FIA GT1: Round 6 – Navarra, Spain Free Practice and Pre Qualifying 1st July 2011 All-Inkl Lamborghini 1-2 on Day 1 in Spain

Round 6 – Navarra, Spain

Free Practice and Pre Qualifying

1st July 2011

All-Inkl Lamborghini 1-2 on Day 1 in Spain

FREE PRACTICE

Last year Lamborghini ruled supreme at Navarra and All-Inkl have carried on where Reiter left off by posting the two fastest times of the 80-minute Free Practice session for Round 6 of the FIA GT1 World Championship in Spain. Markus Winkelhock, in the nr38 All-Inkl.com Munnich Motorsport Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-SV with a 1:37.639 lap, 0.265s ahead of Dominik Schwager in the nr37 All-Inkl Lamborghini. The nr22 JR Motorsports Nissan GT-R of Richard Westbrook and Peter Dumbreck were third fastest, just 0.008s behind the second placed Lamborghini and 0.052 quicker than the nr11 Exim Bank Team China Corvette of Mike Hezemans and Nico Verdonck.

CLICK HERE for the result of Free Practice

PRE-QUALIFYING

The two All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Lamborghini Murcielagos were once again filling the top two places on the timing sheet after the Pre Qualifying session. However in a change from Free Practice it was the nr37 Lambo of Dominik Schwäger and Nicky Pastorelli that was ahead of the nr38 car of Markus Winkelhock and Marc Basseng. The nr37 car posted a time of 1m36.743, with the nr38 car 0.074s slower. The nr11 Exim Bank Team China Corvette of Mike Hezemans and Nico Verdonck was once again the fastest non Lamborghini in the session finishing 0.467s behind the faster of the two Lamborghinis and ahead of the nr40 Marc VDS Racing Team Ford GT of Bas Leinders and Marc Hennerici.

CLICK HERE for the result from Pre Qualifying

Qualifying will take place at 11:15 (CET) tomorrow morning (Saturday 2 July).

Dominik Schwäger

nr37 All-Inkl Münnich Motorsport Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-SV

"I am very happy with our position today but tomorrow is the important day where we will have to make sure we get it together for Qualifying. Last year we were quick but had some issues – it was also a bit cooler. I am really looking forward to the race."

Markus Winkelhock

nr38 All-Inkl Münnich Motorsport Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-SV

"I haven’t driven this track before so the most important thing for me today was to learn the track. We are not in bad shape and the car is pretty quick as was Marc (Basseng) so we should aim for the front end of the field tomorrow in Qualifying – maybe the first and second row should be possible."

Bertrand Baguette

nr41 Marc VDS Racing Team Ford GT Matech

"Today went quite well actually considering it is my first time in a GT car since 2008. It’s good to be back in these cars as they are a lot of fun to drive. Obviously they are much different to the single seater cars I have driven in the past. For this weekend we will see how the car performs on new tyres tomorrow but overall I am happy. We will aim to make it into Q3 tomorrow and hope we can maintain a good showing."

Andrea Piccini

nr4 Hexis AMR Aston Martin DB9

"I think the sessions went well today and we showed we have some decent pace which I hope we can take into the rest of the weekend. I would say we are well prepared for tomorrow’s Qualifying session. Navarra Circuit is definitely not the best suited track for our car but we must try to do our best and hope we can finish on the podium on Sunday and score some good points."

Clivio Piccione

nr3 Hexis AMR Aston Martin DB9

"We tried a few different set ups on the car today and used different sets of tyres to see what the pace of the car is. I’m pretty confident and the balance of the car is good. It is really warm here so we were looking at how the tyres will behave so we are prepared for the rest of the weekend. The aim for tomorrow’s Qualifying session is for sure to get into Q3 and to be as far forward as we can and get as many points as possible. It’s very important for us to score a lot of points here this weekend for the championship fight."

Nick Catsburg

Nr20 Sumo Power GT Nissan GT-R

"Today was my very first race sessions in the Nissan at a race weekend and also this circuit is new for me as well so I was learning everything from new. I am quite satisfied but to be honest we need to find some more pace because the car was difficult to drive. We’ll continue to work hard for the rest of the weekend – my hope is we can make the top five in tomorrow’s Qualifying session."

