Seat are on the front row at home
Seat
Honda
BMW
Chevrolet
Click a link to go directly to that story!
Seat
SEAT took the two front spots of the starting grid for the first of two races of the World Touring Car Championship to be staged tomorrow at the Cheste racetrack in Valencia. After three dry practice sessions the rain showed up a couple of minutes before the qualifying. Under especially complicated conditions for everyone, SEAT Sport drivers Yvan Muller and Gabriele Tarquini clocked the two quickest times of the session and will be starting tomorrow from the two top spots of the grid.
Yvan Muller and Jordi Gené went onto the track right after the lights turned green in anticipation of more rain and set the two fastest times. No one was able to push the French SEAT driver from the leading position for the rest of the session. A short red-flag interruption gave a break to the participants and during the last few minutes Gabriele Tarquini was able to clock a fast lap that moved him up to second. Under the chequered flag, one Chevrolet drivers was able to pass Gené, who finished fourth.
Rickard Rydell and Tiago Monteiro were victims of the state of the asphalt, and two off-tracks without major consequences sent them back to the 11th and 17th positions respectively. José Manuel Pérez Aicart, in his world championship debut as the winner of the 2007 Supercopa finished 18th behind Yves Corthals and ahead of Tom Coronel.
Drivers’ statements
Yvan Muller: (SEAT León TDI no. 12), 1st: "I tried to be very fast in my first attempt because looking at the sky it was obvious that the track conditions were going to get worse so I made a fast time right away. It would be good for us if it rains during the race, since it would be much easier for us to defend our expectations”.
Gabriele Tarquini (SEAT León TDI no. 11), 2nd: “I set my best time towards the end because the conditions during qualifying were very difficult. My car’s settings were very good and to tell you the truth, the track conditions helped us because it would have been almost impossible to get a place on the front row on a dry track. The effectiveness of our chasses and the progressiveness of the TDI engine have allowed us to be fast even under the worst conditions.”
Jordi Gené (SEAT León TDI no. 9), 5th: “Better than expected. Too bad it stopped raining because I was doing quite well on the wet and I was second. The track dried during the last ten minutes and I wasn’t able to do a fast lap. The fifth fastest time is OK and it gives me good expectations for tomorrow’s races”.
Rickard Rydell (SEAT León TDI no. 10), 11th: “I’m not at all satisfied with my practice result. I hope to improve tomorrow and to be among the top eight in the first race”.
Tiago Monteiro (SEAT León TDI no. 18), 17th: “Things have gone very bad. We thought that despite the wet track we would be able to keep the set-up of the free practices. It’s been a mistake because I had no grip and the conditions were very difficult. I enjoy driving on a wet track but nothing worked out this time”.
Honda
N.TECHNOLOGY'S THOMPSON HANDLES THE WET
N.Technology driver James Thompson qualified 12th today in Valencia with the Honda Accord Euro R Super 2000, developed together with JAS Motorsport, despite the car having never run in wet conditions before.
A thunderstorm 30 minutes before the half-hour qualifying session drenched the track, sending many of Thompson's rivals off the track as struggled to adapt to the level of grip. The N.Technology driver avoided any spins however, and kept improving the car and subsequent lap times, despite having no experience of the championship's new wet tyres.
With just five days of testing behind it since the project started in January, all in dry conditions, Thompson set a time of 2:00.543secs with his final lap of the qualifying session: a time good enough for 12th position.
Thompson will start the first of Sunday's two races from the sixth row of the grid, meaning he is within touching distance of the crucial top eight points-scoring positions for the car's debut in the World Touring Car Championship.
James Thompson, car number 15
"Obviously it's the first time in the rain with the car and we were just getting quicker each lap. If we had more time we could have worked on the set-up of the car and gone quicker. In a way it's disappointing to be 12th because now we have some experience in the wet we could have gone a lot faster."
Mauro Sipsz, Team principal
"Qualifying in the rain today didn't help us on our first race weekend of the season. James still did a great job to improve his lap time at the end of the session. N.Technology is all about winning and success and we look forward to getting back to our usual ways."
Eurosport's WTCC coverage continues with Race One will be shown live on Sunday 18 May from 12:00 (CET) on Eurosport Asia Pacific with Race Two starting at 15:00 (CET), both on Eurosport International and Asia Pacific.
BMW
Four BMW drivers qualify for top-ten positions in wet Valencia qualifying.
