Archive für 3.10.2009
Guerrieri and Olympiacos net first Superleague pole in Monza
3.10.2009 von Wolfgang.
Esteban Guerrieri scored his and Olympiacos’ first ever Superleague Formula by Sonangol pole position at Monza today after pacing Seville’s Sebastien Bourdais in the knockout final.
Guerrieri, who had earlier beaten Roma and FC Basel, was never tested in the final after Bourdais made a mistake at the first corner on his crucial qualifying lap and had to take to the escape road, leaving the goal wide open for the Argentine to score.
Bourdais starts second with FC Basel’s Max Wissel and home favourites AC Milan and Giorgio Pantano fourth, ahead of AS Roma, FC Porto, Galatasaray and league-leaders Liverpool.
In the first of the group stages, Wissel repeated yesterday’s trick from practice by posting the fastest lap of the day with only seconds to spare. His 1m36.444s effort proved a whopping 0.557 seconds faster than FC Porto’s Tristan Gommendy who likewise saved his best for last.
With drivers lying second, third, fifth and sixth in the standings drawn in Group A, it was perhaps a surprise to see series debutant Julien Jousse make it through. The AS Roma driver actually led the session into the final three minutes with a time of 1m37.066s which ultimately proved good enough for third. Likewise Ho Pin Tung, who put his extensive Monza experience to good use to end up fourth, pipping high profile casualties Tottenham’s Craig Dolby, who completed just one meaningful lap, and 2009’s top qualifier, Antonio Pizzonia.
Olympique Lyonnais, Sporting Lisbon and PSV rounded out the group.
Group B meanwhile proved a much closer affair with the top five drivers all breaking into the 1m26s bracket. It was Bourdais however who picked up where he had left off in Portugal to top the session with a time of 1m36.533s, pacing fellow Estoril winner Guerrieri and Pantano. Championship leader Adrian Valles squeaked through in fourth to deny Anderlecht’s Yelmer Buurman.
Anderlecht, FC Midtjylland, Atletico Madrid and Flamengo, who were forced to pull off-track without recording a time thanks to an alternator failure, completed the group.
The result saw two of the championship heavyweights square up against each other in the opening quarter-final knockout with Liverpool taking on FC Basel. And it was Wissel who gave himself every chance of making up crucial points tomorrow by dumping championship leader Valles down to eighth on the race 1 grid thanks to a lap 0.306 seconds faster.
Bourdais continued to impress after dispatching Ho Pin Tung by over a second before Pantano went wheel-to-wheel with Gommendy, the home favourite ultimately out pointing the Frenchman. Olympiacos meanwhile completed the semi-finals after dismissing another of the home contenders, AS Roma, thanks to a 1m36.818s lap and the fastest time of the phase.
With the four teams decided, it was Olympiacos who drew FC Basel. Guerrieri was the first to set a time, the Argentine emerging slightly slower from the first sector before reclaiming the time in the second. With only the long back straight and fast right-hander of Parabolica to go, the slightest mistake by either man would make the difference. And it was Wissel who blinked first, crossing the line 0.156 seconds shy of Olympiacos to line up third.
The second of the semis proved much more decisive with Bourdais edging out Pantano by over three tenths.
That left the championship’s form drivers to battle it out for pole position. Again Seville would lead from the front with Olympiacos this time chasing. But the fans were denied a dramatic showdown even before the first corner when Bourdais over attacked and out-braked himself into the tight chicane, ruining his lap, leaving Guerrieri to complete formalities.
Driver quotes:
Esteban Guerrieri: “I think my group was quite hard because there were a lot of quick cars. So I tried to do a good lap while saving my tyres. The semi-final with Max was really tight until the last corner where there was only a few hundredths difference. Sebastien had a lock-up in the first chicane which didn’t put him in contention for a quick lap. I couldn’t hear my engineer properly telling me that Sebastien had a problem but I understood something like ‘slow down a little bit’ so I completed my lap without pushing 100%.”
