Young Mexican driver Juan Carlos Sistos has joined Team Zele-Racing for the Portimao Round of the 2012 AutoGP World Series. Sistos is currently also running in the European F3 Open Series.
Free Practice 1:
Pål Varhaug was quickest in the first Free Practice session of the Auto GP Portimão weekend. The Norwegian driver of Virtuosi UK, who yesterday focused on learning the track and saved his best rubber for today, made the most of a set of fresh soft tyres to post a 1’32”655, a time that he feels can still be improved: “When I did put the fresh tyres on, I immediately felt that there was much more grip than yesterday, and with a few more laps I’m sure that I would have improved my time a lot, because in many places I could have pushed more. I’m confident for the weekend, I really love the track”. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs was second, lapping on used tyres after using a set of new soft Kumhos yesterday. With a 1’32”972 he ended the session just 0.03 ahead of Marrakech Race 1 winner Sergio Campana. Sergey Sirotkin was fourth with a 1’33”589, and was happy to share his enthusiasm about the track: “It’s great, with many blind corners, uphills and downhills, it’s a kind of track I really like. The main straight is a bit bumpy, but apart from this I love it”. The young Russian of Euronova was followed by Victor Guerin and Facu Regalia, while Daniel de Jong was in P7 ahead of Sten Pentus. The Estonian driver of Zele Racing didn’t take part in yesterday’s test session and so he used this Practice to get acquainted with a track where he already raced in 2009. He closed the session 0.03 ahead of team-mate Juan Carlos Sistos, who kept showing an impressive pace at his Auto GP debut. Chris Van der Drift closed the top ten with the second Manor MP Motorsport entry.
Free Practice 2:
Adrian Quaife-Hobbs posted the quickest time of the second Auto GP Free Practice session in Portimão. The Briton of SuperNova stopped the clock on a 1’33”095 that allowed him to edge team-mate Victor Guerin by just 0.01. The Brazilian boasted a good performance, but he feels that there’s still work to do: “I was the only driver of the top tier on new tyres – said Victor – so I can’t be too happy. We still miss something, especially to catch Adrian, but we still have time before Qualifying”. Sergio Campana was third and again on the pace with a 1’33”375, ahead of Virtuosi’s Pål Varhaug. Daniel de Jong showed an 8 tenths improvement from his morning laptime that allowed him to take P5, just 0.017 ahead of Sergey Sirotkin who closed the session with a 1’33”699. Facu Regalia took P7: the Campos Racing driver posted a 1’33”919 that bodes well for today’s Qualifying, but with 1’30 to the end of the session a technical issue stopped his car at Turn 1. The team is investigating to find the reason for the glitch and is already at work to repair Facu’s Lola for the Qualifying session.
Juan Carlos Sistos improved again and closed the session in P8, ahead of team-mate Sten Pentus. Chris van der Drift rounded the top-ten, with Antonio Spavone following him very closely and seeing room for improvement in Qualifying: I did some mistakes in my best lap, so I can definitely go quicker. It’s not an easy track, mastering it takes time, but I like it” he said. The session ended with 11 drivers in one second, something that hints to a very hot Qualifying session, from 3.30 PM today.
Qualifying:
Adrian Quaife-Hobbs clinched the fourth pole position of his Auto GP season in Portimão. The British driver of SuperNova was quickest in a tight packed session that saw nine drivers end in the same second. Adrian climbed on top before the ten minutes mark with a 1’32”5, and then improved to 1’32”342 in the late part of Qualifying, after that the session was stopped for a spin by Michele La Rosa.
The last 30’ of today’s action saw many yellow flags, and that meant that many drivers were forced to abort their best laps: poleman Quaife-Hobbs had to cope with that, as well as Sergio Campana and Facu Regalia. The Argentinian driver of Campos Racing posted the best qualifying performance of his season so far with a 1’32”625 that was worth second place, and was really happy with his car: “Session after session we improved a lot – Regalia said – and I have to say thanks to the team and to my engineer Sean Thompson for that. We are quick and consistent, we could have been even quicker without yellow flags and we are looking good for the race. First row was my aim, so I’m really happy today”. Victor Guerin completed a very good team performance from SuperNova taking third, just 0.02 off Regalia’s time: “Coming from GP2 it took some time to get acquainted with the car again”, he said. “At the start of the weekend I was a long way off Quaife-Hobbs, but we made a lot of changes to the car before qualifying and it’s now much better”. Sergio Campana was fourth with 1’32”677 and despite the good result the Italian was really disappointed for the yellow flags that ruined his best lap: “I’m a bit angry because I could have challenged for pole without wasting my best lap with that yellow flag. It’s frustrating, but at the same time I’m happy because the car is quick, we are on the pace”. Fifth place went to Pål Varhaug: the Norwegian’s speed was good but he missed the last minutes of Qualifying due to a fuel pressure issue, and so he couldn’t improve in the deciding moments. He closed the session ahead of Sergey Sirotkin, who also had his share of bad luck: the young Russian of Euronova did hit a stranded piece of astroturf that got stuck into his suspension, preventing him from turning and putting an end to his session. The team managed by Vincenzo Sospiri couldn’t even count on the other car because Antonio Spavone stopped on track due to a technical issue with ten minutes to go. Chris Van der Drift was seventh ahead of team mate Daniel de Jong, both hampered by an oversteering car. Zele Racing rounded the top ten with Sten Pentus closing three tenths ahead of team-mate Juan Carlos Sistos.
Sten Pentus: „I am not really happy with my starting position, because i know we could have done better. The balance of my car is pretty good, but we still have to trim it a bit for the fast corners. It is quite difficult here at Portimao to catch the peak of the tire. Unfrtunately i´ve missed it twice today, but the gap to the fastest guys is no so big. I will try my best in the race tomorrow to jump a few positions.“
Juan Carlos Sistos: „It´s the first time since 2009 that i´m driving such a powerful car and it´s very different to the F3. I am happy with the performance so far and we´ve been on P7 in the testing yesterday. I made a mistake on my first set of tires in Qualifying and spun, but luckily i could rejoin the session. Then we had a red flag which spolied my second run on new tires. So P10 is not what we expected, but that´s racing.“
Michael Zele:“ We obviousely are a bit disappointed with the Qualifying result, but we have to focus on the races now.Both drivers are quite happy with their cars and that´s a good sign.“
