one. Turkington
and Monteiro were second and third fastest in Practice 1,
with the former only 0.014 seconds behind Thompson. Independent
Corthals created a surprise in Practice 2 by setting the second
fastest lap just ahead of Menu.
KRYLOV: A DRIVER AND AND A PROMOTER
Sergey Krylov’s participation in a GR Asia car goes
beyond the occasional appearance of a new driver. Besides
being a successful amateur driver Krylov is also the promoter
of the Russian Touring Car Championship. “This is a
great opportunity for me to have an inside look at such a
high level international series. I’m here to learn rather
than to look for sporting results,” he said.
THEY SAID, THEY SAID…
Alain MENU
“I can’t remember the last time a grid for the
Grand Prix circuit was so tight. My last lap was a good one.
I was trying for pole but I was also conscious I didn’t
want to lose out on a front row position. This morning the
car was not to my liking but we changed a few things and I
was happy with it in qualifying.”
James THOMPSON
“I am a bit disappointed with qualifying although I
really shouldn’t be because second is a great position.
To be honest our expectations were higher and I was unfortunate
to have been caught by the yellow flags at the end. I set
a great time at the start and waited in the pits for most
of the middle sprint, it was a case of bad luck at the end.”
Colin TURKINGTON
“I didn’t know what to expect because
it is my first time in the championship. In Britain, Team
RAC is competitive but I didn’t expect to do this well.
The free practice sessions were encouraging but I thought
everyone else would have something extra in the bag for qualifying.”
Tiago MONTEIRO
“To be the lead SEAT is always important to
me. It was so competitive out there and in the end there were
19 cars within one second which proves it is an amazingly
competitive championship. Overall it was a good session despite
being held up on my last attempt at a fast lap.”
Pierre-Yves CORTHALS
“After the crash in Oschersleben the team has worked
hard to repair my car and it feels good now. As always, my
principle goal is to win the Independent catergory and what
is good for me tomorrow is that Colciago and Pedalà
are ten cars behind me.”
2007 FIA World Touring Car Championship
QUALIFYING
POS NO CL DRIVER NAT CAR TIME LAPS GAP KPH
1 8 Alain MENU SUI Chevrolet Lacetti 1:33.018 9 143.31
2 15 James THOMPSON GBR Alfa Romeo 156 1:33.032 7 0.014 143.29
3 27 Colin TURKINGTON GBR BMW 320si 1:33.082 11 0.064 143.21
4 18 Tiago MONTEIRO POR SEAT Leon 1:33.202 12 0.184 143.03
5 12 Yvan MULLER FRA SEAT Leon TDI 1:33.255 12 0.237 142.95
6 23 I Pierre-Yves CORTHALS BEL SEAT Leon 1:33.289 9 0.271
142.89
7 2 Jorg MULLER GER BMW 320si 1:33.297 10 0.279 142.88
8 9 Jordi GENE ESP SEAT Leon TDI 1:33.354 10 0.336 142.79
9 6 Robert HUFF GBR Chevrolet Lacetti 1:33.407 10 0.389 142.71
10 1 Andy PRIAULX GBR BMW 320si 1:33.435 12 0.417 142.67
11 11 Gabriele TARQUINI ITA SEAT Leon 1:33.448 11 0.430 142.65
12 5 Felix PORTEIRO ESP BMW 320si 1:33.459 12 0.441 142.63
13 3 Augusto FARFUS BRA BMW 320si 1:33.517 12 0.499 142.54
14 7 Nicola LARINI ITA Chevrolet Lacetti 1:33.606 10 0.588
142.41
15 4 Alessandro ZANARDI ITA BMW 320si 1:33.714 11 0.696 142.25
16 20 Tom CORONEL NED SEAT Leon 1:33.717 15 0.699 142.24
17 19 I Roberto COLCIAGO ITA SEAT Leon 1:33.887 11 0.869 141.98
18 34 I Massimiliano PEDALA ITA SEAT Leon 1:33.972 12 0.954
141.85
19 26 I Stefano D'ASTE ITA BMW 320si 1:34.033 11 1.015 141.76
20 10 Michel JOURDAIN MEX SEAT Leon 1:34.218 11 1.200 141.48
21 16 Olivier TIELEMANS NED Alfa Romeo 156 1:34.325 12 1.307
141.32
22 30 I Luca RANGONI ITA BMW 320si 1:34.398 13 1.380 141.21
23 31 I Sergio HERNANDEZ ESP BMW 320si 1:34.682 13 1.664 140.79
24 22 I Maurizio CERESOLI ITA SEAT Leon 1:34.754 11 1.736
140.68
25 45 I Sergey KRYLOV RUS SEAT Leon 1:36.710 14 3.692 137.84
QUALIFICATION MAXIMA 1:39.529
Car 27 not eligible to score Championship points
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