Werner storms to pole at St. Petersburg

Marco Werner pushed almost too hard to claim the pole position for Saturday’s Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg. Moments after clocking his fastest lap, the German spun his Audi R10 TDI entering Turn 8. Escaping damage, Werner sat out the remainder of the 20-minute session. Despite facing a strong challenge from Penske Racing’s Romain Dumas, the Audi will lead the field to the green flag tomorrow.

Werner’s record-breaking lap time of 1:02.825 was 0.753 seconds quicker than the second-placed and LM P2 class polesitter Romain Dumas. The German’s lap could have been much quicker though if he hadn’t spun.

“I was pushing very hard on my hot lap and was two-tenths better than the qualifying lap,” Werner explained. “The Michelin tires were fantastic and I’m very happy with them. We had a little too much understeer and worked on the front for qualifying.”

A red flag for debris halted the field six minutes into the prototype qualifying session, moments after Werner’s spin. But unlike qualifying at the season-opening round at Sebring, this session resumed three minutes later. It provided the chance for others to knock Werner off the pole.

The closest challenge came from Dumas, who initially nursed his No. 7 Penske Racing Porsche RS Spyder onto the racetrack. The Frenchman’s day was also far from perfect, as he crashed into a LM GT2 Porsche in final practice. This sent the Penske squad into a mad scramble to repair the car, which suffered heavy rear suspension damage.

“The crew work was incredible,” Dumas said. “Even Tim Cindric and Roger Penske were in there helping the mechanics. I was afraid, but they made the repair on time. We did one lap to make sure everything was all right.”

After that, Dumas began ripping off quick laps, using every inch of the 14-turn, 1.8-mile street circuit. However, his best time of 1:03.578 posted on his fourth lap held as his quickest.

“For sure I was pushing because I wanted to catch Marco,” Dumas said. “The lap wasn’t bad and it’s possible we could do a little better. Last year I didn’t’ cross the start line first so I’m glad Marco is besides me so we can have a good start.”

« Ferraris fastest in Bahrain practice | Kubica bags Bahrain pole for BMW Sauber »

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Orlando Motors Sport üzerinde şu anda okumakta olduğunuz 'Werner storms to pole at St. Petersburg' isimli yazı 05 Apr 2008 tarihinde, saat: 03:49 'de admin tarafından gönderilmiş.

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