Hülkenberg Wins Super Pole
Super Pole for the first ever Formula BMW World Final saw the return of the rivalry between Nicolas Hülkenberg (Josef Kaufmann Racing) and Sebastien Buemi (ASL Team Mücke-Motorsport) which has been a feature of the 2005 Formula BMW ADAC Championship.
The outcome was also the same with the champion, Nicolas Hülkenberg, setting the fastest time to claim pole position for his heats and the added bonus of 1,000 US Dollars.
Unfortunately after the Super Pole had been run, the qualifying results for Group 2 were amended. The fastest in this group, Robert Wickens (Team Autotecnica) was disqualified for a technical infringement and relegated to the back of the grid. Also disqualified was second placed Edoardo Piscopo (Autointernational SRL) for another technical infringement. His team has now lodged an appeal to the FIA and this allows him to keep his fastest time pending the outcome of this appeal. Piscopo was disqualified immediately following the session which meant the third driver in his group, Sebastien Buemi, was elevated to fastest and so competed in the Super Pole.
At the end of the one lap shoot out Hülkenberg's quickest time was 1min 28.161secs and he commented: "My lap was not perfect as I missed my braking point into the first corner and was not on the ideal line, but at the end it was enough to get me in front of Buemi. My car is quite good with a good balance and so I am satisfied with that. There are a lot of guys with very close times and on the long straight there should be a lot of slip streaming. I think we will have some good races. To win would mean a lot as it is the first World Final, all the four BMW series have come together and to be the best would be special."
When Group 1 qualifying began it was soon obvious this would be a battle between the drivers from the German series. Nicolas Hülkenberg (Josef Kaufmann Racing) set the pace in the first part of the 30 minute session, but then with just over nine minutes to go Portugal's João Urbano (ASL Team Mücke-Motorsport) went to the top of the times. Eventually after 7 minutes 20 seconds the German driver set his time of 1min 27.171secs and that was never bettered.
While it was Italy's Edoardo Piscopo (Eurointernational SRL) who was the first driver in Group 2 to break the one minute twenty seven second barrier, it was again his fellow Formula BMW USA Championship driver, Canada's Robert Wickens (Team Autotecnica), who was setting the pace. He went top halfway through the session and remained there, setting his best time with just over eight minutes to go although this has now been disallowed and he will start from the back of the grid.
The situation is now that Hülkenberg will be on pole for Group A followed by the odd numbers in his Group 1, Edoardo Piscopo will be on pole for Group B followed by the odd numbers in his Group 2, Marco Holzer will be on pole for Group C followed by the even numbers in his Group 1 and Sebastien Buemi will be on pole for Group D followed by the even numbers in his Group 2.
Qualifying Results - Group 11 Nicolas Hülkenberg (GER) (Josef Kaufmann Racing) 1:27.171 2 Marco Holzer (GER) (AM-Holzer Rennsport GmbH) 1:27.282 3 João Urbano (POR) (ASL Team Mücke-Motorsport) 1:27.373 4 Sam Bird (GBR) (Fortec Motorsport) 1:27.712 5 Jonathan Summerton (GBR) (ASL Team Mücke-Motorsport) 1:27.825 6 Stian Sørlie (NOR) (Fortec Motorsport) 1:27.961 7 Nathan Antunes (AUS) (Motaworld Racing) 1:28.006 8 Dominik Wasem (GER) (AM-Holzer Rennsport-GmbH) 1:28.0879 Oliver Turvey (GBR) (Team SWR) 1:28.122 10 Stefano Coletti (MON) (ASL Team Mücke-Motorsport) 1:28.202 11 Race Johnson (USA) (Meritus) 1:28.212 12 Reed Stevens (USA) (Meritus) 1:28.382 13 Jordan Wise (GBR) (Motaworld Racing) 1:28.465 14 Jack Goldstraw (GBR) (Team SWR) 1:28.873 15 James Davison (AUS) (Meritus) 1:28.888 16 Christian Vietoris (GER) (Josef Kaufmann Racing) 1:28.950 17 Matt Harris (GBR) (Team SWR) 1:29.058
Qualifying Results - Group 21 Edoardo Piscopo (ITA) (Eurointernational SRL) 1:27.402 2 Sebastien Buemi (SUI) (ASL Team Mücke-Motorsport) 1:27.452 3 Matt Howson (GBR) (Filsell Motorsport) 1:27.638 4 Ross Curnow (GBR) (Nexa Racing) 1:27.810 5 Matt Lee (USA) (Team Autotecnica) 1:27.834 6 Hamad Al Fardan (BRN) (Meritus) 1:27.986 7 Armaan Ebrahim (IND) (Team E-Rain) 1:28.005 8 Euan Hankey (GBR) (Nexa Racing) 1:28.060 9 Tobias Hegewald (GER) (ASL Team Mücke-Motorsport) 1:29.123 10 Harald Schlegelmilch (LAT) (4speedmedia GmbH) 1:28.209 11 Dean Smith (GBR) (Coles Racing) 1:28.391 12 Philip Glew (GBR) (Promatecme/Soper Sport) 1:28.434 13 Fabio Onidi (ITA) (ASL Team Mücke-Motorsport) 1:28.455 14 Salman Al Khalifa (BRN) (Team E-Rain) 1:28.495 15 Robert T. Boughey (THA) (Meritus) 1:28.756 16 Jonathan Legris (GBR) (Mark Burdett Motorsport) 1:28.901 17 Andzej Dzikevic (LTU) (4speedmedia GmbH) 1:29.270 18 Robert Wickens (CAN)(Team Autotecnica) Disallowed
World Final Timetable and Format Thursday, 15 December 08.05 - Heat 1 - Groups A and B - 15 laps/25 mins 08.50 - Heat 2 - Groups C and D - 15 laps/25 mins 10.35 - Heat 3 - Group A and C - 15 laps/25 mins 11.20 - Heat 4 - Groups B and D - 15 laps/25 mins 13.05 - Heat 5 - Groups A and D - 15 laps/25 mins 13.50 - Heat 6 - Groups B and C - 15 laps/25 mins
Friday, 16. December 10.20 - Pre-Final - All competitors - 22 laps/35 mins 15.15 - Formula BMW World Final - All competitors - 25 laps/45 mins
The event will include qualifying, six heats, a Pre-Final and the Final itself - a format that gives a quick driver who hits problems in a heat every chance to make amends in time to make waves in the Final.
At the start of the meeting, each driver will be allocated to one of two groups for practice and qualifying sessions. The fastest driver in each qualifying group will then go into a Super Pole shoot-out. The winner of that will start all three of his heats from pole. The drivers are divided into four groups for the six heats according to their qualifying positions within each of the original two groups. By the end of the six heats, each driver will have raced three times and each group will have raced against each of the other groups.
Heat winners gain zero points, with the rest scoring in accordance with their position: second receives two points, third three, and so on. All drivers qualify directly in the Pre-Final. The grid for this race will be determined according to the driver's scores from the heat results. The driver with the lowest score will take the pole position. The Pre-Final will give all the drivers who had bad luck in their heats the chance to move up the grid for the Final, as the finishing order of the Pre-Final will set the grid for the Final
