Racing Engineering - Dani Clos (Pole) Christian Vietoris (9th)
Racing Engineering's Dani Clos achieved a brilliant pole position under difficult conditions in today's qualifying session in Monaco. After an intense battle Perez and Maldonado on a wet track, Dani snatched his first pole position in GP2. Christian Vietoris, having encountered traffic during his flying lap, finished in a commendable ninth place after his first day ever at the prestigious Monaco street circuit.
In the morning practice, the Racing Engineering boys had a busy but positive session, with Christian finishing in third place and Dani Clos in fourth. Those excellent results made everyone at Racing Engineering look forward to the afternoon qualifying session.
While free practice took place on a dry track, the temperatures dropped and with only ten minutes to go for qualifying to start, rain set in. The session started with all the drivers evaluating the track and, after just six laps, Spanish driver Dani Clos clocked the fastest time. At that point, he started an impressive battle with Sergio Perez and Pastor Maldonado for the pole position, with the top three places changing hands among them throughout the session. Christian Vietoris, on his part, was lapping at a consistent rate, and being careful to not touch the walls surrounding the track. Traffic was being an issue for everybody and, after passing through the pits for adjustments on his car, Christian saw his last run hampered by traffic and yellow flags, but still managed to clock the ninth fastest time in his first official qualifying session in the Montecarlo.
Everything seemed set for another pole from the Venezuelan, when Dani did a perfect flying lap and set the fastest time of the session at the last minute, with a time of 1:37.572, a pole position which is crucial to any aspirations of a good result in Monaco. By achieving pole position, Dani Clos has also scored two more points for himself and the Spanish team.
Dani Clos: "We were calm during the session and always within the top three. There was a lot of traffic but towards the end of the session I found a clean lap. We were able to set a fast time and I am happy to start tomorrow's race from pole. But it's a long race and now we need to work on preparing it."
Christian Vietoris: "Free practice in the dry was really good. It's a pity it started raining just before qualifying was due to start. We knew that the decisive laps will be made towards the end of the session when the track got better. I didn't want to take any risks at the beginning and think this was a good strategy. However, I had some traffic during my fast lap, so I think I could have done even better."
Alfonso de Orlčans - Borbón, President of Racing Engineering: "I am really excited and happy for the results we just got. Pole position in Monaco is something unique for us and Dani did a wonderful job in keeping it all together. Christian did a fantastic job as well. It's a pity he first found traffic and had yellow flags on his fast lap later. I think he will be good in tomorrow's race, as we saw how fast he is in Monaco during today's free practice. Once again, I thank the entire team for the great work. Now we need to prepare tomorrow's race."
Scuderia Coloni - Alberto Valerio (4th) Vladimir Arabadzhie (21st)
A masterly drive on a damp track means a second row start in tomorrow's feature race for Alberto Valerio and Scuderia Coloni. The brazilian driver stopped the clock on 1:38.901, clinching the fourth spot of the grid behind Pastor Maldonado and ahead of Fabio Leimer and Jules Bianchi.
The weekend was good right from the start for the Brazilian driver: in the morning Free Practice he was eleventh despite focusing on a long-run test, and also in Qualifying he was on the pace straight out of the box. Fifth in the initial stages, with a very wet track, he improved lap after lap despite aborting two tries due to slower cars on the racing line. Anyway, he kept the masterpiece for the final try, with just one minute to the checkered flag. Taking full advantage of slightly improved track conditions he went for a last flyer and, despite Maldonado spinning right in front of him and then finding a slower car in the tunnel, he got the fouth best laptime. Living in Monte Carlo from some years, Valerio cared a lot about getting a good result on the Principality streets, and a great satisfaction could clearly be seen in his eyes after the session.
Also Vladimir Arabadzhiev performed good in Qualifying: being at his maiden experience in Monaco, Vladimir paid his “rookie fee” in the morning Free Practice, crashing in St.Devote after just 15 minutes. Despite losing half of the practice, something really important on such a different track, Vladimir drove well in Qualifying and with 5 minutes to go he was 14th, with ten drivers behind them. Anyway, he was blocked by a yellow flag and some slow cars in his last try, and not improving the 1'41”733 time meant P21.
Paolo Coloni: We are really satisfied with this qualifying, both because we showed everybody how competitive we are and because Alberto deserved this after the wonderful job he did. He was so quick that he could have clinched pole position if Chilton didn't ruin his lap slowing down under the tunnel.
Anyway, we are really confident for tomorrow: starting ahead is vital for a good race in Monaco, and in the morning practice we had very good results in a long-run simulation, so everything should be all right. I'd like to spend some words also for Arabadzhiev, who did a good qualifying. Doing mistakes was easy on the damp track, other drivers did some but he was flawless, and until the last five minutes he was doing really well for a rookie. He was unlucky and so he could not improve his time, but we are happy of his performance.
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