Richard Westbrook

Nr22 JR Motorsport Nissan GT-R

“We were actually quite pleased with Pre-Qualifying today. This is a track that you wouldn’t associate with the Nissan running well on but we are making the best of what we have. The GT-R is performing well considering it is a slow and twisty circuit. The Lamborghini’s and Ford’s look quick but we are confortable with our race pace. Tomorrow, we hope to get to Q3.”

Mike Hezemans

Nr11 Exim Bank Team China Corvette Z06

"The two practice sessions today went OK – the track is pretty straight forward and fairly slow to drive. The car is running fine but we lose a lot of traction so we have to find a way to keep on going in the race. We will try to get as close as possible to the front of the field but first we’ll see how Qualifying goes for us tomorrow."

Jeff Carter

Media Delegate

Photo: DPPI.

View the original article here

IRL Knockout Qualifying – The Firestone Fast Six

No. 8 Will Power of KV Racing Technology on the course at St. Petersburg. Will posted the fastest qualifying time at 62.1355 (nearly one-half a second faster than the pole sitter Tony Kanaan) but because the mark was set in Round 2 where the fastest twelve cars race to advance to The Firestone Fast Six. Image Credit: Jim Haines - indycar.com

IRL Knockout Qualifying – The Firestone Fast Six

This format is justly named. The format lent an interest to the affair all-of-it’s-own and it IS a knockout.

The way it is structured is that three rounds with four sessions for timed qualifying are held for all of the qualified entrants (in this case at Saint Petersburg – 26 cars). Two groups of 13 cars each are randomly drawn to compete in Round 1, with both groups having 20 minutes to post their best lap times.

The top six cars from each group advanced to Round 2, where they received 15 minutes on the circuit to post their fastest times.

The top six cars from that group of 12 advanced to the Firestone Fast Six and the six cars start fresh whereas times do not carry over from one round to another.

Three drivers from each of the two groups that were randomly drawn for the first round of qualifications advanced to the "Firestone Fast Six".

The dramatic qualifying format debuted on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street circuit at Saint Petersburg, Florida will carry over to all other Indianapolis Racing League road/street events this season.

The qualifying sessions had no accidents and all went off with several notable surprises along the way.

Tony Kanaan talks with AGR team about his pole setting pace in The Firestone Fast Six qualifying showdown. Kanaan will line up in the first row alongside Will Power in St. Petersburg, Florida. Image Credit: Chris Jones - indycar.com

This excerpted from IndyCar.com –

Round 1 (20-minute session)

Group 1 advancing
No. 8 Will Power (1:02.7752; 103.422 mph); No. 11 Tony Kanaan; No. 06 Graham Rahal; No. 34 Franck Perera; No. 14 Darren Manning; No. 17 Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Notables: Perera's final lap (13th) bumped Hideki Mutoh from advancing. … Danica Patrick finished nine in the group. … Power's final lap bumped Kanaan from the top spot in the group. … Mutoh was atop the lap time chart halfway through the 20-minute session. … One of the three Andretti Green Racing cars (Kanaan) advanced.

Group 2 advancing
No. 02 Justin Wilson (1:02.7341; 103.293 mph); No. 6 Ryan Briscoe; No. 26 Marco Andretti; No. 3 Helio Castroneves; No. 5 Oriol Servia; No. 10 Dan Wheldon.

Notables: Wilson moved to the top on his 12th of 13 laps. Earlier in the session he came to a stop in Turn 8. … Wilson wasn't in the top six at the halfway point of the 20-minute session. … Scott Dixon, who has been the race runner-up the past two years, did not advance (seventh). … Both Team Penske cars (Briscoe, Castroneves) advanced.

Round 2 – Top Twelve From Groups 1 & 2 (15-minute session)

Six cars advance - "Firestone Fast Six"
No. 8 Will Power (1:02.1355; 104.288 - fastest time recorded in all of the qualifying sessions ); No. 11 Tony Kanaan; No. 6 Ryan Briscoe; No. 02 Justin Wilson; No. 17 Ryan Hunter-Reay; No. 3 Helio Castroneves.

