Conditions: Warm, Cloudy, Dry
French aces Olivier Beretta and Franck Montagny were all set to line up in pole position for tomorrows FIA Sportscar opener at Barcelona but were sent to the back of the SR1 grid after post qualifying scrutineering found a technical irregularity with the airbox. Montagny had set the quickest time of the day with a 1m33.632s lap in his Playstation backed Oreca Dallara Judd, ahead of the Courage Peugeot of F3000 star Sebastien Bourdais who will now start from the pole.
Before hearing the news of the infringement, Montagny had said; "Everything is going so well here with the Goodyear tyres which are new for us. We know there is good competition from the Courage and Dome cars but they all had some problems today, tomorrow will be different for sure."
Photo Coutersy:SRWC
All the three cars chasing the Dallara were delayed by various problems. The lime green Courage C60 of Sebastien Bourdais and Jean Christophe Boullion were all set to challenge the temporary pole sitters with, but were hampered by a sticking downchange on their new Megaline paddle shift gearbox. "It was a big shame because I think we could have got a lot closer to the Dallara," said Bourdias, who was chasing his second pole in successive weeks after his Interlagos F3000 time topper last weekend.
The other Courage of Didier Cottaz suffered a high speed accident at the quick Curvone Renault right hander. The car was thrown over the gravel trap and made heavy contact with the wall, damaging the right handside of the car. Cottaz however emerged unscathed to place 2nd despite a trip to the medical centre. " I turned in to the corner and I just went straight," said the 34 year old Frenchman. " The has not much damage and I am sure we will be in the race tomorrow."
Jan Lammers wound up 3rd in his Racing For Holland Dome-Judd despite breaking a driveshaft halfway through the session. Bob Berridge qualified a creditable 5th despite being baulked by Lammers on his quickest lap. His team mate Ian McKellar Jnr will start his first prototype race in the Lola B98 Judd tomorrow afternoon.
The striking new R&M chassis is 5th place on its competetive debut with the team treating every session so far as a test. Mauro Baldi was impressed with the initial feeling of the new carbon chassis and is looking forward to drawing on his wealth of experience to develop the Giorgio Stirano built car. "We have the normal problems of a new car," said this years Daytona winner. "We also have to re-profile the aerodynamics of the car but we expected to make these changes as we have so few laps on the car so far."
Team Durango will start 6th with sportscar rookies Mirco Venturi and Alessandro Battiglan making steady progress while they learn both the track and the GMS Judd combination. Team boss Amselmo Cosmo is so far impressed with both his charges." They are doing a fine job and are very sensible so far. I think that Mirco has a lot of potential to be quick in these cars as he was in single seaters."
Photo Coutersy:SRWC
The indomitable Ian Flux shocked the SR2 runners by heading the times with his Rapier 6 Nissan. The former BTCC driver and all round British racing legend posted a 1m 41.997s lap to beat pre event favourites SportsRacing Team Sweden in their Lola B2K/10. Flux, who set his time early in the session said;"We have only had a day of testing since the Nurburgring race last year when we were also on pole, so it is nice to start the year as we finished it."
Team Jota, a new squad to the 3-litre category were third fastest in their first ever sportscar qualifying session. " We did not expect to be this high up at the first race but it is nice to know that we will be mixing it at the front," said team co-owner and driver John Stack. His team mate Sam Hignett set the time this afternoon and is equally looking forward to the season ahead. " These cars are fantastic to drive and we are learning all about it as we go, but this is a solid start for the whole team."
Three Lucchini's filled the next three spaces on the grid, with Piergiuseppe Peroni and Mirko Savoldi leading the SCI and Audisio & Benvenuto examples. The number 50 Lucchini of Gianni Collini and Fabio Mancini which was expected to fight for pole was denied its chance when the team were forced to make an engine change just prior to the session.
PiR Competition's Debora Nissan is in 7th place with French Formula Three promotion class champion Philippe Hottinguer and team chief Pierre Bruneau sharing the driving. The teams new Pilbeam Sodemo Peugeot combination suffered teething problems and is back in 9th in SR2 ahead of the Siliprandi Lucchini of Ezio Mazza and George Paulin.
TOP TEN TIMES
1. Sebastien Bourdias/JC Boullion Pescarolo Sport Courage 1m 35.428s
2. Didier Cottaz/ BorisDereichebourg/Thed Bjork Courage 1m 35.443s
3. Jan Lammers/Val Hillebrand Racing For Holland Dome 1m 36.989s
4. Bob Berridge/ Ian McKellar Jnr BBR Lola Judd 1m 38.574s
5. Mauro Baldi/AlexCaffi R&M 01SP Judd 1m 38.880s
6. Mirco Venturi/Alessandro Battaglin Durango GMS Judd 1m 41.669s
7. Ian Flux/Mike Millard Team Sovereign Rapier 6 Nissan 1m41.997s
8. Niklas Loven/Mattias Andersson SRTS Lola B2K/40 Nissan 1m42.735s
9. Sam Hignett/John Stack Team Jota Pilbeam Nissan 1m42.825s
10. Giuseppe Peroni/Mirko Savoldi Lucchini Engineering Alfa 1m43.837s
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