Nicolas Minassian Saturday notes

Nicolas Minassian took his second pole of the season this afternoon at Spa for the Creation Autosportif team, beating the works Audi of Pierre Kaffer and Allan McNish by 0.038 seconds. "I said this morning that it wasn't over yet and we'd get them back this afternoon. I meant it, this is bloody brilliant!" Minassian's first pole came at the fabled Nurburgring circuit in Germany.

Following a tough first qualifying session, where the conditions were changeable and a mistake in tyre choice put Minassian down the order in sixth it was appreciated that the young British team were uncharacteristically out of sequence and that the second session would be another story provided the weather stayed dry.

The sun shone down at the renowned Belgian circuit, playing right into the hands of the Frenchman. With 13 minutes left in the session he put in a sensational lap to shoot up the order and sit at the top of the timesheets, only then to sit out the rest of the session nervously waiting to see if anyone would topple him.

"I drove it like a bastard, I used more circuit than was available to me, used every inch of curb, I wanted this badly and I got my wish," said a delighted Minassian. "Beating the Audis is like climbing Everest without oxygen... naked."

There is still a lot of work to do for both Minassian and his team-mate, Jamie Campbell-Walter, in the race tomorrow as they will have to be sure to convert their advantage into the lead into turn one and ultimately the win. Undoubtedly the peoples favourite here in francophone Belgium, it is hard to imagine anything other than Minassian's and Creation's maiden victory in LMES come the chequered flag.

-minassian-