Sutil in strong 8th place for Force; Narain 22nd for HRT
Greater Noida (Near New Delhi), 29 Oct 2011:
Sahara Force India delivered a strong performance at Buddh International Circuit today as Adrian Sutil qualified in eighth place for Sunday’s Inaugural Airtel Grand Prix of India, the 17th Formula One race of the 2011 season. Force’s second driver Paul Di Resta will start from P12 onn the grid. Abu Dhabi and Brazil will be the last two races in the season.
Meanwhile, the only Indian on the grid at the Airtel Indian GP, Narain Karthikeyan came out with his best for the home race to avoid the wooden spoon. He however, qualified, behind his Hispania teammate at P 22. Narain Karthikeyan (22nd, Q1 – 1m 30.238s) said: “We got the potential out of the car and beat both of the Virgins and I am proud of it. I was up on my teammate but made a small mistake. Nevertheless, I’m very happy with the way I drove and the position I achieved. I think this was the maximum that we could get and the team did a fantastic job to get us ahead of Virgin. It’s a fantastic sensation racing in front of my home crowd and for tomorrow I am aiming to finish in the best position possible.” (HRT Release)
P8 Adrian Sutil (VJM04/04)
Q1: 1:26.271
Q2 1:26.140
Q3: No time
Adrian: “We’ve been saying all week that this is a special race for us so I’m very happy with today’s qualifying performance. We are so determined to do well here and today’s result is the first step towards that. P8 is one of my best qualifying results of the season and I think it was the maximum we could achieve from the session. The balance of the car was excellent and I really enjoy this circuit, which seems to suit my driving style. But tomorrow is the important day and now we have to think hard about the strategy we will run. I feel very comfortable with the car and I think we will be more competitive than we were in Korea.”
P13* Paul Di Resta (VJM04/02)
Q1: 1:26.864
Q2: 1:26.503
Paul: “Starting P12 is a bit disappointing really, because we looked quite strong this morning. But I struggled with a bit of understeer in the high-speed corners and we couldn’t fix it during the session. I think the conditions cooled a little bit, which maybe didn’t help us because I couldn’t get the balance quite where I wanted it. I feel that points are still achievable tomorrow and we seem quite strong on the longer runs. There’s a hard task ahead, but I will stay focussed and try to do the best job possible in the team’s home race.”will start from P12 following grid penalities.
Dr. Vijay Mallya, Team Principal and Managing Director
“Another excellent day of track action at Buddh International Circuit and I’m delighted to see a Sahara Force India starting the very first Indian Grand Prix from the fourth row of the grid. The whole team has worked very hard to bring our final upgrade package here this weekend and I think that showed in our performance today. Adrian clearly loves this circuit and was on top form this afternoon. Paul has also been very strong, but unfortunately he lost the sweet spot he had with the car this morning and missed out on making Q3. Still, we know we have a strong car for tomorrow and I’m hopeful both drivers can be in the hunt for points. It’s our home race and I hope all the fans will get behind Sahara Force India in what will be a spetacular and historic moment for India.”
Credit: Sahara Force India Release
