. QUOTES

Rob Huff (6 ^th): “On my first two runs I got caught in traffic each time just before the last corner, which completely took my aero away, making the car understeer a lot. On my last run I then went for it on my own. We changed the damper settings a bit which improved my lap by 3/10 th in the middle sector, and in Turn 9 I went deeper on the brakes than before which was exactly what was needed to stitch this lap together. I’m quite pleased!”

Nicola Larini (11 ^th): “My first run was spoiled when I went out behind a group of SEATs which were weaving all over the place. So I slowed down to let them go, but then the tyres cooled off giving me understeer through Turn1 and ruining that lap. On my second set of tyres I improved my time without improving places so it looked good for the last run. Unfortunately that lap got ruined as well when I came across Tielemans who ran off-line and then came on-line again just as I was about to pass him. I only just managed to avoid him.”

Alain Menu (14 ^th): “My first try was okay, while in the second one I was 4/10 th quicker than my fastest time of the day when I got bogged down in a group of SEATs doing their thing. On the third run the engine started to cough under acceleration, so my qualifying time unfortunately doesn’t reflect the potential that is there.”

Eric Nève: “Some of our competitors are where we expected them to be. We will just have to try to play it strategically in race one in order to be in the best possible position for the second race. Unfortunately we will have to wait until the next race to see whether the new rolling start is an equalizer, as it was intended to take some of the advantages of the rear-wheel drive cars have at the start away. In return for “giving” the front-wheel drive cars a rolling start in one race, the rear-wheel drive cars can weigh 15kgs lighter, which obviously made it easier for them to qualify here.”