Imola: Saturday qualifying quotes

Fabrizio GIOVANARDI, Alfa Romeo Racing Team pole position
"I have a great connection with this circuit; I have gained pole positions and won races here in the past. I have a fantastic car here today as I did in Silverstone, so considering I am starting from the pole I am very confident for tomorrow. I have worked a lot on how to get the best out of my car and I seem to have found it, so hope it continues for the rest of the season."

Antonio GARCÍA, BMW Team Italy-Spain 2nd fastest
"Things have improved greatly for the team since last year. Then we were two seconds off the pace whereas now we are just half a second slower. We were competitive in Monza and Magny-Cours, however not as much in Silverstone. It looks like we are back again and I think it will be a really good race tomorrow. I will hope for a good start and then the first few laps will be interesting."

Jordi GENE, SEAT Sport 3rd fastest
"I knew it was very close between me and Garcia. I am quite happy with third because my aim was to start in front of the pack. I think we're more than capable of taking second place but it'll be tough to win; Giovanardi was very fast today and it will be difficult to catch him tomorrow. But, in general, I'm pleased with the car and my set-up; today has been a good day and I think all the indications for tomorrow for the entire team are very positive."

Adriano DE MICHELI, JAS Motorsport 12th fastest
"I'm so happy! We see now the results of having more experience and more track time. We knew that it would be though at the beginning, because we hadn't tested before the start of the season. Because of this we always have to spend the first free practice getting our bearings. Today it also helped having knowledge of the track. And I should say that this good result left me with a sour taste in my mouth, because I made a mistake while on my third set of fresh tyres. Otherwise I could have improved by one tenth and moved to fifth or sixth."

Alain MENU, Chevrolet 18th fastest
"I did a good lap. I kept myself back a bit for my third set of tyres and then attacked everywhere I could. On my fastest lap I outbraked myself in the chicane, but I don't think I lost much time there. Other than that the car still has too much understeer in the slow and medium corners, but all in all I'm happy with my afternoon."

Thomas JAGER, Ford Hotfiel Sport 27 th fastest
"Unfortunately we didn't achieve the same results as we did in the second practice session, when I was 11th fastest. The track felt different after the GT qualifying, I didn't get a perfect lap and this resulted in a lower position. Also, the other works teams can step up the pace by a second or two for qualifying whereas our set-up is the same throughout the day, and this is something we are working on. The time we achieved in second practice showed what we are capable of when everything works."

Carlos MASTRETTA, GR Asia 31st fastest
"The team have been very professional and helpful in increasing my speed. The car felt much better in qualifying than in the practice sessions so I am hoping that it will go even faster during the races. We have achieved what we wanted to do today, which was to learn as much as possible. I didn't know the track and have never driven a front wheel car before, but the SEAT is such a great car and I am learning with every lap I do."

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