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 Extremely
high temperatures welcomed the Spanish Formula 3 Championship at
the circuit of Valencia after the summer break. Borja Garcia, racing
on his home track, qualified for pole position for race one and
second place for the starting grid of race two. Steven Kane, for
the first time racing at the circuit of Valencia, marked the fourth
fastest lap times in both qualifying sessions. Maria de Villota
will start tomorrow’s two races from position fourteen and
sixteenth.
Qualifying 1:
Racing Engineering’s Borja Garcia started the first qualifying
session on new tires and being on his home track, quickly took first
position. Halfway through the session Borja pitted to pick up another
set of new tires when he dropped down the timetable. This once again
allowed him to take pole position for Sunday’s first race with
a lap time of 1’30.346 and a time gap of 0.258 to his championship
rival Giao.
Steven Kane also started qualifying on used tires and kept an excellent
second position for the first half of the session. Not being so
happy with his second set of tires, Steven felt the car unbalanced.
Nevertheless, the young Irish driver recorded the fourth fastest
lap time with 1’31.225 during his first outing on the circuit
of Valencia.
Maria de Villota, being very motivated after the summer break, was
in twelfth position when she spun off the track and did not have
another chance to improve her lap time. Maria will start the first
race from fourteenth position.
Qualifying
2:
After dominating the first qualifying session, Borja Garcia was
also the frontrunner for the second session. Marking incredible
lap times with used tires, Borja came into the pits after only fifteen
minutes of the thirty-minute qualifying session with a comfortable
time gap of over a second between him and the rest of the field.
Borja’s fantastic lap time of 1’30.212 with used tires
was worth pole position until the very last minute of the qualifying
session when Giao set a time of 1’30.081 on new tires. Borja
will thus start second for the second race.
Steven Kane, being very confident with his car, was in the top positions
throughout the entire second qualifying session. His constant performance
was rewarded with another fourth position on the starting grid.
However, after the technical inspection of his car, there were only
3.5 liters instead of 4 liters of gasoline in his tank. With that
Steven has had his times disqualified and will start the second
race from the back of the grid.
Maria de Villota faced a very disappointing second qualifying session
and her fighting qualities will be in demand when she goes into
tomorrow’s second race from sixteenth position.
Alfonso
de Orleans, Racing Engineering’s president concluded the day
stating, “A day with a lot of mixed emotions. On one hand we
are happy about Borja’s pole position, but it was clear that
he would have easily made pole for the second race with new tires.
But being home I am convinced he will go for both victories tomorrow.
Steven did a great job. It is his first time at this track and he
was up there fighting against drivers who raced here many times
before. Nevertheless I am not at all happy about his disqualification
in the second qualifying and would like to put this mistake behind
us. Starting from the back of the field is twice as bad as Steven
was very confident with his car and his times showed how competitive
he is.”
Qualifying 1:
1. Borja Garcia (Racing Engineering), 1’30.346
2. Manuel Giao (GTA Motor Competicion), 1’30.604
3. Alvaro Barba Lopez (Adrian Campos Motorsport), 1’30.894
4. Steven Kane (Racing Engineering), 1’31.225
5. Dani Martin (Adrian Campos Motorsport), 1’31.406
6. Ricardo Risatti (IGI Tec-Auto), 1’31.454
7. Marco Barba (GTA Motor Competicion), 1’31.508
8. Javier Villa Garcia (JV Racing – Elide), 1’31.516
9. Andy Soucek (EV Racing), 1’31.545
10. Ferdinand Kool (IGI Tec-Auto), 1’31.607
15. Maria de Villota (Racing Engineering), 1’31.976
Qualifying
2 * :
1. Manuel Giao (GTAMotor Competicion), 1’30.081
2. Borja Garcia (RacingEngineering), 1’30.212
3. Alvaro Barba Lopez(Adrian Campos Motorsport), 1’30.268
4. Dani Martin (AdrianCampos Motorsport), 1’30.887
5. Sergio Hernandez(Adrian Campos Motorsport), 1’30.962
6. Roldan Rodriguez(Adrian Campos Motorsport), 1’31.165
7. Alejandro Nuñez(Meycom Sport), 1’31.185
8. Ricardo Risatti(IGI Tec-Auto), 1’31.192
9. Marco Barba (GTAMotor Competicion), 1’31.346
10. Javier Villa Garcia (JV Racing-Elide), 1’31.391
16. Maria de Villota (Racing Engineering), 1’31.698
19. Steven Kane (Racing Engineering), 1’30.771
* Results
pending of official confirmation
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