Monza: Charouz Racing qualifying report

Charouz and Mucke to start from third row Jan Charouz and Stefan Mucke managed to improve their times as the weekend at Monza progressed setting a best time in the qualifying for 1000 km Monza race. The 26 year old German fought hard for the third ...

Charouz and Mucke to start from third row

Jan Charouz and Stefan Mucke managed to improve their times as the weekend at Monza progressed setting a best time in the qualifying for 1000 km Monza race. The 26 year old German fought hard for the third row after he set the fifth fastest time overall in the premium LMP1 class. The new closed LMP1 coupe powered by Aston Martin was the fastest petrol car during the qualifying session.

The Czech-German duo improved in qualifying by more than one second compared to the practice sessions. Mucke set a time of 1:35,007 with the first two rows being occupied by the more powerful turbo diesel cars. The Charouz Racing System team worked hard and concentrated on tyre comparisons in the last practice session ahead of qualifying. Like Friday the team qualified in fifth position overall.

Stefan Mucke: "It would have been nice to push the turbo diesels like we had done at Barcelona. With the car only having made its debut three weeks ago the team have been concentrating on the development and performance of the car. With the majority of the season still ahead including the highlight - 24 Heures Du Mans, there is still a lot of racing ahead. I will be starting the race tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to it."

Jan Charouz: "We are working at some significant changes since the opening race at Barcelona. We are currently the fastest petrol powered car, which is very pleasing for the whole team. The race will be very long as usual, and I believe that we will play a major part in race."

Antonin Charouz, Team Principal: "We are satisfied. We again fulfilled our aim to be the fastest petrol car. We have not had any problems so far at Monza and we believe that we will manage to continue in the same way tomorrow.".

George Howard-Chappell, Technical Director of Aston Martin Racing: "We are very pleased that again we are the fastest petrol car and the team are looking forward to the race tomorrow. Both drivers did a really good job. We realise that we still have work to do to try to close the gap between us and the diesels."