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Power Second Fastest In Opening Qualifying At Elkhart Lake |
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Monday, 13 August 2007 |
Will Power has put Team Australia on the provisional front row of the grid for the Generac Grand Prix of Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin today.
Power drove the #5 Aussie Vineyards Team Australia DP01 to second fastest behind championship rival Sebastien Bourdais around the 4.048-mile (6.515 kilometre) road course in today’s opening qualifying session.
The Queenslander will have another chance to topple Bourdais tomorrow when final qualifying is held for Round 10 of the Champ Car World Series.
Power’s team-mate, French rookie Simon Pagenaud, did not come to grips
with the tricky conditions as well as the Australian and finished the
day eighth fastest in the #15 Aussie Vineyards Team Australia DP01.
Many different categories of open-wheel and Sportscars are racing on
varying brands and compounds of tyre this weekend at Road America,
making the circuit surface a tricky one to set-up for with such varying
grip levels.
Power, Pagenaud and the Aussie Vineyards team will work hard overnight
at optimising the set-up of the team’s car before final qualifying at
the classic circuit tomorrow.
WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY …
Will Power – #5 Aussie Vineyards Team Australia DP01
“I think everyone was a little bit confused with their cars because the
different compounds of rubber from all the category of cars that's here
this weekend,” said Power.
“I went out in prequalifying, I thought the car felt really weird. I
didn't really know what to do with it, so I didn't make many changes. I
just went out, tried to put together the best lap possible.
“In the last session, I sort of worked out where we'd gone wrong. I think we'll be stronger tomorrow.”
Simon Pagenaud – #15 Aussie Vineyards Team Australia DP01
“It was a tough session for us today,” said Pagenaud.
“I don’t really know at the moment because I haven’t analysed what
happened yet, but on the first set of tyres I was three seconds off,
which is kind of a joke, because I just wasn’t able to drive the Aussie
Vineyards car.
“I think we had an issue on one set of tyres, but I’m not certain, and when we put the other set on the car was fine.
“We still need to improve it and we still have lots of work to do to
improve it for tomorrow. We’ll work hard and be back up there tomorrow.”
Derrick Walker – Team Australia Co-Owner
“I think towards the end of it we got the Aussie Vineyards car
just right and Will put in a cracker of a lap and P2 was well deserved,” said Walker.
“If we hadn’t of gone a little bit off there we would have been P1.
“As for Simon, the car was too inconsistent for him. We are really
puzzled as to why it’s not behaving the way it did at the test, so we
have some work to do overnight, but sometimes just a tweak or two can
changes these things quick so we were not cutting our risks with Simon
just yet. We will tweak it tonight and be alright for tomorrow.”
Craig Gore – Team Australia Co-Owner
“Great start from Will and the boys today,” said Gore.
“Road America is one of the greatest challenges the series has to offer
so this weekend will be a top chance for Will and Sebastien to fight it
out.
“Simon was not as quick as he should have been but despite being a
rookie he is a very smart driver when it comes to sorting a car out, so
look for him to study hard with the Team Australia engineers overnight
to pick up some time and be up there with Will.”
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