Paul Ricard Qualifying Race: What the drivers say - News from FIA GT1 World Championship - Official Site

03/07/2010

Paul Ricard Qualifying Race: What the drivers say

Michael Bartels, Vitapahone Maserati No.1

"I think that first there was a problem again on the start, it went red/green and red/green which was not the way I expected to start, I think that Christopher (Haase) can confirm this. So I think there was a little bit of trouble which influenced the starting procedure.

"As for the race, it was a really fantastic battle. A fight on the fair side but on the limit. After a few laps I decided to wait for a better chance as I saw that his (Haase's) tyre degredation was a bit more than mine and behind we had a gap. But it was good racing and good sport for GT1.

"It was a good day all round - another lucky Saturday - and Germany won 4-0. Although our team manager Rafael Calafell, who is Argentinian, may not be so happy. We have a good base for tomorrow.

"It was a good race, a good pit stop and a good strategy, if you can call it a strategy to come in early to stay in the lead and Andrea (Bertolini) did a good job to bring the car home and we are in a good place for tomorrow."

Andrea Bertolini, Vitaphone Maserati No.1

"Like Michael (Bartels) said, it was a good Saturday again. Michael did a really good stint as the Lambo isn't easy to overtake, their car is maybe better under braking. But he did the overtaking and life after that for me was a little more easy. The crew also did a really unbelievable pit, so thanks to all the team. Now the races are really close all the time so if you gain three or four seconds in the pits probably your position changes."

Christopher Haase, Reiter Lamborghini No.24 

"The lights were a little bit strange but the last time I saw it, it was all on the green lights so I got on the power. And after the first corner I was in first place. I could hold the first place for a few laps but it was really difficult to save the tyres. Because maybe I pushed a little bit and it was too much. So I lost a few places on my last three laps."

Peter Kox, Reiter Lamborghini No.24 

"Christopher (Haase) did a magnificent job for us in the beginning, I think that he made the race for us. I just needed to bring the car home so that was good. Compared to the guys alongside, we still have to up our pace, but we've come a long way now." 

Jamie Campbell-Walter, Nissan GT-R No.22

"I managed to get past my team-mate Peter Dumbreck, as he started on an old set of tyres but by the time that happened I was too far behind these guys (the Maserati and Lamborghini) and the Corvette. But I managed to catch them up and managed to overtake a Lambo. A good starting position for tomorrow."

Warren Hughes, Nissan GT-R No.22 

"The car was very good, it was always going to be about tyre management with this heat, the work we've done has paid off. The car's mega-consistant, it can stay strong. I could gauge my pace as I came on to the back straight, I could see that I was catching all the guys ahead as the race progressed. That makes us very confident for tomorrow, we've got very good race pace.

"I actually knocked the master switch off in the pit stop and then in my frustration I stalled. How much time that lost I'm not sure but certainly second in today's race would have been very feasible and that puts us in a strong position for tomorrow."

Olivier Panis, Matech Ford GT No.6

"The race was tough, I think Natacha had a bump with somebody else so we ended up last. I lost a part of the car so I had to pit again. Having said that the car look better than yesterday so that's good. Were all looking forward to tomorrow now, today is finished now."

Karl Wendlinger, Swiss Racing Nissan GT-R No.3

"A Lamborghini passed me and then braked so as we both turned in for the corner we touched. Unfortunately this gave me a puncture and I had to come in for a new tyre. I also received a stop-go penalty for causing a collision although I believe it was 50/50. It is a shame as (Henri ) Moser did a good job during his run and the pit stop was very good."

"We are at the midstream. The car is now well balanced, and I don’t know why we were lost during the Qualifying, we have to analyse that to improve. The good thing is that now we are back in the game for tomorrow. The car was good and we finished the race in 7th position, which is good result. Tomorrow we have to raise up as we did today."

Tomas Enge, Young Driver Aston Martin No.7

“The start of the race was really hectic. We started from 17th and I’m not used to start so far back on the grid. There was much action at the back of the grid and I had some pretty good fights. We had a great pit stop and finished 10th. So we really made the best  of the qualification, considering we have one a heaviest cars in the field due to the penalty weight we received for our success at the last round at Brno.”

 
Darren Turner, Young Driver Aston Martin No.7

 “At the end of the race, I had a pretty bad understeer and the car was out of balance. The tires had a big drop until the end of the race, so it was pretty tough. Our race was really hard, but after I got in the car I overtook two cars before the end and managed to finish tenth. I hope we will have a similar run tomorrow in the championship race and will grab some points.”
 
Stefan Mücke, Young Driver Aston Martin No.8

“The start of the race went really well. Starting from eight, I was in sixth position after the first lap and actually overtook one more car. When I was fifth, we suddenly got a problem with the drive train and I had to retire to the pits. It’s a shame, because the car felt really good in the first laps and I’m sure we could have kept the fifth position until the end.”
 
Christoffer Nygaard, Aston Martin No.8

“There was no race for me today due to our retirement. I hope for better luck tomorrow, but it will be very hard as we have to start now from the back of the grid.”

PAUL RICARD QUALIFYING RACE - WATCH AGAIN VIDEO

FIA GT1 World Championship - Round 4, Paul Ricard, Qualifying Race 

Pos	Car	Class	Drivers	Car	Time	Laps	Gap	Avg speed
1	1	GT1	Bertolini / Bartels	Maserati MC12	1:00:31.919	28	0
2	24	GT1	Kox / Haase	Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-S	1:00:37.488	28	5.569
3	22	GT1	Hughes / Campbell-Walter	Nissan GT - R	1:00:39.717	28	7.798
4	11	GT1	Hezemans / Maassen	Corvette Z06	1:00:42.558	28	10.639
5	2	GT1	Bernoldi / Ramos	Maserati MC12	1:00:44.740	28	12.821
6	13	GT1	Piccini / Hennerici	Corvette Z06	1:00:48.446	28	16.527
7	5	GT1	Grosjean / Mutsch	Ford GT Matech	1:01:03.040	28	31.121
8	33	GT1	Heger / Margaritis	Maserati MC12	1:01:07.362	28	35.443
9	23	GT1	Krumm / Dumbreck	Nissan GT - R	1:01:09.155	28	37.236
10	7	GT1	Turner / Enge	Aston Martin DB9	1:01:17.762	28	45.843
11	9	GT1	Makowiecki / Accary	Aston Martin DB9	1:01:18.860	28	46.941
12	4	GT1	Ara / Nilsson	Nissan GT - R	1:01:22.281	28	50.362
13	25	GT1	Zonta / Daniel	Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-S	1:01:31.074	28	59.155
14	34	GT1	Bobbi / Longin	Maserati MC12	1:01:34.949	28	1:03.030
15	38	GT1	Schwager / Pastorelli	Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-S	1:01:44.216	28	1:12.297
16	37	GT1	Bouchut / Basseng	Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-S	1:01:45.072	28	1:13.153
17	10	GT1	Hirschi / Piccione	Aston Martin DB9	1:01:52.480	28	1:20.561
18	6	GT1	Panis / Gachnang	Ford GT Matech	1:02:15.866	28	1:43.947
19	12	GT1	Gavin / Kuismanen	Corvette Z06	1:02:24.165	28	1:52.246
20	40	GT1	Leinders / Martin	Ford GT	1:02:50.862	28	2:18.943
21	3	GT1	Wendlinger / Moser	Nissan GT - R	1:01:16.978	27	45.059
22	41	GT1	Palttala / Kuppens	Ford GT	1:02:02.591	27	1:30.672
23	8	GT1	Nygaard / Mücke	Aston Martin DB9	11:15.093	5	49:16.826

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