Nurburgring Qualifying Race: What the drivers say...

28/08/2010

Sunshine, downpour, tyre changes and gambles. The Qualifying Race was an exciting hour of racing. Here's what the drivers say ...

Thomas Enge, Young Driver Aston Martin No.7

"This was an interesting race. The beginning was great I saw a gap on the inside and managed to get away in first place.

"We had a very strong car by the end of the race, when I was driving I kept it fairly calm and tried to not to do anything stupid. Nearing the end of my drive I tried to make a gap to make it easier for Darren. This was a good race, we got some points which were very happy about and let's see what can happen tomorrow."

Darren Turner, Young Driver Aston Martin No.7

"I have to say Tomas [Enge] made a great call with the pit stop. I was coming round the last chicane and I got the call to pit so there must have been some rain on other parts of the track.

"We were the last car to pit and after we came out the tyres were cold and I saw the Corvette closing in on me. I was then told to pit again to fit the wet tyres which was a relief.

"From then on it was one of the those nervy races where you just watching the pit wall, watching your mirrors and just trying to keep the car on the track."

Alex Margaritis, Phoenix Racing Carsport Corvette No.13

"The start was good for me, we were coming out of the last chicane and I saw a gap on the inside so I went for it, it was a little bit tricky but I made it and I'm thankful nothing happened there.

"Going into the first corner was hard, I was trying to keep up the speed of the cars around me but I had to let them go. I tried to slot into third or fourth position while Michael Bartels was pushing. After that the race was easy for me, I changed over with Marc [Hennerici] and he managed to get us into second."

Marc Hennerici, Phoenix Racing/Carsport Corvette, No.13

"After I got in the car I pretty much had to come straight back to the pits because of the rain. I got the call that there was dark clouds when I was behind the Aston Martin and we got the wet tyres on.

"With the wet tyres on I was going well, taking care like everybody else but I managed to catch Bartels reasonably easily and take the place.

"Second place was great for me so I didn't push too hard to catch the Aston Martin, tomorrow should be good for us the car is pretty good in the rain but also in dry conditions so I'm really happy."

Christopher Haase, Reiter Lamborghini, No.24

"My start was really good but on the first corner we had a small collision, I'm not sure who with but maybe there was a driver who went in a little bit too hard. After that collision I managed to carry on but I noticed that there was something broken on my right wheel but luckily this wasn't too much of an issue.

"After the first lap our car was pretty fast and pretty stable. The driver change was good and efficient, the team got round the car very quickly. After me Peter was very good and got into third."

Peter Cox, Reiter Lamborghini, No.24

Like most others I came in after the driver change which wasn't a hard choice to make. I personally wanted to come in a lap earlier with the Corvette, I thought that would have worked better but in the end it was OK, no loss."

"For us the front tyres took a little bit of time to warm up so the Corvette seemed to be moving away from me. After that I had a little problem with the rear tyres but I managed to keep third place.

"The Lamborghini also finished fourth so it shows how strong the car is. Its getting better and better so we'll see how it goes tomorrow. It should be OK."

Qualifying Race
Pos	Car	Class	Drivers	Car	Time	Laps	Gap	Avg speed
1	7	GT1	Turner / Enge	Aston Martin DB9	1:00:21.518	28	0.000	248
2	13	GT1	Hennerici / Margaritis	Corvette Z06	1:00:31.874	28	10.356	246
3	24	GT1	Kox / Haase	Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-S	1:00:41.860	28	20.342	247
4	25	GT1	Zonta / Kechele	Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-S	1:00:53.595	28	32.077	244
5	10	GT1	Piccione / Hirschi	Aston Martin DB9	1:00:57.835	28	36.317	250
6	5	GT1	Mutsch / Westbrook	Ford GT Matech	1:01:08.685	28	47.167	244
7	2	GT1	Ramos / Bernoldi	Maserati MC12	1:01:14.379	28	52.861	245
8	6	GT1	Prost / Jani	Ford GT Matech	1:01:19.594	28	58.076	245
9	8	GT1	Nygaard / Mücke	Aston Martin DB9	1:01:20.311	28	58.793	249
10	1	GT1	Bertolini / Bartels	Maserati MC12	1:01:37.177	28	1:15.659	244
11	38	GT1	Schwager / Pastorelli	Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-S	1:01:40.991	28	1:19.473	248
12	41	GT1	Kuppens / Palttala	Ford GT	1:01:43.193	28	1:21.675	240
13	33	GT1	Heger / Müller	Maserati MC12	1:02:03.344	28	1:41.826	245
14	3	GT1	Wendlinger / Moser	Nissan GT - R	1:02:12.785	28	1:51.267	250
15	12	GT1	Salo / Kuismanen	Corvette Z06	1:02:13.319	28	1:51.801	241
16	22	GT1	Hughes / Campbell-Walter	Nissan GT - R	1:02:17.465	28	1:55.947	250
17	4	GT1	Ara / Nilsson	Nissan GT - R	1:01:16.620	27	55.102	248
18	11	GT1	Maassen / Menten	Corvette Z06	1:01:02.204	24	40.686	241
19	40	GT1	Martin / Leinders	Ford GT	10:41.826	5	49:39.692	238
20	23	GT1	Krumm / Dumbreck	Nissan GT - R	2:23.756	1	57:57.762	0