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| San Marino Grand Prix 17th-20th April - Tony Moffett Qualifying Report |
Length:
4.933 Km |
| An uneventful pre qualifying
session was conducted under bright sunny skies today at Imola, for
the Grand Prix of San Marino. The McLaren of Kimi Raikkonen was the
1st car to take to the track and set a time well over last year’s
pole time set by Michael Schumacher. David Coulthard followed but
was unable to top his teammate’s time. A fully recovered Fernando
Alonso in the Renault put himself into provisional 3rd but was bumped
by last race’s winner Giancarlo Fisichella in the Jordan. Jarno Trulli followed and ended the 1st round of running in the Renault with a provisional 5th. The next round of drivers consisted of the quicker men and the times fell as a result. Montoya in the Williams took pole by over .7 seconds and was then bumped by the 1st Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello. Next out was Michael Schumacher who set a time quicker than last year’s pole time, as did Barrichello but his time stood the test for pole. Ralf Schumacher is the next driver out and betters his teammate’s time taking 3rd, but falls short of brother Michael. The field is beginning to sort out by teams as we have seen so many times in the past. Heinz-Harold Frentzen places his Sauber into a solid 7th place ahead of the Renaults, for the time being. Jacques Villeneuve brought the 3rd group out in the BAR and set 5th fastest time. However his rival and teammate Jenson Button was next out and topped Villeneuve’s time taking 5th for himself. Nick Heidfeld was next out in the 2nd Sauber taking 12th slot. The order was changed when Jaguar’s Mark Webber took 5th place in another impressive run for the talented Australian. Toyota’s Cristiano Da Matta managed a 15th in a not so impressive effort that would eventually fall further back as the final drivers qualified. Ralph Firman in the 2nd Jordan did the save of the day when his car stepped out and he caught it in fine form. His effort resulted in a 17th grid position ahead of Da Matta. Jos Verstappen and Justin Wilson make up the final 2 positions in the Minardis. The pre qualifying line up is as follows. M Schumacher/Ferrari, Barrichello/Ferrari, R Schumacher/Williams, Montoya/Williams, Webber/Jaguar, Button/BAR, Villeneuve/BAR, Raikkonen/McLaren, Coulthard/McLaren, Frentzen/Sauber, Fisichella/Jordan, Panis/Toyota, Alonso/Renault, Heidfeld/Sauber, Pizzonia/Jaguar, Trulli/Renault, Firman/Jordan, Da Matta/Toyota, Verstappen/Minardi and Wilson/Minardi. The Tifosi were treated to a fine home performance and hopefully this will translate into good final grid positions and podium finishes Sunday. Article by: Tony Moffett
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