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 Racing
Engineering’s drivers have been shining at the circuit of Jerez
during today’s qualifying sessions. Borja marked the fastest
lap times in both qualifying sessions and his team mate Steven starts
tomorrow’s races from second and fourth position on the grid.
Emilio de Villota is substituting his sister Maria in car number
three.
Qualifying
1:
When the first qualifying session held this morning at the Jerez
circuit started, all eyes were directed towards the sky. The track
was slightly wet due to the rain in the early morning and was therefore
declared a wet session. Nevertheless all drivers started qualifying
on slick tyres.
From the first moment Borja left no doubt about who is the fastest
driver in the Spanish Formula 3 Championship and marked the fastest
time of the seventeen drivers present. During the thirty minute
session, the track started to dry up and lap times improved. Borja
passed from 1’36.425 in lap three to 1’35.134 and later
on to 1’34.915 in his tenth lap, always keeping the fastest
lap time. But the young Spaniard wanted to underline his dominance
in the championship, being the only one to mark a time below 1’35,
lapping his fastest time with a 1’34.708 and almost a second
faster than his main competitor in the championship, Giao.
Steven recorded the second fastest time in the first qualifying
and therefore the first row of the starting grid of Sunday’s
first race is entirely in Racing Engineering’s colors.
Emilio de Villota has constantly improved his lap times and finished
the session marking his fastest lap time with a 1’36.507.
Qualifying
2:
In the second qualifying session taking place Saturday afternoon,
Borja once again marked the fastest time almost matching his excellent
time from the morning session. With a lap of 1’34.854, Borja
was more that four tenths of a second faster than Aicart, who finished
second. On this occasion Giao once again was incapable of fighting
for a top position on the grid and recorded a lap time of over a
second slower than Racing Engineering’s Borja Garcia, starting
the race from fifth position.
Steven Kane, Racing Engineering’s Irish driver could not repeat
the good lap time from the morning session and starts tomorrow’s
second race from fourth position after marking a lap time of 1’35.614.
Steven and his engineer decided to make some minor changes on the
set up of the car that did not work into the expected direction.
Therefore Steven is not happy with the second qualifying, stating
that almost all drivers made the same lap times as in the morning
session and only him marking a worse lap time. Nevertheless Steven
is content about the achieved results and was looking forward to
tomorrow’s races where he has very promising starting positions.
Emilio de Villota continued to adapt himself to the Formula 3 car,
which he has not been racing since November 2003. He marked his
fastest lap time with a 1’36.522.
After Saturday’s qualifying sessions Alfonso de Orleans, Racing
Engineering’s president, stated, “Everyone’s worked
very well this weekend and the results obtained on the track prove
that the work was as executed in the best form possible. Borja and
Steven achieved results that make it possible for both to fight
for the victories in both of the Sunday races. Concerning Emilio,
he adapted to the car well, but he is still needs some kilometers
in the car as we could only get him one day of testing before this
race.”
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