India In F1
Karthikeyan upbeat after qualifying in 22nd
Valencia Street Circuit, Valencia
Saturday, 23rd of June 2012
Weather: Sunny – Air 26ºC, Track 47ºC
11.00-12.00 FORMULA 1 PRACTICE SESSION 3
Pedro de la RosaF112-02 #22 21st (14 laps) 1:42.758
Narain Karthikeyan F112-03 #2323rd (14 laps) 1:42.943
14.00-15.00 FORMULA 1 QUALIFYING SESSION
Pedro de la Rosa F112-02 #22 21st (7 laps)1:42.171
Narain Karthikeyan F112-03 #23 22nd (8 laps)1:42.527
The second day at the European Grand Prix had a much more positive ending than yesterday for HRT Formula 1 Team as its drivers Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan completed the team’s and their personal best qualifying sessions of the season. De la Rosa, whose mechanics worked intensely on repairing his car after his accident in FP2, and Karthikeyan finished the morning’s practice session with a good vibe that persisted through into the definitive qualifying session. Both the strategy and the drivers maintained a good level and Pedro and Narain finished 21st and 22nd respectively in front of the devoted fans.
: “We made some specific set-up changes for qualifying which definitely helped as we completed our best qualifying session of the season so far. We’re ahead of the Marussias, which is very important, and clocking similar times to Pedro so I’m very happy with the result. I hope to carry the momentum over into tomorrow’s race where we’ll have to keep a close eye on the heat. But we’re in better conditions than in Canada and should be able to put in a good performance. I’m heading into the race full of confidence after today and hope to achieve a good result”.
The high temperatures and characteristics of this street circuit will test the car and the driver equally, meaning that the excitement is guaranteed in tomorrow’s 57-lap race.
Pedro de la Rosa: “Today’s qualifying was very good. After yesterday’s incident it took me no time to be quick again, so I applaud my team for their effort last night to fix the car. I’m also happy to have finished ahead of our direct rivals as I wasn’t expecting it. As for tomorrow’s race, we don’t really know what will happen. All the new brake ducts which we brought to this race got damaged in yesterday’s crash and now we won’t be able to use them so we will be going to the limit but, as always, and even more so racing at home, we will give everything so that our fans can be proud”.
Toni Cuquerella, Technical Director: “We’re extremely satisfied with the job done by the entire team today. We got things right both in the garage and on the track and we’re improving more every time. At a circuit that could have been complicated we have confirmed that we’ve taken a step forwards since Barcelona and the team is closer to where we want to be. Pedro’s lap was very good; in fact it was the best in the season so far. To be precise his time was 103.4%. Narain also did a fantastic job and made the most of his gaps and tyres to complete his best qualifying session to date. This goes to show that the work being carried out by the team is very good. Tomorrow’s race will be tough, especially for the brakes, and the biggest question mark is how the cooling will perform over a long distance but we’re confident that we’ll get both cars over the finish line in front of our fans”.
Strong show by Sahara Force India
Meanwhile, a release from Sahara Force India says that the team continued to show strong form in Valencia as Nico Hulkenberg and Paul Di Resta qualified in eighth and tenth places respectively for Sunday’s European Grand Prix in Valencia.
P8 Nico Hulkenberg (VJM05/03)
Q1: 1:39.009
Q2: 1:38.689
Q3: 1:38.752
Nico: “I think overall it’s a great result for the team to get both cars into Q3, but maybe we were hoping for a little bit more than P8 and P10, especially considering how we have performed so far this weekend. I don’t think the increase in temperatures helped us because the car felt more difficult to drive today and a bit nervous at times. For the race tomorrow we are still near the front and will take the fight to the cars around us to try and come away with some points.”
P10 Paul Di Resta (VJM05/02)
Q1: 1:38.858
Q2: 1:38.519
Q3: 1:38.992
Paul: “It was a strong qualifying session but I feel I could have been higher up the grid because I didn’t get the perfect lap together in Q3. We were the quickest car in Q2 and if I could have repeated that lap time in Q3 I would have been a couple of rows higher up the grid. I was trying to squeeze a little bit extra from the car but I locked a wheel and lost time in the final sector. I will try and focus on the positives because we have been strong in all the sessions, the car is well dialled into the circuit, and I think we will have good race pace for tomorrow.”
Dr Vijay Mallya, Team Principal & Managing Director
“Another extremely close qualifying hour and I’m pleased that we were able to get two cars into Q3 for the first time this year. The car has been extremely quick throughout practice and we showed that again today with some very competitive times in Q1 and Q2. When it came to Q3 both drivers didn’t quite deliver perfect laps, which costs us a few positions on the grid, but we are still well placed to fight for points finishes with both cars.We expect a tough race tomorrow with very hot temperatures once again, but the car is strong, we have a good understanding of the tyres and our long run pace looks promising.”
