Today’s qualifying for round three of the championship took place in the morning on the streets of Monte Carlo.It was Alan van der Merwe’s first visit to this demanding circuit so he used the thirty-minute practice session to learn the track.He finished twelfth at the end of the practice session with teammate Patrick Friesacher in sixth.Towards the end of the forty-minute qualifying session Patrick was lying in seventh position until the last minute when he moved up to sixth.Alan’s highest position in the session was seventh before ending up on tenth position on the grid for tomorrow’s 45-lap race.Fortunately both Super Nova cars returned to the paddock unscathed.
Championship leader Vitantonio Liuzzi took pole ahead of Enrico Toccacelo and Jose Maria Lopez.
Patrick Friesacher 1:26.656 (P6)
“Everything was quite alright on the first set of tyres in qualifying, we had a really good balance and we were fourth but when we changed to the second set, the front tyres didn’t want to come in and this normally happens immediately.I’m a little bit disappointed with my position.”
Alan van der Merwe 1:27.364 (P10)
“It was ok, unfortunately I didn’t improve on my time on the second set of tyres but that’s what it’s like here and at the end everyone starts crashing.I have to keep my nose clean in the race and hopefully make up some positions.Kiesa won the race from sixth here last year so anything is possible.”
Team Principal – David Sears
“After the last race at Barcelona the Super Nova team were really looking forward to a good qualifying session in Monaco.However Patrick Friesacher who was looking good for fourth place slipped to sixth, finding no grip on the last set of tyres and Alan van der Merwe ended up tenth, obviously having to learn the circuit but both cars stayed in one piece whereas many others hit the unforgiving walls around the circuit.
As any street circuit such as Monaco the race is such a lottery and anything can happen and last year Nicolas Kiesa went on to win from sixth on the grid so the team is expecting both drivers to finish in the top six in tomorrow’s race.”
