ETCC: Series Salzburgring qualifying report

NYKJÆR'S CHEVROLET ON POLE POSITION

2007 European Touring Car Cup winner Michel Nykjær from Denmark claimed pole position for tomorrow's first race at the Austrian Salzburgring in the Chevrolet Lacetti run by the Chevrolet Motorsport Denmark team.

Swede Richard Goransson, who won the Euro Cup at Vallelunga in 2005, will complete the front row with his Flash Engineering BMW 320si. Another BMW driver, Franz Engstler from Germany of Liqui Moly Team Engstler, set the third fastest lap.

In the Super Production class Italian driver Fabio Fabiani claimed the second consecutive pole position in an F. Motorsport BMW 320i, while Ralf Martin from Germany and his TLM Ford Fiesta set fastest time in the Super 1600 class.

REIGNING CHAMPION STARTS ON A HIGH NOTE

Qualifying took place in a sunny afternoon and Michel Nykjær in his Chevrolet Lacetti was the first driver to post a provisional fastest lap at 1:28.430.

Early after the beginning, George Tanev went off at Turn 13 and his car remained stranded in the gravel trap. This resulted in the session being red-flagged and the Petrol GT Racing BMW towed back to the pit, which also meant the end of the qualifying for the young Bulgarian.

A few minutes after the session resumed, another driver went off in the same corner, Oscar Nogues with the SUNRED SEAT Leon. Because his car was immediately towed to a safe place, the Spaniard did not cause a second red flag, however he also was not permitted to rejoin.

Minutes lates Thomas Engstrom's Honda Accord set a new provisional fastest lap at 1:28.155, which was soon improved by Franz Engstler who went down to 1:28.072.

Nykjær was ready to strike back; first he regained the top spot with a lap of 1:27.766. and then improved further to 1:27.609, which was enough to win the pole position.

In the final stages, Richard Goransson and Kristian Poulsen moved on to second and fifth respectively.

In the Super Production class Fabio Fabiani set the fastest lap in his BMW 320i; with a lap of 1:38.382 the Italian built a one-second margin ahead of Nikolay Karamishev. Pole position in the Super 1600 class was won by Ralf Martin's Ford Fiesta at 1:39.120.

Tomorrow's first race will begin at 12.05 with a rolling start, the second race will begin at 15.05 with a standing start and the top-eight reverse grid.

PENALTIES FOR FOUR DRIVERS

Four drivers, including Tomas Engstrom who had qualified in fourth position, have been penalised by the Stewards for not slowing down enough under yellow flags. They both will be given a drop of five positions on the grid for the first race.

This will result in Engstrom slipping down to ninth, while Andrey Smetsky, Janis Horeliks and Philip Geipel will be demoted to 18th, 20th and 22nd respectively.

-credit: fiawtcc.com