Valencia, 17th May 2008. In qualifying for the fifth round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship in Valencia (ES), the BMW national team drivers kept alive their hopes of a successful race weekend despite very difficult conditions. BMW Team UK's Andy Priaulx (GB) clocked a 1:59.941-minute lap, thus emerging as the fastest BMW driver at the "Circuit de la Comunitat" and securing fifth on the grid. Behind the defending champion, BMW Team Germany's Jorg Muller (DE) and Augusto Farfus (BR) and BMW Team Italy-Spain's Alessandro Zanardi (IT) finished sixth, seventh and eighth respectively. Zanardi's team-mate Felix Porteiro (ES) will start from 12th. SEAT driver Yvan Muller (FR) claimed pole position with a time of 1:58.816 minutes.
Half an hour before the start of qualifying a heavy rain shower arrived at the 4.005- kilometre track. The track stayed wet as it rained during the entire 30-minute session. Due to the weather the Spanish fans witnessed many spins and off-track excursions - included in these were the BMW drivers. Turn 8 specially posed a challenge as numerous cars made full use of the run-off area here.
"This qualifying session was very close," said Priaulx, who is currently ranked fifth in the Drivers' Championship. "I think most of us had at least one off during the 30 minutes. I'm very happy with fifth place. I hope we can get a good result from there and feel positive for both races. It was the first test of the new wet tyres and it went well."
The BMW Team Germany drivers are equally determined to make it to the front in the two sprint races. "At least the rain didn't come as a surprise," commented Muller. "Therefore, my car felt quite good in the wet. The run-off area in turn 8 is relatively generous, so a lot of drivers experimented there. When I was on my way back onto the track after a minor off Yvan Muller - also off the racing line - was heading straight in my direction. Fortunately he managed to regain control of his car just in time to avoid an accident." Farfus added: "In this qualifying luck was an important factor if you wanted to do a perfect lap. I'm not really disappointed, but you always want to be quicker and make the most of your chances. In free practice we proved we are competitive in dry conditions, so I'm confident for tomorrow."
The fifth round of the World Touring Car Championship will start at 12:05hrs local time (11:05hrs BST). The second race of the day gets underway at 15:50hrs (14:50hrs BST). The two races are covered live by Eurosport (Race 1 - Eurosport 2, Race 2 - Eurosport International) and the official BMW Motorsport Website.
Chevrolet
ROB HUFF STARTS FROM SECOND ROW
Rain In Spain Shuffles Cards
VALENCIA - A sudden thunderstorm half an hour before the start of the qualifying session and steady rain throughout shuffled the cards for the WTCC participants in Valencia. Alain Menu and Rob Huff nevertheless gave it their best, achieving third and fourth fastest times respectively. Nicola Larini struggled with his car's set-up but still managed to set the tenth fastest time which gives him a potentially good starting position in view of the reversed grid in tomorrow's second race. After the session, Menu's car failed the ground clearance test and his times were disallowed, putting him to the back of the grid in front of the cars which did not qualify but will be allowed to take part in the races.
Rob Huff (3rd): "I am pleased to be at the sharp end of the grid, but obviously a little disappointed at the same time. I set a first and second time in this morning's sessions, so I had hoped it would have stayed dry in the qualifying session since I felt I was very close to a pole position time. We didn't change too much on the car other than adjusting the front roll bar as we have only done so little running in the rain the last seasons it is always a bit of a gamble when you're supposed to get everything correct in just one half hour."
Nicola Larini (9th): "This was not an easy session. I was struggling with the way the car was set up and which in the wet didn't really suit my normal driving style, so I couldn't push as hard as I would have liked. Under braking I always had to be very gentle not to lock up at the front, but we still have to look into why that was. It's a shame really, because all weekend long I had a good feeling with the track, but under the new rain tyre rules which stipulate that you have to have a minimum 5mm thread each time you leave the pits you basically have to stay out as long as possible in case a dry line appears at some point. This also means you better not come in to make changes to the set up because otherwise you have to put on new tyres as well and you thus have to build up your level of grip again."
Alain Menu (23rd): "I did the best I could given the weather conditions. It was very tricky under braking as I kept locking up the rears. I couldn't play with the brake balance as that would have meant I'd probably lock up the fronts and go off. On quite a few occasions I started to slide and only just managed to get the car back. Then after the session my car failed the ride height test on one point of the front splitter, but I don't know whether this is due me riding the kerbs in a few corners or whether it is related to the new kind of rain tyres we still have to get used to. Needless to say this will affect my championship ambitions, but at the same time I will most likely have a very light car at the next race in Pau, which is still one of my favourites."