HRT Qualifying Report

Tonio and Narain ready for their second race with Hispania Shanghai,
16th of April 2011 - Shanghai International Circuit

Vitantonio Liuzzi, Hispania Racing Team, HRT

Photo by: Hazrin Yeob Men Shah

11.00-12.00 FORMULA 1 PRACTICE SESSION 3
Narain Karthikeyan F111-03 #22 24th (18 laps) 1:40.881
Vitantonio Liuzzi F111-02 #23 23rd (17 laps) 1:40.593

14.00-15.00 FORMULA 1 QUALIFYING SESSION Narain Karthikeyan F111-03 #22 24th (9 laps) 1:40.445
Vitantonio Liuzzi F111-02 #23 23rd (9 laps) 1:40.212

Both Hispania Racing cars accomplished their targets for the day and will be on the starting grid again tomorrow at the Shanghai International Circuit. The two drivers were able to qualify comfortably inside the 107% time, a rule which doesn’t look like bothering the team anymore as it progresses with every race. Today weather conditions were much different to Friday with a maximum track temperature of 24ºC.

Colin Kolles, Hispania Racing Team Principal:

“All in all today was a positive day. We did a lot of miles in the morning and in qualifying we could have done better but we weren’t able to put our fastest sectors together which would have meant that Tonio would have been three tenths quicker putting him in the 39’s, closer to the likes of Virgin and Lotus”.

“We had no technical issues, so today we have taken another step forward. Tomorrow we will follow the normal plan, the updates will be ready for Turkey where we hope to be ahead of our closest rivals”.

Narain Karthikeyan, driver #22:

Narain Karthikeyan, Hispania Racing Team, HRT

Photo by: xpb.cc

“The day started off well with the third practice session where the car went really well. I think that I could have gone quicker and done a better time. We have a better package and qualifying shouldn’t be an issue anymore, our target is now to get closer to Virgin. I definitely need to get some laps under my belt, my aim is to finish the race”.

Vitantonio Liuzzi, driver #23:
“Today was alright, we could’ve achieved more from the second set of tyres but we got a strange reaction from them with a bit of under steer. We closed the gap with Virgin which is the aim, considering that we didn’t use all the new development it was a positive qualifying session. Now we have to push hard for Turkey. I’m sure we can give Virgin a better race than in Malaysia”.

“We have shown that in both soft tyre and hard tyre conditions we are competitive so the 107% rule should no longer be an issue. We have to now focus on developing the car and try to finish ahead of our main rivals”.

Source: HRT