First time on Pole
23.08.2008 - 13:15 Uhr
The name of the Valencia debut pole setter is Sean Edwards. The pole for the 10th round of the Supercup in Spain is the first best time for the Englishman. Second was championship leader Bleekemolen with a Gap of 4/1000 of a seconds. Stefan Rosina and Damien Faulkner are following with a gap of 5/100 seconds. 20 Cars within 1 second.
First Supercup pole for Sean Edwards
It was a kind of home advantage, when the Brit Sean Edwards some minutes before the end of the session went out on the new Valencia track, to improve from the deeps of the result list up to the front. Some weeks ago he competed here in a round for the GT-Open, a series held mainly on Spanish tracks. 'I can't believe it after the bad luck, I had yesterday", the 21-years-old shone about his 2:09.329 minutes lap and his first pole position in the current season. 'The GT-Open race helped me a lot, I knew the track and the line, but yesterday I run into technical problems and could not do a serious lap. So I am very happy with the pole position. Thanks to everyone one who has helped me."
Especially the last minutes of the first Supercup qualifying in Valencia's harbour area of the America's Cup has been a real nail-biter. If the field normally drives the best times in the first minutes of the session, this time the pilots had to fight until the end of the 45 minutes. The fight for the pole developed to one of the most thrilling one this year. Just 4/1000 of a second separated Jeroen Bleekemolen, who claimed second position, from the aimed two additional championship points for the pole. 'In general it was a good qualifying for me, but unfortunately I made a mistake in my last lap which cost me the best time", the two times pole sitter of the current season says. 'However, my advantage for the race could be a good set of tyres, which I used only for two quick laps. With a good start I can win here."
And with that Bleekemolen, who has got an advantage of 38 points in the driver standings of the championship, would be able to win the title two races before the end of the season. However, Damien Faulkner, who ranks second in the championship, and his team mate Stefan Rosina claimed starting positions three and four, one row behind the Dutchman. With an excellent teamwork in the race they could keep the title decision open. 'I am really satisfied with my qualifying, but at first I want to congratulate Sean Edwards, who participated here in the GT-Open race like I did some weeks ago", Stefan Rosina prays his opponent. Just by 42/1000 of a second he was beaten by Jeroen Bleekemolen. "It's unbelievable how close the times are together", Damien Faulkner says. "My gap on the pole is just 5/100 of a second, but that's only enough for fourth place. Unfortunately I had some traffic, otherwise I would have been a better position. But I think it is possible to finish on the podium tomorrow." And with that Faulkner could keep the title fight open, because however Bleekemolen finishes the race, to clear out all doubts, he must leave Valencia with an advantage of 45 points.
Best German driver in the starter field of the 15 nations was Chris Memerow, driving the Kadach Porsche. The Germans gap to the best time was 13/100 of a second. The Hong Kong Chinese Darry O'Young became the surprise of the top group. The Schnabl Engineering pilot improved up to sixth position and claimed his best ever result in the Supercup. 'I like City circuits", the champion of the 2007 Asian Carrera Cup said already after a first glance on the track on Thursday. Today he proved his comment. 'With this great qualifying result I hope not only for a good race tomorrow but also to lay a base for top 10 results in the future." Team-mate Jà¶rg Hardt followed on position seven. "A perfect team performance, but I had some problems with the brake. I didn't have enough brakeing power at the front axle of my car."
René Rast, local hero Lucas Guerrero and birthday boy Patrick Huisman are following on positions eight to ten. 'Thanks for the birthday congratulations, but unfortunately that's all with the good news for today", the 42-years-old growls. 'The power shifting interrupter didn't work properly. I Think shifting up gears took me about one second each time. I had no chance for a better lap with this problem. But I am looking forward on the race tomorrow, because overtaking should be easy here in Valencia." Team-mate Saelens even had a worse session and ended up on 21th position. "Don't ask me, I am helpless", he commented his gap of 1.1 seconds on the best time.
One of the leading drivers in the Championship had even more bad luck. Jan Seyffarth already in the initial phase of the session with his tolimit-Carrera crashed into the walls. 'I came onto the dirt, touched the wall slightly and damaged the wheels and brake disk of my car. 'What a bad luck in the second half of the season", Seyffarth, who ranks third in the championship, says. Team-mate Jocke Mans delivered a proper Qualifying. The Supercup-rookie will start from 13th position into the race.
At its debut in Valencia the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup again proved it's high competitiveness. The first four cars are within 5/100 of a second. Jiri Janak 20th position is only 9/10 of a second away from the leader.
The 10th round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup with a distance of 14 laps (76,622 km) is started on Sunday 11.45am. A live coverage is provided by TV stations Premiere and Eurosport2.
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