Speedcar: Series Bahrain II qualifying notes

Herbert takes final qualifying session of the season

It was an exciting final qualifying session for the season, as Johnny Herbert stormed to the top of the times with only three minutes remaining. Despite a successful outcome, the F1 ace fought hard to get to the top spot with old rival and friend Jean Alesi dominating most of the 45 minute qualifying.

New drivers Azzam, Cioci and Giudici started the session by taking advantage of series' veterans Gianni Morbidelli and Vitantonio Liuzzi, as they tried to follow their path. It wasn't long though before the newcomers fell back giving Morbidelli an early lead and placing him at the top of the times.

With twenty minutes remaining Heinz Harald Frenzten was unusually, nowhere to be seen, and appeared to be struggling with set-up problems. The German pushed as hard as he could and was looking to top the times, when he ran wide and almost lost control on the final turn. Not one to give up, Frentzen continued to complete a second consecutive flying lap and his hard work paid off when he posted the second quickest time of the session.

With Herbert and Frentzen in the lead, it was Alesi who was looking to take pole position away in the final few minutes, but with the clock ticking disaster struck and a technical issue forced Alesi to pull off and bring his car to a halt on the side of the circuit.

The qualifying session timings are as follows: <pre> Qualifying Session Official Classification

Pos Driver Team Laps Time / Gap 1 J. Herbert JMB 13 2:07.095 2 H. Frentzen Continental Circus 14 0.053 3 J. Alesi HPR 16 0.144 4 V. Liuzzi UP Team 12 0.471 5 G. Morbidelli Palm Racing 16 0.643 6 D. Pasini JMB 10 1.214 7 C. Zoechling Continental Circus 14 1.369 8 D. Terrien West Tec 9 1.463 9 H. Al Maktoum UP Team 18 1.504 10 C. Buncombe West Tec 17 1.527 11 M. Lee HPR 13 1.595 12 T. Biagi Palm Racing 18 1.838 13 N. Navarro Durango 16 2.206 14 R. Azzam Scuderia Giudici 17 3.154 15 M. Cioci Durango 17 4.444 16 G. Giudici Scuderia Giudici 17 6.304 </pre>

Race 1 to be held tomorrow morning will begin at 9:30am local time

-credit: speedcarseries