Mikel Azcona, 1st: “It was up and down. In Q1 I was pushing quite hard but didn’t feel competitive and I was not ready to fight for the pole. We made a couple of changes on the car balance and set-up to try and make it stronger and gain some front grip. We improved a lot and we also went for a good tow as the data showed it was very important. Norbi had some issues in Q2, so we decided to go behind Yann as he was the man to beat and the fastest guy in Q1. I put in a mega lap and gained three or four-tenths thanks to this. I pushed to the limit getting close to the walls and it paid off. To take the pole with 40kg of Compensation Weight was unexpected. This has been the qualifying of the year so far! To lead the championship is positive, but the season is long, we have to stay consistent and not have DNFs, that’s my only target for now.”
Yann Ehrlacher, 2nd: “I’m super-happy and overwhelmed with this P2 in qualifying with 30kg of Compensation Weight. I did a good lap, going to the limit as I always do here as I like this place. Tomorrow we have two joker laps to try something and attack Mikel.
I think bringing back the joker lap was a good idea and even to have two, because here overtaking is nearly impossible. It’s good for the fans and for us, as it brings some excitement and it’s not just queuing in a race for 30 minutes. With the joker lap it’s easy to do a mistake, so it will be interesting and I hope it will provide a good show.”
Ma Qing Hua, 3rd: “That was a tough qualifying session. In Q1 my pace was good, and the track conditions were a bit different as expected. I was struggling set-up wise in Q2; mine it was a good lap, but not perfect, it could have been better. I think we did a good job with P2 and P3, now we have a good chance because our race pace is good.”
Picture: WSC/Fastclick-AvensImages
