Aussie Will Power, will grid up in rows three and four respectively for the two World Series by Renault races tomorrow after two solid qualifying results in Valencia, Spain today.
To most of the team’s dislike, once again the grid of 28 race cars was split into two for the qualifying sessions and Will’s even-numbered group went out first for session one this morning.
Power set provisional pole early on and with eight minutes to go a red flag stopped the session providing the teams with a perfect window to put on new rubber.ÿ Not long back out on track and with four minutes remaining, Will was bumped down to second and shortly afterwards, third place, by Robert Kubica and then Colin Fleming.ÿ Will finished the session in a respectable third with a 1min21.109.ÿ
However, the odd-numbered session came out fastest and Will’s 3rd place and fourth fastest time was demoted to a 6th place grid position. The Carlin Motorsport driver will grid up beside his teammate, Andreas Zuber in fifth who lapped a 1min21.249.
In the heat of the Spanish afternoon, the number 4 car went out for session two with only one set of rubber to use.ÿ Imitating session one, Will was quickly on provisional pole again and was holding his place as the 15 minutes wore on.ÿ But with 6 minutes to go Marcus Winklehock, Kubica and then Fleming leap-frogged Will who ultimately finished the session fourth in group with the 8th fastest time, a1min21.741.ÿ Will, will be 8th on the grid for the pit-stop race tomorrow afternoon.
Teammate Zuber claimed pole position in qualifying two, and for the odd-numbered session.ÿ Incidentally, Power’s pole position in Zolder is the only time so far that the even-numbered group has been fastest and therefore on the Pole side of the track.
“I don’t like the qualifying system as it can punish people who do respectable lap times” explained Will afterwards.ÿ “It would be better if the groups were split according to the Friday practice times, that way it would be fair as you’d be qualifying with people matching your speed that meeting and you wouldn’t have to rely so much on how fast your group is.ÿ I drove good clean laps today, but didn’t have the perfect set-up for session two, 1.5 tenths would have put me on pole so it was a very close.ÿ Overall I have two potential points paying grid positions, so I’m looking forward to some good races.”
Ends//
POWER BAGS FIRST PODIUM IN WSR
June 05, 2005
Carlin Motorsport driver Will Power, scored his first World Series by Renault podium in race one today, and narrowly missed out on making it a double in race two.
Eric Salignon left his P4 grid spot vacant at start of race one, giving Will an immediate advantage by effectively moving him to fifth on the grid.ÿ An awesome getaway saw Will pass Colin Fleming and teammate Andreas Zuber down the straight, propelling him into third place before the first corner.
The 19 lap sprint race was lead by Felix Portiero, Robert Kubica and Will from start to finish, Will consistently placing times faster than Kubica which ensured a close and consistent race pace.ÿ Power was exuberant on the podium, the good result clearly renewing his passion and energizing him for the second race of the afternoon.
Starting from the fourth row, Will luckily avoided incident when second placed man, Marcus Winkelhock stalled forcing the grid to swerve and avoid his car. Will was keen to make up more places in the compulsorily pit-stop and therefore pitted relatively early on lap 6 of 27.
Rejoining in 13th Will slowly made up places as the rest of the field pitted and rejoined in their rightful positions.ÿ On lap 13, an incident promoted Will to 8th place from 10th and a safety car came out to pick up teammate Zuber in the lead, who drastically had not yet pitted at the half way mark, ruining his chances for victory.
Power found himself in fifth when the last of the pit-stops were completed and after a mistake by Eric Salignon, the number 4 car was in fourth and knocking on the doorstep of another podium position.ÿ The Saftey Car was deployed on lap 20, and unbelievably was forced to swerve to avoid the crane carrying the offending car of Karun Chandhok across the track!
There were two laps to go when the Saftey Car was withdrawn and although the restart was uneventful, on the last lap the leader spun off the track promoting Will to third!ÿ Will was so very close to his second podium of the weekend when disaster struck in the form of Draco driver Christian Montanari, who slid his car into Will’s rear wheel finishing both their races.
“I’m very annoyed at Montanari for trying to pull off such a desperate move! Exclaimed Will afterwards.ÿ “Getting a podium in race one was just what I needed to keep me in the championship hunt and I was just aiming for points in the second race.ÿ I didn’t actually know I was in third when I was hit until I got back to the pits, it’s very, very disappointing for me but my podium means it wasn’t a wasted weekend and I got some much needed points in the bag.”
The World Series now breaks for four weeks until the next race meeting in Le Mans in July.
