The recently-crowned champion edged the pack by more than four tenths
Adrian Quaife-Hobbs and SuperNova Racing showed that they still are the package to beat in Auto GP claiming pole after an hard-fought Qualifying session in Sonoma.
The recently-crowned champion edged the pack by more than four tenths with a 1’25”470 that was posted with just 3 minutes to go. Up to that point the session had been incredibly balanced, with four drivers in just 0.07 and four different leaders in the last twenty minutes.
It was Pål Varhaug who took the lead early on, but at half session the paddock focus switched to a fierce fight for provisional pole between Sergey Sirotkin and Antonio Pizzonia, who exchanged the lead more than once before being beated by Quaife-Hobbs’ impressive flyer.
If the Briton has a gap on the competition that could allow him to try and immediately build gap, behind him things are much closer: Sirotkin (1’25”938), Pizzonia (1’26”135) and Varhaug (1’26”214) ended qualifying packed in less than two tenths, and their laptimes were incredibly close for the whole session.
5th place went to Sergio Campana with a 1’26”347 that was enough to keep Daniel de Jong and Giacomo Ricci at bay, in P6 and P7 respectively. Giancarlo Serenelli confirmed his feeling with the Californian track with a 1’27”356 that was worth P8 ahead of Kotaro Sakurai, again in the top ten at his Auto GP debut with Euronova Racing. Closing the top ten was Francesco Dracone, followed by Antonio Spavone, Max Snegirev, Giuseppe Cipriani, Pippa Mann and Michele La Rosa.
Adrian Quaife-Hobbs: “I’m really happy: it’s our sixth pole position in seven events, and the only one we didn’t clinch was in Marrakech where we really struggled with the supersoft tyres. Today our pace was immediately good but with the first set of tyres I didn’t really give it all. I pushed in some spots of the track and backed off in some others, just to get the right feeling.
I noticed that the car needed a change and the team carried it out between the first and the second stint, and things immediately got better. I found some traffic in my first flyer and posted a 1’26”, but the second lap was clear and I could get to the 1’25”4 that gave me pole”.
source: Auto GP, autogp.org
PODIUM FINISH FOR SIROTKIN AT SONOMA
Russia’s Sergey Sirotkin finished today’s 21 lap race at the Infineon Raceway near Sonoma in America in 3rd place; climbing on to the bottom step of the podium. Series debutant Kotaro Sakurai finished his first Auto GP race in an impressive 7th place; earning himself a front row start for race 2 tomorrow.
Sirotkin, who is supported by the Lukoil Drivers Development Programme, qualified in 2nd place after a close fought session which saw him head the timesheets several times. A good start saw the 17 year old slot in behind pole winner Quaife-Hobbs, but then disaster struck at Turn 1 when an out of control Pizzonia smashed into the side of Quiafe-Hobbs. Sirotkin narrowly missed joining the collision by braking hard but in the process lost three places. The safety car was immediately deployed and on lap 5 the pit lane was opened. The whole field chose to stop and a quick tyre change by the Euronova team moved Sirotkin up to 3rd place, jumping him ahead of Ricci. A lap later the Safety Car went in and racing got underway. Sirotkin pushed for the whole race and finished just 1.5 seconds behind De Jong in 2nd and just 3 seconds off the winner Varhaug.
Sakurai’s first Auto GP race was full of action. The Japanese driver started from row 5 and made a flying start to slot in behind De Jong; but then a spin on the first lap lost him time and he was running in 11th place when the Safety Car deployed. Excellent service from the Euronova team saw him make up three places in the pits, putting him in 8th place. Once he was free of the safety car he immediately passed La Rosa for 7th place and spent the race chasing down Serenelli for 6th.
Reverse grid rules mean that Sakurai will start tomorrow’s race from 2nd whilst Sirotkin will line up in 6th.
Sospiri: A podium was a good result for Sergey today, although he was very unlucky at the start when he lost places avoiding the Pizzonia crash. It was a real shame as for sure he had the pace to win today but there was nothing he could do and sometimes these things happen. Sakurai had a good race, and would have been much better placed if he hadn’t had a small spin on the first lap. It will be exciting to see what he can do from the front row tomorrow. Compliments to the team as well as they serviced both cars in the pit stops one after the other, and both drivers made up places because of their good work.
source: euronova-racing.com