Harper takes Q3 at ETS Italy
Having shown strong form with a P4 in the opening qualifier but spun off in Q2, Elliott Harper would deliver a TQ run in the penultimate qualifier at ETS Italy. The Schumacher driver, who had the advantage of being on new tyres, would top the times from Q1 & 2 pace setter Bruno Coelho with both drivers the only ones to manage 19-laps. Selecting Q3 to run his second set of tyres, Marc Rheinard would complete the Top 3 but the German was frustrated at being caught out by the track’s infamous bump. Ronald Volker would opt to do a third run on his first set of tyres but after 6-laps chose to pull off saying there was ‘no point’ and it was ‘better to save the car’ for Q4 when he will run his second set of the handout Volante tyres.
‘That was pretty good’ was how Harper summed up his TQ run. The British driver continued, ‘I crashed in the last one when I was on old tyres but we made small changes to the diff and it turned out to be really good’. Currently sitting second in the qualification ranking he said, ‘Ronald has new tyres so I expect him to jump me but 3rd is still good for the final’. The most competitive the multiple World Championship finalist has been for quite some time, he said, ‘Its nice to be back racing at the front. We have worked hard the last few months to close the gap to the other teams. I’m running a standard car and we have worked a lot on improving the set-up, we have made a few big steps forward this weekend’.
‘That piece of shit jump killed me’, was Rheinard’s reaction to Q3. The Infinity driver continued, ‘it sent me flying off but luckily it kept on the asphalt and not the grass. Every lap your thinking I hope I make it through’. With the flip damaging his front tyres and a similar high speed mistake in Q2 damaging the front tyres of his first set of tyres, the 4-time World Champion will run the final qualifying with rear tyres from both sets on his car with him clearly frustrated at the prospects of lining up fourth on tomorrow’s A-Main grid.
Rheinard’s team-mate Jilles Groskamp would enjoy his best run so far with a P4 for the round. The Dutch ace said, ‘That went quite well. I think I can tell you my secret that I run fresh rears and old fronts. I tried this in practice and it was closer to fresh tyres than running in used. I move the rear to the front and then put the new set on the back. It very stable and while not the fastest at the start its good at the finish. I wanted to try it in Madrid but didn’t because I wasn’t so sure but its worked out good here. I will have the same for the last qualifier (old fronts/new rears) so hopefully it will help me gain some spots on the grid’.
Locking himself into his first A-Main appearance this season and not having to depend on the result of his final qualifier as he did at the World Championships, Viktor Wilck was pleased with his P4 for the round but less happy with his car. Making a diff change on his Serpent he said, ‘it didn’t help, it was even worse and had more understeer. The car now pushes too much into the corner’. Running on new tyres, having sat out Q1 to save tyres, the Swede said, because I was on new tyres I had to drive safe but its good to be back in the A-Main’. For the final qualifier he will go back to his Q2 diff set-up and make other changes to his Project 4X to try get more steering. Behind Wilck, Tim Wahl would complete the Top 6 ahead of Freddy Sudhoff and Meen Vejrak.
In Pro Stock Martin Hofer became the third different driver to TQ in as many rounds. The Yokomo driver set a new fastest TQ time in front of Q2 winner Mattia Collina and Q1 pace setter Max Mächler. In Formula, Serpent’s David Ehrbar would double up to post his second TQ run in front of Jan Ratheisky and Olivier Bultynck.
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