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Porsche-Michelin-Supercup, 1st round at the Bahrain Grand Prix, Qualifying |
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Written by http://presse.porsche.de
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David Saelens beats Uwe Alzen to pole by one-hundreth of a second
Stuttgart. The qualifying session for the first
round of the 2006 Porsche Michelin Supercup yielded a close result on
the Bahrain International Circuit. Belgium's David Salens turned the
quickest lap in 2m:03.864 minutes on the 5.412 kilometer Grand Prix
track. With this time, the Monaco-resident and third place-holder in
last year's Porsche Michelin Supercup relegated Uwe Alzen from Germany
to second on the grid. A gap of just one-hundreth of a second separates
the two Ex-DTM pilots.
Trailing the pole-sitter by only four-hundreths of a second, Britain's
Richard Westbrook posted the third fastest qualifying time. At his
inaugural Supercup race in Bahrain last year, Westbrook secured pole
position, the fastest race lap as well as victory. Richard Lietz from
Austria achieved the fourth position on the grid, 24-hundreths of a
second ahead of Patrick Huisman (Netherlands), with Jan Seyffarth
(Germany) yielding sixth in qualifying, nine-thousandths of a second in
arrears of Huisman. At 19-years, Seyffarth is the youngest competitor
in the field.
Of the thirty Porsches to take up the session, 14
drivers qualified within 0.8 seconds of the pole-setting time. Amongst
them was ex-Formula 1 driver Luciano Burti (Brazil) in tenth starting
position, separated from the pole time by just four-tenths of a second.
Bad luck plagued Germany’s Christian Menzel who secured third in
Bahrain last year: The reigning champion of the Carrera Cup Deutschland
was sidelined after only nine laps with a faulty gearshift sensor.
Menzel settled for ninth, four-tenths of a second behind Saelens.
Nicolas Armindo (France), who traveled to Bahrain as vice-champion of
the national series behind Menzel, rolled into the pits during the
ninth lap with an electrical problem.
Alessandro Zampedri
(Italy), reigning champion of the Porsche Michelin Supercup, was forced
to pit after four laps with gearbox damage. He takes up Sunday's race
from 26th position.
Bad luck for guest driver Damian Faulkner
(Ireland). The reigning champion of the Carrera Cup Great Britain and
his Lechner Racing School Team did not find an optimal set-up and a
disappointed Damian had to settle for 14th on the grid.
On
Friday evening the Porsche Michelin Supercup opened its 14th race
season as support to Formula 1 World Championship with a exhibition
practice. A backdrop of the setting desert sun presented press
photographers and fans with a new and fascinating aspect on the Porsche
911 GT3 Cup. At the end of the practice many motorsport enthusiasts
took the chance to experience the racing sportscars up close in the
pitlane.
Eurosport broadcasts highlights of the race on Sunday
evening in its "Motorsports Weekend" programme, with "Eurosport 2"
broadcasting live at 10am.
David Saelens (pole sitter): "I'm not
completely happy with my fastest lap - it could have been better. But
we have been the fastest all weekend. With 30 cars on the track you're
bound to run into traffic. For the series and the spectators a full
field is fantastic - for us it's tough."
Uwe Alzen (second
qualifier): "I'm delighted to start from the front row. After setting
my fastest lap I ran-in my fresh set of tyres for tomorrow's race and
waited. Let's see what I can do about David over the race distance
tomorrow."
Richard Westbrook (third): "We are a new team, so
we're learning. The car was not perfect but I did what was possible
today. The longer the session, the slower the track becomes because we
are takting off the rubber left by the Formula 1 cars."
Richard
Lietz (fourth): "We have been successful in implementing our tactic
this weekend which makes me optimistic. This year's competition in the
series is incredibly hard. I reckon there are at least ten drivers here
who could win races. Great for fans, a challenge for us."
Qualifying:
1. David Saelens (B), Kadach Racing Team, 2:03.864min (=157.295kmh)
2. Uwe Alzen (D), PZ Koblenz – Team SPS, 0.012sec behind
3. Richard Westbrook (GB), Racing Team Morellato PZ Essen, 0.046
4. Richard Lietz (A), tolimit Motorsport, 0.266
5. Patrick Huisman (NL), Farnbacher Racing, 0.290
6. Jan Seyffarth (D), UPS Porsche-Junior Team, 0.299
7. Fabrice Walfisch (F), Kadach Racing Team, 0.308
8. Dirk Werner (D), Farnbacher Racing, 0.390
9. Christian Menzel (D), tolimit Motorsport, 0.418
10. Luciano Burti (BRA), Morellato Stars Team, 0.493
11. Olivier Maximin (F), Racing Team Morellato PZ Essen, 0.497
12. Lance David Arnold (D), UPS Porsche-Junior Team, 0.515
13. Geoffroy Horion (B), Mühlner Motorsport, 0.693
14. Damian Faulkner (IRL), Lechner Racing School Team, 0.835
15. Tim Bergmeister (D), Konrad Motorsport, 1.078
16. Nicolas Armindo (F), Priority Racing Team Lechner, 1.290
17. Duncan Huisman (NL), MRS-Team PZM, 1.373
18. Robert van den Berg (NL), Harders Plaza Racing, 1.481
19. Philip Beyrer (CH), Jetstream Motorsport PZ Essen, 1.548
20. Michael Schrey (D), Konrad Motorsport, 1.670
21. Cyrille Sauvage (I), Lechner Racing School Team, 2.055
22. David Dermont (B), Mühlner Motorsport, 2.210
23. Georg Braun (D), MRS-Team PZM, 2.485
24. Simon Frederiks (NL), Jetstream Motorsport PZ Essen, 2.487
25. Salman Al-Khalifa (BRN), Porsche AG, 2.786
26. Alessandro Zampedri (I), Lechner Racing School Team, 3.197
27. Fahed Al Muslam (BRN), Porsche AG, 3.380
28. Chris Mattheus (MC), Harders Plaza Racing, 3.788
29. Jörg Stephan (D), PZ Koblenz – Team SPS, 4.265
30. Jaber Al-Khalifa (BRN), Morellato Stars Team, 4.605
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