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Advan Gives Alfa Romeo Pole |
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Sunday, 08 October 2006 |
Brazilian Augusto Farfus driving an Alfa Romeo 156 claimed pole position with a stunning lap of 1:44.534 during the last minute of today’s qualifying session for round 17 of the FIA World Touring Car Championship. The Ntechnology driver upstaged local favourite Jordi Gené within 24 seconds of the chequered flag.
Gené, one of three Spanish drivers entered in the World Touring Car Championship this weekend, held the top spot for the majority of the session and will start tomorrow’s race alongside Farfus’ Alfa Romeo.
The remainder of the grid varied throughout the 30 minute session, and times were as close as ever.
Reigning champion Andy Priaulx pushed hard, making the most of a rare weekend with low ballast. Unfortunately, Valencia favours front-wheel drive cars and the rear-wheel BMW driver ended qualifying in 17th position.
Yokohama Independent Trophy leader, Tom Coronel qualified fifth overall, first in class, and with closest competitor Ryan Sharp unable to participate in this event, the GR Asia driver looks well set for tomorrow’s race.
Augusto Farfus, N.Technology: "The strongest point with the Yokohama tyres is that they are so consistent during the race. I think I will have some very good tyres under me to fight with everyone else tomorrow."
Jordi Gené, SEAT Sport Espana: "The tyres performed very well. Tomorrow is supposed to be very hot so I will have to look out for that and Valencia is famous for being hard on tyres but the ADVANs are normally very good for my car so I think I am in a very good position for tomorrow."
Kazuyoshi Sekiguchi, Yokohama: "One of our main priorities is to ensure that our ADVAN tyre works well with each team and each driver in all conditions. The top 22 drivers put in a time within one second of the pole position time today and that is a testament to the Yokohama product."
Both races will be shown live on Eurosport on Sunday 8th October from 15.00 CET onwards.
Qualifying (top 6):
Pos. Driver Team Time
1 Augusto Farfus jr Ntechnology 1:44.534
2 Jordi Gené Team SEAT Espana 1:44.662
3 Salvatore Tavano Ntechnology 1:44.852
4 Alain Menu Chevrolet 1:44.863
5 Tom Coronel GR Asia 1:44.920
6 Nicola Larini Chevrolet 1:44.971
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 13 December 2006 )
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