Alex Yoong Imola Qualifying Report

Imola, San Marino -- Saturday, 23rd Oct 1999 -- Malaysia's Alex Yoong has qualified seventh out of 19 competitors in the final round of the Italian F3000 Championship in his first visit to the Imola circuit at San Marino today.

Alex clocked 2m 9.897s in the 30 minutes session run in wet conditions but he was disappointed he had to abort the last flying lap in the dying minutes due to a car spinning in front of him.

"After the session my on board computer's telemetry showed that I was on the way to a front row on the grid before I aborted that last lap. The track at that time was rapidly drying and most of those who qualified in front of me had their last lap as their best lap." Said Alex.

However, Alex is unperturbed to give a good account of himself in tomorrow's race at the 4.950km Imola F1 Circuit, "I hope that it'll be wet for the race as it will give me a better chance. Top six is what I'm aiming for but if it rains, I'll be in line for a repeat of my podium finish achieved in the Italian F3000 round in Donnington Park earlier this year."

Ireland's Dino Morelli grabbed pole for the Coloni team with Tomas Biaggi of Italy second and Denmark's Kristian Kolby third.

Alex's Monaco Motorsport's team mate, Marco Apicella qualified fifth while Indonesia's Ananda Mikola was 16th. The Imola circuit is the eight F1 circuit that Alex has now gained valuable experience on for his FIA International F3000 first full season next year. The other 7 circuits which host the 10 round International F3000 rounds in support of the European F1 rounds that Alex has now gained experience in are Spa Francorpchamps, Hungaroring, Austrian A1 Ring, Silverstone, Barcelona, Nurburgring, and Hockenheim.

The Monaco and Barcelona circuits remain the only two F1 circuits that Alex has yet to race on.