Notables: Castroneves jumped from 10th on the time chart to making the final round in the final minute. … Both Target Chip Ganassi Racing cars did not advance; Wheldon was eighth in Round 2. … Marco Andretti was 12th in the session.
Reference Here>>

Round 3 – The Firestone Fast Six (10-minute session)

Firestone Fast Six fill out the top six positions in the starting grid.

Final Grid For The Grand Prix of St. Petersburg 2008 (round #2 of the IRL season):

1 11 Kanaan, Tony D/H/F 01:02.5322 103.627 Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six
2 8 Power, Will D/H/F 01:02.6096 103.499 Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six
3 02 Wilson, Justin D/H/F 01:02.6426 103.444 Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six
4 3 Castroneves, Helio D/H/F 01:02.6462 103.438 Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six
5 6 Briscoe, Ryan D/H/F 01:02.7071 103.338 Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six
6 17 Hunter-Reay, Ryan D/H/F 01:03.0077 102.845 Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six
7 5 Servia, Oriol D/H/F 01:02.7427 103.279 Elimination Round 2 / Top 12
8 10 Wheldon, Dan D/H/F 01:02.7964 103.191 Elimination Round 2 / Top 12
9 06 Rahal, Graham D/H/F 01:02.8122 103.165 Elimination Round 2 / Top 12
10 34 Perera, Franck D/H/F 01:02.8749 103.062 Elimination Round 2 / Top 12
11 14 Manning, Darren D/H/F 01:03.0136 102.835 Elimination Round 2 / Top 12
12 26 Andretti, Marco D/H/F 01:03.2443 102.460 Elimination Round 2 / Top 12
13 9 Dixon, Scott D/H/F 01:03.2365 102.472 Elimination Round 1 / Group 2
14 27 Mutoh, Hideki D/H/F 01:03.2757 102.409 Elimination Round 1 Group 1
15 33 Viso, Ernesto D/H/F 01:03.3067 102.359 Elimination Round 1 / Group 2
16 15 Rice, Buddy D/H/F 01:03.3591 102.274 Elimination Round 1 / Group 2
17 4 Meira, Vitor D/H/F 01:03.4480 102.131 Elimination Round 1 / Group 2
18 36 Bernoldi, Enrique D/H/F 01:03.4568 102.117 Elimination Round 1 Group 1
19 7 Patrick, Danica D/H/F 01:03.5766 101.924 Elimination Round 1 Group 1
20 24 Howard, Jay D/H/F 01:03.7447 101.656 Elimination Round 1 / Group 2
21 20 Carpenter, Ed D/H/F 01:03.8007 101.566 Elimination Round 1 Group 1
22 19 Moraes, Mario D/H/F 01:04.1590 100.999 Elimination Round 1 Group 1
23 23 Bell, Townsend D/H/F 01:04.3880 100.640 Elimination Round 1 Group 1
24 2 Foyt IV, AJ D/H/F 01:04.4996 100.466 Elimination Round 1 / Group 2
25 25 Roth, Marty D/H/F 01:07.7041 95.711 Elimination Round 1 Group 1
26 18 Junqueira, Bruno D/H/F 01:09.3851 93.392 Elimination Round 1 / Group 2

Can anyone one believe that HALF of the top ten positions on the grid are occupied by drivers and teams that have transitioned from the ChampCar World Series (CCWS T-Teams in bold)?

Many of the experts were fond of saying that “it will take about six to ten races” for the T-Teams to become competitive, tell that to Will Power who posted the fastest time on the track at 62.1355 seconds. This time was about one-half a second faster than the eventual Pole Position speed of Tony Kanaan at 62.5322 seconds.

How about a P2 and a P3 starting position for Will Power and Justin Wilson respectively – Great stuff ... and Will Power will have no wing to stare at when he takes the checkered flag to start the race.

Good On! the CCWS T-Teams, if round two of 2008 at Saint Petersburg, Florida is any indication of the success that comes from a unified series, this will be an exciting year.

The second round race can be seen on ESPN starting at 11:30 am PT, Sunday, April 6, 2008.

Too bad we can't have all of these guys to race on Shoreline Drive at Long Beach THIS year!

... notes from The EDJE