Sebastien Bourdais: “It was a mistake obviously. I’ve been struggling pretty much all weekend with brake balance and it happened in the first segment of qualifying. I went straight on twice before at the first chicane so I was pretty happy to make it through to the quarter-finals. Unfortunately for the final I knew I had to push really, really hard because with Esteban it was going to be really close. I just had a big lock-up and that was it really. We’ll try again tomorrow and see what happens.”
Max Wissel: “Thank you to my team, the car was really good and in the shootout with Esteban it was definitely my fault to not reach the final. So, sorry to the team. I’m happy with P3 and for tomorrow I think we have a good chance to finish on the podium. We know we have a really good pace. Normally we are stronger with the old tyres than with the new ones so I’m hoping for the best tomorrow.”
Giorgio Pantano: "After what we did yesterday there was a good chance to have pole today. We need to check everything now because the car was not like it was on Friday. We are not far away. If we don’t go out at the first corner then it will be a good competition.”
www.superleagueformula.com
FC Basel to the fore as final Wissel blows
3.10.2009 von Wolfgang.
Max Wissel offered a timely reminder to his rivals that FC Basel hasn’t yet given up netting this season’s Superleague Formula by Sonangol title after recording the fastest aggregate time over the two free practice sessions at Monza, Italy today.
The 19 year-old, who suffered a frustrating weekend last time out in Estoril where he slipped 59 points behind league leaders Liverpool, posted a best time of 1m37.196s in the dying moments of the day’s second session to edge out Olympiacos’ Esteban Guerrieri by just 0.059 seconds after an equally late effort by the Argentine.
It was an excellent day’s work all round by the young German who ended opening free practice third before proving the most consistent performer of the day.
Home favourite and Monza specialist Giorgio Pantano had earlier stripped long-time pace-setter Nelson Panciatici of the top spot before ending the day third fastest thanks to his 1m37.371s lap, 0.151 seconds clear of Estoril Shootout winner Seville’s Sebastien Bourdais in fourth.
The morning session saw Tristan Gommendy – back at the wheel of his FC Porto car after Alvaro Parente’s Portuguese cameo - go some 0.739 seconds faster than anyone else when he became the only man to duck below the 1m38s barrier. And although the Frenchman would lower that time to a ’37.615 this afternoon, it would ultimately prove only good enough for fifth place.
Championship leader Adrian Valles finished second in the first session but could do no better than 12th in the second after failing to beat his best time of 1m38.734s from the morning. Closest title rival Craig Dolby meanwhile, who sits 58 points adrift of Liverpool in the League, wound up eighth, the Tottenham driver over a second down on Wissel’s ultimate pace.
Another “home” team, AS Roma, finished the day ninth quickest thanks to Superleague Formula debutant Julien Jousse’s 1m38.518s lap, with Antonio Pizzonia and Corinthians completing the top ten, 0.041 seconds further back.
Driver Quotes
Max Wissel, FC Basel: “The day was quite good for us. The first practice we were third and now we’re in first position. We used new tyres but I’m sure about nine or ten others did the same so it looks strong for tomorrow, like the whole year really. I’m really happy to be here, it’s my first time racing at Monza and I enjoyed it a lot. The track is fantastic to drive so I’m looking forward to qualifying, hoping for the best.”
Esteban Guerrieri, Olympiacos: “Today was a bit of a mixed day. At the beginning we had some problems in the last part of first free practice but as everyone was learning the car and circuit it wasn’t too bad. In the second session we found some good pace after sorting out the balance with my engineer, so I’m pleased.”
Giorgio Pantano, AC Milan: “We found a good set-up with the car today so we’re looking in good shape for qualifying tomorrow. At the moment I’ve got a good feeling. We’ll have to see tomorrow when everyone is out there on the same tyres when we’ll know who really is the quickest. We used older tyres which were in good condition so I think that’s a good lap time on those. We saw others were using a new set so I think it looks good for tomorrow.”
www.superleagueformula.com
Bridgestone Motorsport’s Saturday Update. Japanese Grand Prix
3.10.2009 von Wolfgang.
Bridgestone’s soft tyre carried Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing) to his fourth pole position of the season for tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.
Vettel set a time of 1min 32.160secs in a qualifying session which was red flagged three times. Panasonic Toyota Racing Driver Jarno Trulli set the fastest time in the morning practice session, also using the soft Bridgestone Potenza.
