ROUNDS 7 & 8 - PAU, FRANCE
QUALIFYING REPORT
FARFUS GIVES BMW FIRST POLE OF THE SEASON
Augusto Farfus claimed his and BMW's first pole position of
the season at the end of an eventful session that had been
delayed by a half-an-hour for the track to be repaired after
a support race. The asphalt had dried and the drivers were
finally able to set faster times than in this morning's wet
practice sessions.
Farfus took pole position in the final minutes with a lap
of 1:21.960 that was 0.030 slower than last year's fastest
lap by Alain Menu. SEAT Sport's Yvan Muller had the provisional
pole for most of the session and eventually was classified
second 0.020 behind the leader. His team-mate Jordi Gené
took third with a time of 1:22.276; two other SEAT drivers,
Gabriele Tarquini and Rickard Rydell, finished in fourth and
fifth positions respectively.
Robert Huff rounded off the top six with his Chevrolet and
fellow countryman Andy Priaulx put his BMW Team UK car into
seventh. These were impressive results for both drivers considering
the incidents they had suffered in the earlier practices.
It was an eventful qualifying, which started with Ibrahim
Okyay and Franz Engstler colliding on the pit straight; the
Turkish's BMW crashed into the barriers and retired. Minutes
later Sergio Hernández crashed at Turn 7 and pulled
out, while James Thompson clipped the wall and rejoined. As
the session went on Oscar Nogués spun at Turn 6, Menu
hit the barrier after Turn 12 and could not continue, Alessandron
Zanardi and Farfus both brushed the barriers at Turn 5, Gabriele
Tarquini went straight at Turn 2.
The battle for the pole was mainly a Muller vs Farfus affair,
however Gené had managed to clock a provisional fastest
lap in the early stages.
Nogués put his SUNRED SEAT onto pole for the Independents'
class to conclude a successful day for the young Spaniard.
His time of 1:23.652 put him in sixteenth position overall,
ahead of Stefano D'Aste and Franz Engstler.
BULLET NEWS
LADA REMAIN NOT ELIGIBLE TO SCORE
Like in Valencia two weeks ago, the two LADA 110 cars of Viktor
Shapovalov and Jaap van Lagen will not be eligible to score
championship points in Pau.
The Russian cars failed again to pass the scrutineering because
the intake and outlet ports of the cylinder head did not conform
to the homologation form. With the agreement of all the other
competitors, the Stewards decided to let them race as transparent
cars in Pau and in the next meeting at Brno.
However the team must introduce the needed changes so that
their cars comply before Estoril as no further derogations
will be conceded.
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