Quotes after qualifying at the Paul Ricard HTTT

Pole Position GT1 : Enrique Bernoldi (Sangari Team Brazil Corvette Z06):
“Unfortunately I won’t start from pole position tomorrow as I have a penalty after contact with Bobbi.  After putting the car on pole, I’ll have to start in 6th place. The race should be good for us, we have a good pace and we did a lot of laps on old tyres and the car was good.  This is a track which is good for our car.   The car behaved really well in qualifying; we did some changes from yesterday, and it really worked.  So I just pushed hard.  I was a bit cross because of the penalty and I didn’t expect to be a second faster than second place.  But it shows that we have the pace, and tomorrow we are looking for a good race.  We have been fast all weekend, and our Corvette is (unfortunately) without weight which means that we didn’t finish too well in the Algarve. But if you put together all the bits, that’s the reason for a good lap.”

Alex Müller (2nd Vitaphone Racing Team Maserati MC12):
“This is a Corvette track and we didn’t expect this performance this morning, especially when you saw prequalifying yesterday and we had four Corvettes in front of us. We are very happy. We worked quite hard through the night on the set-up of the car and we improved it. I think the time was good considering we have 20 kg, which is around half a second on this long track. But the Enrique did was amazing, congratulations for that. The race is long and we will have to see; we have to be careful with the race tomorrow and concentrate on our lap times and strategy, just pushing..”
 

Alessandro Pier Guidi (3rd Vitaphone Racing Team DHL Maserati MC12)
“For us, this is a quite a surprise, as yesterday we had problems from the free practice onwards, and the team worked very hard to remedy that.  This morning, when the time appeared on my dashboard, I could hardly believe it. But the car was perfect and we made a good job, also for the work.  It is good for us before the race.  The circuit is nice, but unfortunately it is not a Maserati circuit.”

Bas Leinders (1st FIA GT1 2010 Marc VDS Racing Team Ford GT1)
“We had to do an engine change for this race; this will cost us a two-minute stop & go penalty as it is our fourth engine change of the season. The qualifying went well and I was happy with my lap. I am faster than the other Ford GT1 so that is not too bad. Of course, this track with its long straights is not so good for us, as we lack top speed.  I am quite happy and I hope that even with the penalty we can get back to our normal position in the race. With a bit of luck, maybe we can catch the other Ford GT.”

 Gianmaria Bruni (1st in GT2  AF Corse Ferrari 430 GT2)
“It was very good, especially after last night when we had a very bad feeling about the car. The mechanics worked so hard last night; I also saw where I needed to improve from the data, we put it all together and everything came together, and the laptime was good.  We lost some weight from the last round; I’m happy as we are only 80 kg heavier than the car behind us.  We hope to have a clear fight and keep fighting until the last race.”

Tim Mullen (2nd in GT2  - CRS Racing Ferrari 430 GT2)
“I am quite pleased; I just didn’t manage to get pole – I’ve been second or third position in qualifying rather often this season and a pole position would be great… We were fast yesterday but there were still some improvements to be made; we worked hard with the engineers and mechanics and made a few small adjustments and it was definitely the right decision.  The car was fantastic, so a big thank you to them.  I finished in second spot here with Marino Franchitti in 2006 – I do love the track; it’s the sort of track that suits these cars and I really enjoy it. ”

Martin Ragginger (3rd in GT2  - Brixia Racing Porsche 997 GT3 RSR)
“We were really confident after prequalifying as I was leading by four tenths – so perhaps we didn’t work as hard as the others did !  I lost a bit today compared to yesterday and everyone else wonI’m not so happy, I was faster during the free sessions and we lost some time.  I think the lap was pretty good but the time was not coming.  It’s a nice circuit;  I drove here a lot during for the  Porsche Junior Scholarship.  I am also racing in the FIA GT3 European Championship, and I think that is going to be very tough.”

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