HRT Belgian GP - Spa qualifying report
HRT press release
HRT Formula One Team participated in qualifying for the twelfth time this season at the Spa Francorchamps circuit in Belgium. Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi and rookie Australian Daniel Ricciardo qualified their HRT F111’s in 22nd and 23rd places respectively for tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix.
Vitantonio Liuzzi:
“It was a very intense qualifying session. With every lap that passed, the track conditions changed, with some areas still damp from the rain and others dry. We were improving lap by lap but on my last lap I lost around eight tenths because I came up behind a slower car. I think we could have even caught Glock. In the end this was not to be, but we were still close to Virgin”.
“We’ve got a lot of work ahead this evening. Looking ahead to tomorrow, we need to focus on our pace if we are to beat Virgin in the race. I’m sure it will be a very interesting race and, if the conditions are the same, just as crazy as in Canada”.
Daniel Ricciardo:
“As we expected, today has been a little tricky with the changing conditions, especially during qualifying. The track was pretty damp at the beginning but started to dry with a few minutes to go. There was one lap where you could make the most of it, but I missed it. We also had a bit of a mechanical problem that didn’t help. It was a combination of things. Small mistakes cost quite a lot of time in these sorts of conditions”.
“I’ve been slowly improving but not enough and there are a few areas that I need to work on. But I’m confident for tomorrow. Races are always special and I’ll do my best, as always. It is important to make a good start and see where we can go from there”.
We're looking forward to the race tomorrow and look for a two car finish again
Colin Kolles, Team Principal:
“The team did an incredible job this morning as we changed another allocated engine shortly before the third session on Ricciardo’s car. Thanks to all for a great job that enabled us to have a good day despite the very wet track this morning. We know that Spa will be difficult. We are struggling into the second sector, but the cars and drivers did a good job in the first and third sectors where overtaking is possible. Like everyone else we lost track time this morning because of the weather delays. We're looking forward to the race tomorrow and look for a two car finish again".
11.00-12.00 FORMULA 1 PRACTICE SESSION 3
Vitantonio Liuzzi - F111-002 - #23 - 22nd - (14 laps) - 2:19.597
Daniel Ricciardo - F111-003 - #22 - 21st - (12 laps) - 2:19.001
14.00-15.00 FORMULA 1 QUALIFYING SESSION
Vitantonio Liuzzi - F111-002 - #23 - 22nd - (9 laps) - 2:11.616
Daniel Ricciardo - F111-003 - #22 - 23rd - (9 laps) - 2:13.077
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