28/07/2006
NEWS STORY
Trident Racing - Gimmi Bruni Pole Andreas Zuber 9th
Gimmi Bruni claimed the second pole position for Trident Racing here in Germany. Bruni's statement was not made of words but consisted in the wide smile on his face. His pole position here in Germany came out simply as a matter of fact, from the beginning till the end of qualifying, today has been Gimmi's day.
Gimmi Bruni: "Trident Racing gave a me a perfect car and everything came quite naturally. Without the bad luck of the last events I had the chance to drive directly towards pole position. Tomorrow? It will be a very hard race for everybody".
Andreas Zuber: "The car was good but for some reasons I have not been able to fully exploit its potential. Now I am going to carefully study the data with my engineers because I strongly want to do a good race tomorrow. I want to finish the race in the points. Definitely"
Piquet Sports - Nelson Piquet 3rd
Nelson Piquet Jr will begin tomorrow's 40-lap German GP2 feature race from the second row of the grid after he recorded the third fastest time in today's qualifying session at the Hockenheimring. He will begin behind pole-sitter Gimmi Bruni and second-placed Timo Glock. It was a strong result for the Brazilian after he was held up on the weighbridge at the start of the 30-minute session, and could only complete one hot lap as his second was interrupted by yellow flags for a spin by compatriot Lucas Di Grassi.
After finishing seventh fastest in this morning's practice, Nelson was determined to improve in the afternoon qualifying. He set his fastest lap of 1:22.928 on his first fast lap, which was bettered by a fractional 0.018 by Timo Glock a few minutes later. Ten minutes before the end of the session Gimmi Bruni put in a time of 1:22.588, taking provisional pole and the top three remained unchanged at the chequered flag.
Nelson Piquet Jr: There was a bit of confusion and we had a hold up at the start of the session, then when I finally got out the car felt very good and I did a good lap. On my second and last fast lap I was a little bit unlucky because there were yellow flags, so my only time had to stick. I'm quite pleased with the time and the result; it puts us in a good position for tomorrow. The team did a great job to improve the car from practice this morning and I think we can still make it even better for the race.
Racing Engineering - Adam Carroll 12th Javi Villa 22nd
It was a race against time for the Racing Engineering team and Adam Carroll to even make it to qualifying in Hockenheim today. Just over an hour from the start of the session, the team were forced to change an engine – a request which was made to manufacturer Mecachrome after free practice this morning when a misfire was reported.
But the target was reached and both cars went out on the half hour showdown. It was the usual action packed GP2 qualifying with spins, crashes and some very close battles for position. Unfortunately a hydraulic failure on Carroll's car meant he was often unable to change gear and he finished in 12th with a 1:23:457. Javi Villa worked solidly and starts tomorrow's 40 lap feature race from 22nd , half a second behind his team mate.
Hockenheim is a notoriously tough circuit on the tyres and brakes and soaring temperatures didn't make things any easier for the drivers or indeed the mechanics who worked frantically to replace the engine.
Team Principal Alfonso de Orleans Borbon said "I'm actually upset with how late we got the engine. The team all worked so hard to install it but there was no time to look at the set-up and that contributed to Adam's problem with the gears. It's very unfair on Adam as he felt the car was good and I'm sure had he not been able to secure pole, he would definitely have been in the top 3. But Mecachrome just didn't give us a chance."
Adam Carroll: "The team did a great job and under the circumstances I don't think 12th is all that bad considering what we went through– I never thought I'd say that! I was on a good lap right up until the 2nd last corner which would have put me in the top five certainly, but the gear got stuck and I couldn't do anything about it. But I'll get a good start tomorrow and work my way through the traffic."
Javi Villa: "There was a yellow flag so I came in and changed tyres. The car went much better and faster on the second set. Hockenheim is such a different circuit with the long straights and there are some tricky corners to look out for which caught out several drivers. Tomorrow I start near the back but I feel the car has improved from the last round in France and as always, I will push and hope to finish mid-field."
DPR Direxiv - Clivio Piccione 16th Vitaly Petrov 23rd
DPR drivers qualified in 16th and 23rd places for tomorrow's first GP2 race of the Hockenheim Grand Prix weekend.
Clivio Piccione of Monaco was disappointed to be as low as 16t h, having had a positive test session in the morning and no problems with his car. He unfortunately had to abort his first flying lap as yellow flags came out for an incident involving Valles, and was then blocked on his second attempt (and second set of new tyres) by another car which was on its warming up lap. Looking at the individual sector times, the team is confident that without these incidents Clivio would have been in the top six.
For DPR new boy Vitaly Petrov there has been a huge learning curve for his first time out in a GP2 car. The biggest hurdle for him to overcome is to learn to left-foot brake, something he has never had to do before. He has also never before used a paddle shift gear selector, and never driven on the full Hockenheim track.
He has, however, embraced all these things with great enthusiasm and made steady progress through the day, slicing a second off his lap times from the morning's practice through to the afternoon's qualifying where he posted a time which put him 23rd on the grid.
A beaming Petrov said after qualifying, "I really like the car; it is totally different to anything I have driven in my life. It will be difficult to switch back to a slower car as I love the speed. I want to stay with this car and this team! Thank you to the engineers and the team who re- arranged the car in a way to make it very comfortable for me to drive."
Team Principal David Price was enjoying mixed emotions. "I'm disappointed that Clivio didn't qualify where we thought he would, in fact, where he should have done. But, Vitaly has done a very good job considering hurdles he had to overcome in a short space of time. He's fitted into the team extremely well."
Super Nova International - Fairuz Fauzy 17th Jose Maria Lopez No Time
Although Super Nova's #5 car suffered a small water leak towards the end of free practice, Jose Maria Lopez still came out third quickest. Forecasted rain had totally dried up by this afternoon's qualifying where Jose unfortunately damaged his car, when he made a mistake getting too close to one of the Piquet Sports cars & spun off hitting the wall. The team did an outstanding job to turn the car around in time for Jose to rejoin the session, only to see a yellow flag and endure more problems. The result; he starts right at the back of the grid for tomorrows race.
Fairuz Fauzy got held up in traffic, but proved he is capable of competitive speeds while making some impressive sectors times, completing his best ever qualifying session in GP2 finishing 17th.
Tridents driver Bruni qualified out in front today, followed by iSports Timo Glock who was full of confidence in front of his home crowd. Nelson Piquet Jnr. qualified third for Piquet Sports.
Team Principal - David Sears: "After a pole position at the last race in France 2 weeks ago, Super Nova Team were looking for the same again in Germany, Hockenheim. In the morning un-timed session Jose Maria Lopez was in third place, but in qualifying he got too close to another car on his first flying lap, went off, hitting the wall. So he has to start on the back row tomorrow.
Fairuz Fauzy on the other hand had his best qualifying session of the season so far, and ended up in 17th position. As Fairuz races better than he qualifies this maybe the first race that he finishes in front of his team mate!"
Jose Maria Lopez: "I'm obviously very frustrated. It is going to be a very tough weekend. I would like to say a big thank you and well done to the boys in the team for working so hard and fast to get me out again this afternoon!"
Fairuz Fauzy: "The car feels a lot better! Unfortunately I got held up on my 1st and 2nd set. However I improved by 2/10th second on my 2nd set, which is positive. We are going in the right direction for tomorrows race!"