Formula V8 3.5

Monza: Racing Engineering qualifying notes

Stephane Sarrazin hotter than the weather in Monza! In the extreme heat of the Monza Park, Stephane Sarrazin locks out both pole positions for tomorrow's races. Bas with suspension problems only got eighth place in the first qualifying, but was ...

Published: Jun 22, 2003, 5:01 PM

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Stephane Sarrazin hotter than the weather in Monza!

In the extreme heat of the Monza Park, Stephane Sarrazin locks out both pole positions for tomorrow's races. Bas with suspension problems only got eighth place in the first qualifying, but was able to get a nice third position for the second race. Both drivers are very confident for tomorrow and the team is very confident in both its drivers.

Qualifying 1:

The first qualifying of the race meeting at the Autodromo di Monza as well as Friday's free practice sessions have been dominated by one man -- Racing Engineering's Stephane Sarrazin. From the moment Stephane entered the track to take part in the challenge for the best starting position on this legendary high speed circuit, Stephane has been ahead of everyone else. He marked his fastest time in his fourth lap at 1,38.947. Due to a comfortable time gap to Karthikeyan (1,39.147) in second position, Stephane decided to stop his session six minutes before the official end.

Bas suffered from suspension problems during the first qualifying that kept him from showing his real potential. Bas however drove ambitiously to make the best out of it and set the eighth fastest lap time (1,39.565).

Qualifying 2:

For Stephane, the second qualifying session went as well as the first one. Right from the beginning he set the fastest times that made him stay in first position throughout the session. In lap five he recorded a time of 1,39.302, which no one could beat. Stephane therefore not only has his first pole position in this year's World Series, but starts into both races from the first position on the starting grid.

As the suspension problem was solved after the first qualifying session, everyone knew that Bas would be as competitive as his Racing Engineering's teammate. Bas recording his fastest time in lap six with1,39.534, has been in second position for most of the session until Bruce Jouanny marked a time only 0.077 seconds faster than Bas. Bas will start into tomorrow's second race from third position.

Stephane after this very satisfying day stated "It has been very good day for both the team and I. During the last race weekend we were fast and we had two third places in the qualifying. But this weekend we were immediately up front from the first private test on. This has been a very good weekend until now. We will try to improve the car a little bit tonight for tomorrow's races. I have to drive my best to win tomorrow's races. I will give it the maximum."

Bas at the end of the second qualifying session said, "Everything went very, very well for Stephane. For me it did not go so well. I had a damper problem, before the second qualifying, so then we put new dampers and that fixed it. We then just fine-tuned the car and the result was a good third position for the second race. Next time there are no more excuses why the performance is not so good. I think that in the second race we could finish first and second. In the first race I start from eighth, but who knows, maybe Stephane and I can get on the podium in this race as well."

Alfonso de Orleans, president, after Saturday's sessions announced, "Both the mechanics and the drivers did an excellent job. I am happy that we were able to show our real potential so impressively. I am very confident for tomorrow's races and think that today we made the first and important step to not only make our drivers get vital points in the drivers championship but also in the team championship."

-www.racing-engineering.com-

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