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DOUBLE POLE FOR HITECH AND ASMER |
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Monday, 13 August 2007 |
Hitech Racing and Marko Asmer got their home event off to the best possible start with double pole position ahead of Round 15 and 16 of the Lloyds TSB Insurance British F3 International Series at Silverstone tomorrow. The Estonian, who now lives in Buckingham posted the quickest time in both 30 minutes qualifying sessions today to take his seventh and eight pole spots of the season.
His young rookie team-mate Walter Grubmüller struggled to get a clear run in this morning’s first session and was disappointed to wind up 17th, but a determined drive in the second, together with a clearer circuit, saw him improve his lap times to take the 12th quickest time.
The team, based just down the road from the home of British motor
racing, currently lead the series by 60 points and this performance
sets them up well for the double win they need to further extend their
advantage over Carlin duo Sam Bird and Maro Engel. Team Principal
David Hayle was delighted with the performance of both his drivers, but
was quick to point out that it’s only half the job required to achieve
the team’s aim of taking the 2007 crown.
David Hayle: “I’m very happy, we’re only half way through the event of
course, now we have to win the races, but obviously you can’t start
from a better place than pole. The most important thing is we can keep
doing quick times lap after lap, which hopefully is good for the race.
Walter is just showing the rookie signs of not being able to do it
immediately, straight out of the box, but given enough laps can turn in
a decent time. Potentially we had a top six place in second qualifying
with him if we’d put the quickest sectors together, he just didn’t
manage to do that, but that’s just a typical rookie thing and he’ll
only get better.”
Marko Asmer: “That’s not too bad, the car was not quite as good in the
second session as it was in the first, I had a bit of understeer but we
know what it is and so it should be ok for the races. Tomorrow I know
I just need to get a good start, get away as early as possible and
win. I feel confident and if the start goes well and I can be in the
front early then it should be OK after that.”
Walter Grubmüller: “Yes it’s good to be 12th now after a frustrating first qualifying
when I just didn’t manage to get a clear lap when the tyres were at
their best. Then towards the end I got my quickest first sector but by
that time the tyres were already gone, so it’s a bit of a shame. We
made a small change to the car between the two sessions and although we
had a bit of traffic again, we managed to get a free lap. Tomorrow in
the races, my aim will be to get points, it will be hard in the first
race, but in the second it should be possible.”
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