QUALIFYING QUOTES
Jörg MÜLLER, BMW Team Deutschland fastest
"At the first free practice I had a good feeling which carried through to qualifying.
I'm quite happy with my performance but of course I will not be on pole
tomorrow I will be 11th. Oschersleben is a track where there are a few places to
overtake and last year I started 12th and finished 4th in Race 1. Of course I have
not given up and I am still working towards the championship. Even though I am
a little behind there are still 80 points to give away and I want some of those. In
the past Oschersleben has been a good circuit for BMW but in this championship
it is very level so it changes with the race situation rather than from track to
track."
James THOMPSON, Alfa Romeo Racing Team 2nd fastest
"I'm very happy and have to thank the team because after free practice I had a
problem with the car and they worked hard to get me ready for qualifying. I
managed to sneak in a good time right at the end. Myself, Augusto (Farfus) and
Gabriele (Tarquini) all have similar weights and are relatively light. The circuit
here becomes very dirty and it is difficult not to make a mistake. The race can be
a very different proposition than qualifying and I think it is going to be very
difficult."
Augusto FARFUS, Alfa Romeo Racing Team 3rd fastest
"I used my second set of new tyres and decided to keep the third set for
tomorrow. I start in 2nd place and aim to get a good start to be up there with
James. The focus here is to get maximum points so we can finish in the top 5 of
the championship. Tomorrow we will have two long races and I predict the front
wheel drive cars will be faster at the beginning, but in the middle and the end the
BMWs will come through. So if I make a good start I am in the fight for a win."
Rickard RYDELL, SEAT Sport 6th fastest
"I was quite happy with that last run; I was in third place at the end of the lap,
but dropped to sixth by the end of the session. I'm actually quite pleased,
though; I'm carrying quite a lot of weight and yet I'm still the quickest of the
SEAT Sport drivers. Obviously, I'd have liked to be higher up the grid but I'm far
from disappointed. We know that the Oschersleben circuit suits the car and I'm
really positive about our chances in the races."
Stéphane ORTELLI, Team Oreca Playstation 7th fastest
"We knew we had a good car for this track and it felt good to drive so I am not
really surprised. Perhaps I was a bit too safe and conservative and could have
been a bit more extreme on the exit of the corners but we still have things to
develop. We have used just two sets of tyres and saved one set for tomorrow,
I'm not sure if this was a good decision because I think if we had used the last
set I would have a better qualifying position. However, we are a new team and so
for now we can say `C'est la vie'."
Jordi GENÉ, SEAT Sport 10th fastest
"I'm actually very pleased with tenth position, because it's still a learning
experience with the León. I was fifth and fourth in the two practice sessions this
morning, but that was on used tyres. The team put new tyres on the car for
qualifying and it was completely different. We worked to try and improve things
throughout the session, but we clearly still have a lot to learn about that
particular aspect of the car! The León has already shown its potential, though."
Alain MENU, Chevrolet Racing 13th fastest
"I am very happy. The car was not too bad on balance. We put on four new tyres
but we thought it could go faster so we tried with new tyres just on the front and
then on the back, and it went better. On my last out lap I was held up by two
cars, otherwise I think a 1:32.5 would have been possible."
Michael FUNKE, Ford Hotfiel Sport 16th fastest
"On my best lap I made a mistake and lost half a second which meant I did not
make it in the top ten. However, 16th for Ford is good and with Thomas (Klenke)
10th if everything works perfectly maybe there is a chance to score points."
Giuseppe CIRÒ, Proteam Motorsport 17th fastest
"Honestly I did not expect to be the fastest of the Independents today. It is my
rookie season and I'm here to learn, but I also wish to do well. This result is
really encouraging for me and for the team. We have worked very well this
morning to find the right set-up for the qualifying, and I have to say that I took a
few risks."
Marc HENNERICI, Wiechers-Sport 19th fastest
"The last races were really terrible for me and I hope to come back for the rest of
the season. It is important for me to score well here and at Istanbul because
Valencia is a hard track for the BMWs and every point counts when we head to
Macau."
Eric HÉLARY, Peugeot Sport Denmark 26th fastest
"We have improved the car a lot since this morning. And yet it was not enough to
be competitive. We have started with a lot of understeer in cornering, that
changed to oversteer at the exit. Now the car is not sufficiently balanced, but it's
not quick. We will work again to change something before the warm-up. We'll try
another differential and we hope to improve. But definitely we cannot improve by
two seconds, which is the gap we have from the pole."
-fia-