Q&A with Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development
What was significant about today’s running?
“Today was a big challenge for all drivers. The weather was dry, meaning that yesterday’s information from a wet track was not much use. This meant that teams only had the one hour of FP3 to accumulate the same data they would usually gain over four hours of practice. The track improved, as we would expect with the first dry running of the weekend, but this made set-up a challenge and we saw an interesting order at the end of FP3. The difficulty continued in qualifying, with two red flag periods in Q2 and one in Q3. It seemed that the older surface of the west track gave less grip for braking which may have caught out some drivers. Sebastian Vettel did well to get pole today and we hope that Timo Glock was not badly hurt in his accident.”
What are the tyre strategy considerations for tomorrow’s race?
“Obviously we do not have as much data as we would have if Friday had been dry, but this is one of the challenges of motor racing. The soft tyre is definitely the quicker tyre, and it does not appear to have too bad degradation levels, meaning that it could be the preferred race tyre. The hard tyre takes longer to warm up than the soft, but we do not have sufficient data to know exactly the lap time difference between the two tyres. That said, I’m sure we will see an exciting race here at Suzuka.”
Stats of the Day
www.bridgestonemotorsport.com
FIA WTCC News
3.10.2009 von Wolfgang.
PETROL SEAT CARS TO ADD 20 KILOS
The fastest cars will stay on the maximum compensation weight for the last but one event of the season in Japan. Like in Oschersleben and Imola before, the BMW 320si and the SEAT León TDI will carry 40 kg of ballast at Okayama. According to the calculation that took into account the lap times set in the three previous events (Brands Hatch, Oschersleben and Imola) these two models share the "honour" of being the reference car.
The Chevrolet Cruze remains on +30kg, while Alessandro Zanardi’s BMW 320si (equipped with a sequential gearbox) and the LADA Priora will have again 20kg deducted from the minimum weight. On the contrary, because of the excellent performances recently posted by Coronel, Boardman, Bennani and Colak, the petrol-powered SEAT León cars have lost the right to deduct 20 kilos and will be forced to run on the minimum weight.
Compensation weights Okayama
+ 40 kg BMW 320si, SEAT León TDI
+ 30 kg Chevrolet Cruze LT
± 0 kg SEAT León TFSI
- 20 kg BMW 320si Zanardi, LADA Priora
PORTUGUESE TEST FOR MENU AND THE CRUZE
While the WTCC cars are traveling to Asia by sea for the final two events of the 2009 season, the Chevrolet team continued their test and development programme of the Cruze. Following the tests in Zolder with Nicola Larini and Magny-Cours with Robert Huff earlier this summer, the Cruze ran this week at Portimão’s Autodromo do Algarve for a three-day session, with Alain Menu at the wheel.
The work in Portimão was focused on testing different set-up and suspension solutions. The test went well with no hiccups at all, except for some rain showers that reduced activity on Tuesday. This test was also very useful for the team to build a first set of data about the demanding new circuit, which will host WTCC’s Portuguese event next year.
Alain Menu’s Chevrolet Cruze during the test in Portimão
TEAM ENGSTLER TEST ASIAN DRIVERS
The Liqui Moly Team Engstler completed a test in Hockenheim with three Asian drivers. Alongside their regular WTCC entries - team principal Franz Engstler and Kristian Poulsen - the German team will field two additional cars in Japan and three in Macau.
Masaki Kano from Japan and Henry Ho from Macau will race at Okayama, while Ho will be joined by his fellow countrymen Lic Ka Liu and Jo Rosa Merszei in Macau.
Kano, Ho and Lic had the opportunity to test the BMW car in Hockenheim, taking advantage of Engstler’s advice. Kano, who had raced for the team in last year’s WTCC events at Okayama and Macau, knew the racetrack already and clocked good lap times. Ho and Lic started testing at the wheel of BMW 320i E46 cars, before switching to the new E90 models.
The Asian programme means a huge effort for the team that shipped five cars to Japan and will fly a crew of 25 people.
Franz Engstler with Lic Ka Liu (left) and Henry Ho (right)
www.fiawtcc.com
