EU: Series Hockenheimring qualifying report

Frijns and Kvyat take pole and top Rookie slots.

Hockeneim, 23 July 2010. Robin Frijns (NL/Josef Kaufmann Racing) took his first pole of the year in what was also the most difficult qualifying session so far in 2010. The uncertain wet/dry conditions caught many drivers out, but at the end of the 25 minutes Jack Harvey (GB/Fortec Motorsports) was second by two thousandths of a second, Timmy Hansen (SE/Mucke Motorsport) was third by another small margin and Daniil Kvyat (RU/Eurointernational) was the quickest Rookie for the first time.

When the cars went out on the track only five drivers Maciej Bernacik (PL/Mucke Motorsport), Hansen, Fahmi Ilyas (MY/DAMS), Côme Ledogar (FR/Eifelland Racing) and Javier Tarancon (FR/DAMS) took the gamble to start on slicks on a damp, but drying track.

The first of the `wet' brigade to change was Frijns after going top of the leader board on his first flying lap. Gradually all the rest came in with Harvey being one of the last after three flying laps on the slicks. The times tumbled with the first lap by Frijns being 1:55.626, compared to his pole time of 1:48.666.

There were many excursions, but there was only one that ended with a badly damaged car. That was with just over two minutes to go when Ilyas spun and hit a wall. He damaged his rear wing and the left rear suspension.

Pole Rounds 9 and 10: Robin Frijns (NL/Josef Kaufmann Racing): "Finally a P1 in qualifying. It was a tricky qualifying session . I told the team on the radio I would do one lap on wet tyres in case it rained. I then put the dry set on and was really quick. The car was okay and I had a lot of fun on the track. There was only one line for driving and if you were 20cm off the line you spun or went off. For the race finally being on pole I hope I can drive away from Jack and score some points for the championship. For me it doesn't really matter if it rains for the race."

Second Round 9 Fourth Round 10: Jack Harvey (GB/Fortec Motorsports):"That was probably the most diffiuclt session in terms of track conditions this year, as it was pretty dry in some areas and pretty wet in others. We gambled and went out on wets to start with, while some others went out on slicks. I am very close to pole so I cannot complain too much and I even had to overtake my team-mate on the wettest part of the track on my best lap. We shall just have to see what it is like tomorrow ."

Third Round 9 Sixth Round 10: Timmy Hansen (SE/Mucke Motorsport): "Finally after the two bad races in Valencia and Silverstone I am back doing well, which is really good. It was really, really tight as it is just three hundredths up to the pole in these conditions, and that proves it is a really competitive series. We decided on the lap to the pit lane to go out on slicks. I was looking at the track and so said we would take the slick tyres. I think it was a good decision becasue I got a bit more practice on them. The problem for me was I made too many mistakes on the second set of tyres, so I only got one very good lap and there were also yellow flags."

Top Rookie Fifth Round 9 Second Round 10: Daniily Kvyat (RU/Eurointernational): "It was quite okay, but I could have done much better. When I went out on the slicks I felt I could fight for pole, and until the last lap I was second, but found a lot of traffic on it so could not improve my time. I was very fast in the first and last sectors, but there were very extreme conditions in the second sector as it was still very wet. So on the braking people like Robin and Jack, who have a lot more experience of Formula BMW, had more feeling for the car there. Now I shall work with my engineer for a good set up on my car for the race. "

The grid positions for race one are determined by each driver's quickest time in qualifying, while each driver's second quickest time is taken to set the grid for race two. The first of the 13 lap races round the 4.574 kilometre Hockenheim circuit will be on Saturday at 09.45 and the second on Sunday at 08.30. All times are local CET.

-source: fbmw