A1 Team Malaysia has taken its first Sprint race pole of the 2006/07 season showing the rookies who topped the morning practice session that experience pays when the pressure is on. Germany’s Christian Vietoris, competing in his first full race weekend qualified alongside Malaysia’s Alex Yoong on the front row of the grid, continuing the nation’s charge for the championship title.
After fixing the electronic failure that saw Malaysia retire early from the third practice session, Alex Yoong recorded the fastest lap in three of the four qualifying segments. He commented: ‘The car was very good. We struggled a little bit in the morning, but I think it is important that we didn’t panic. We thought it was the tyres with them going off a little bit more than we expected but the car was very strong for qualifying. ‘
Talking about his race prospects, Yoong went on to say: ‘I am confident that tomorrow will be good. We did have concerns we were using the tyres too hard yesterday and this morning, we know what the problem is and we will fix it and the car will be fine tomorrow. ‘
For Germany’s Vietoris, who is stepping in while regular driver Nico Hülkenberg fulfils prior commitments elsewhere, the weekend has been a steep learning curve. ‘I have to work hard the whole weekend on the car and I have learn a lot now. Friday was a good day as we worked a lot on the car and I am happy with how the weekend has gone. We made some changes between sessions two and three and for qualifying four it was the best car, ’ he said.
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