News

SC Corinthians starts from the pole-position at Magny Cours tomorrow

27/06/2009

Pizzonia, aged 28, set a time of 1min 26.555secs around the 4.41km Circuit de Nevers circuit in the final – 0.299-secs faster than Vallés (23) as the pair battled for supremacy at the culmination of the qualifying knock-out competition.

In semi-final one Pizzonia, who finished second in the final race of the SLF inaugural season, beat Craig Dolby's Tottenham Hotspur car despite a lock-up at the Adelaide hairpin when the Briton himself spun at Chateau d'Eau. In the second semi, Vallés swept aside Anderlecht (Yelmer Buurman) by eight-tenths.

French drivers Tristan Gommendy and Nelson Panciatici start the opening 45-minute race from sixth and 15th places respectively in their FC Porto and Olympique Lyonnais cars. Meanwhile defending Superleague Formula champion Davide Rigon (Italy) put the Olmpiacos car eighth on the grid while the AC Milan car of reigning GP2 champion Giorgio Pantano (Italy) starts from 16th place on the 18-car grid after failing to register a timed lap when his car suffered a gearbox gremlin.

Corinthians: Antonio Pizzonia (BRA)

“I knew it would be tough. I suffered problems with brake temperatures in my first runs but managed to sort it for the Final. I’m extremely happy for the [Alan Docking] team – they’ve worked very hard just to get the Corinthians car ready having got it just over a week ago. The last time I drove here was in 2003 so it took me sometime to remember the track. It’s a good start for us but this is only the start of the weekend and I hope I can keep up the momentum. Last year I was close to a couple of wins so hopefully I can win a race and fight for the championship.”

Liverpool FC: Adrian Vallés (SP)

“Qualifying was quite good.I was fastest in the semis – on ‘old’ tyres – the car was working well. In the final I struggled a little with tyre temperatures causing me to ‘lock up’ in many places but Antonio was very fast. Last year I won two races for Liverpool and I believe that I have a good and strong race car for tomorrow – hopefully it will be my hat-trick for the Reds!”

Anderlecht: Yelmer Buurman (NED)

“I struggled a little in free practice but once we had new tyres the car was good. The temperatures on the front tyres were not correct causing me to ‘lock up’ too easily and this problem ultimately caused me to go off in my quarter-final – just after the second chicane, I went wide and in to the dirt and the gravel – which I was mad about. But then I saw the FC Porto car going in to the pit-lane so I thought I’d better finish my lap despite my mistake. We were later told FC Porto had been disqualified so I was through to the semi against Spurs – I was lucky. We will make changes to improve the car overnight.”

Tottenham Hotspur: Craig Dolby (GB)

“Things had gone very well for me up until the semi-final when I spun. I’d actually backed off my speed because Antonio [Pizzonia] had outbraked himself in the Corinthians car. I braked early but the back end just snapped out and away from me. But these things happen and we have a very fast car for the race so I’m extremely optimistic for the races and we’re definitely in with a chance of scoring a win for Spurs.”