|
 As
the fight for the FIA European Touring Car Championship title reaches a climax,
Andy Priaulx hit the mark in today’s qualifying session, claiming his first pole
position of the season.
It was a result that may have a great influence on tomorrow’s races and also on
the whole championship, seeing as his title rivals, fellow BMW driver's Dirk and
Jörg Müller, struggled with set-up problems, and will start from the fifth row
of the grid with a bunch of Alfa Romeo and SEAT cars between them and the
Briton.
On a very hot afternoon, under the desert sun, twenty two drivers took part in
the last qualifying session of the season.
James Thompson claimed an early
provisional pole with a lap in 2:13.100, but he was immediately ousted by his AutoDelta team-mate Augusto Farfus, who was clocked at 2:12.810.
The top positions did not change for the following ten minutes. Then, halfway
through the session, Fabrizio Giovanardi set a new provisional pole position at
2:12.618, while Gabriele Tarquini posted the third-fastest time at 2:12.853,
completing an Alfa Romeo quartet, Giovanardi – Farfus – Tarquini – Thompson, at
the top of the timesheets.
This did not last for long, as Priaulx was timed with an amazing 2:11.688,
claiming the pole position for good. For the rest of the session no one else was
able to break the 2:12 barrier. With eight minutes to go Rickard Rydell improved
to 2:12.584, for a provisional second position on the grid. But a few minutes
later he was demoted to sixth when all the four Alfa Romeo men managed to
improve: Tarquini (2nd), Thompson (3rd), Farfus (4th) and Giovanardi (5th).
The positions seemed frozen, when Luca Rangoni created a big surprise just as
the chequered flag was about to go out. The Oregon Team driver completed a
perfect lap in 2:12.194, to claim the second position on the starting grid, the
best result for an Independent driver during the current season. |
