The Alfa Romeo Racing Team quartet
struggled to combat understeer in the FIA World Touring Car
Championship qualifying session held at Valencia, in Spain,
this afternoon. While outright pole position was secured by
Jordi Gené in the new SEAT León, the factory Alfa Romeo
drivers', Augusto Farfus, Gabriele Tarquini, Fabrizio
Giovanardi and James Thompson, only managed sixth, eighth,
thirteenth and twenty third places on the grid respectively.
Tomorrow's double-header doesn't augur well for Giovanardi's
WTCC crown bid as BMW mounted title rival Dirk Müller
will start from third on the grid, although series points
leader Andy Prilaux is well down the order, in fifteenth
place.
In a riveting qualifying session SEAT came out on top and
Gené will start on pole tomorrow, joined by his team-mate
Peter Terting on the front row. Gené was the only driver to
set a time below 1 minute 43 seconds – 1:42.778, meaning a
Spanish driver in a Spanish car on pole in the WTCC Race of
Spain, and also the first pole position for the new SEAT
León on its only third appearance.
Dirk Müller completed the top three who all set their best
times in the final seconds. SEAT Sport began their attack
nine minutes into the session as Gené, Rydell and Terting
jumped to 1st-2nd-3rd.
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Tomorrow's double-header doesn't
augur well for Giovanardi's WTCC crown bid as BMW
mounted title rival Dirk Müller
will start from third on the grid, although series
points leader Andy Prilaux is down
the order, in fifteenth |
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The Alfa Romeo Racing
Tean drivers' fought understeer in today's qualifying
session, with Augusto Farfus coming out the fastest,
putting his Alfa Romeo 156 onto the
fourth row |
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The
four factory Alfa Romeo drivers', Augusto Farfus,
Gabriele Tarquini (above), Fabrizio Giovanardi and
James Thompson, managed to claim sixth, eighth,
thirteenth and twenty third places on the grid
respectively after qualifying |
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The three SEAT drivers' then returned to the pits and waited
to see if a challenge would be mounted by the Alfa Romeo and
BMW runners. It did indeed come, in the form of Farfus’ Alfa
Romeo as he split the SEAT trio by slotting into third place
with a lap of 1:43.361. Ten minutes later, Rydell and Terting were back on the track
with the young German right on the tail of his team-mate to
benefit from a slip-stream. The team tactics worked as
Terting improved his time and returned to third position.
However, the qualifying action was by no means over as Rob Huff
in the Chevrolet Lacetti shot to sixth place and then the lap later he set
a fantastic 1:43.295, promoting himself to second. He
couldn’t hold on to that spot though as Gené and Terting
worked together to reduce their times even further. They
secured a SEAT 1-2 and Dirk Müller in the BMW also stormed through on
his final lap to set a third fastest 1:43.277. This demoted
Huff to fourth - still Chevrolet’s best qualifying position
so far. Rickard Rydell will be on row three with Farfus next
to him in 6th. The Brazilian youngster emerged as the
fastest of the Alfa Romeo men who were all fighting against
understeer. Ford were unable to be as competitive as they
were in the practice sessions as Klenke and Funke set the
eighteenth and twentieth quickest times.
The battle to be the fastest independent driver was also
closely fought as at one point, Rosenblad, Coronel, De
Micheli and Engström’s times were within an incredibly tight
0.314 of a second. Eventually it was Coronel of GR Asia who
prevailed and posted the eleventh fastest time overall.
However, due to an engine change after Istanbul, he will
begin 21st after being penalised 10 grid positions. This
means JAS Motorsport man, De Micheli in sixteenth will head
the Independent field with Rosenblad in the spot right
behind.
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