Adren Spa qualifying report

Slip-Slidin’ Away... GP2 Makes Soggy Return To Belgium

Josef Kral

Photo by: GP2 Media Service

Difficult conditions at Spa-Francorchamps are nothing new – but GP2 drivers faced the worst of the circuit’s famously capricious nature during today’s practice and qualifying sessions as the Series returned from its brief summer recess.

The good news? The forecast hailstones held off and, come what may, overtaking should be possible during tomorrow’s 25-lap feature race. That will help Arden drivers Josef Kral and Jolyon Palmer, after both had a difficult time trying to put together clean, quick laps in this afternoon’s spray. The Czech lines up 16th, but his team-mate is only 23rd. Palmer slithered off the road only seconds after exiting the pits this morning: the session had to be red-flagged while his car was retrieved and he was unable to take any further part.

Josef:

“Practice was OK and I wasn’t too far from the pace in the first and third sectors. I couldn’t get the middle part of the circuit right, though, and that prevented me putting a decent lap together.

“I struggled with understeer on my first qualifying run, so we altered the set-up and that improved things for a couple of laps, but then the front tyres went away and I was unable to improve my time. There were yellow flags at the end of the session, too, which didn’t help. Given the changeable conditions, anything could happen in the race and I am firmly focused on a points finish. We’ll see what happens!”

Jolyon:

“Practice was awful. I made a mistake, hit the wall and didn’t manage any laps in. My lack of preparation made qualifying difficult, but I made a bit of progress during the session. Thanks to the guys for repairing the car – they worked very hard and I will try to reward their efforts in the race. Hopefully, the weather will play into my hands tomorrow.”