Trident Spa-Francorchamps Qualifying

At the end of its traditional Summer break, the GP2 Main Series went back on-track at Spa-Francorchamps for the ninth and penultimate round of the 2011 season. The first day of activity at the Ardennes circuit has been heavily conditioned by weather issues, like often happens at the venue. In practice, the drivers went on-track with slick tires, before moving to the wet compounds due to rain. Qualifying provided less surprises, with the rain falling from start to finish.

At the end of the 30-minute long qualifying turn, Stefano Coletti and Rodolfo Gonzalez respectively scored the 25th and the 19th position.

The first race of the weekend is set to take-off tomorrow at 15:40 with live coverage in Italy by RaiSport 1. Race 2 will round the series' Belgian weekend out on Sunday, with the start scheduled at 10:30 (live on RAI2)

Rodolfo Gonzalez, 19. (2:22.655)

"My qualifying session has been conditioned by the front tires' wear. When I exited the pit-stops I felt I got a great grip with the car, and I thought that our set-up choices were proving really effective. At that point though, right after my flying lap, my front tires got worn badly. When I put the second set on, the same thing happened and, with today's conditions, pushing  for more than one lap was needed to improve our laptimes progressively"

Stefano Coletti, 25. (2:24.272)

Things didn't go badly with my first new set of tires. I thought I could have easily aimed at a top-10 position. Then after being back to the pits for my second set, everything went wrong. In the closing stages the rain became less intense, and everybody started to lower their laptimes. I prepared for my last flying laps but a car got stuck in the last sector, and I had to lift the throttle to respect the yellow flags. It's a pity because today's result did not reflect our true potential".


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