Hamon TQs Q3 after Catanzani penalised for track limits
Jeff Hamon has taken the TQ for the third round of qualifying at the 1:8 GT World Championship but only after a post race time penalty was applied to his Serpent team-mate Andrea Catanzani for track limits. Having run out of fuel while on a TQ run in the opening qualifier this morning, and then suffering a flame out in Q2, Catanzani looked to bring the first day of qualifying in Sydney to a close by finally delivering a TQ run. Given a warning during the qualifier about track limits, later in the heat the Italian was called to serve a drive through penalty but didn’t have time to serve it. Crossing the line as the TQ, it initially looked like the result would stand but a protest was made and some time later he was informed he would have 3-seconds added to his time dropping him behind Hamon. While his team argued that the track limits rule was nothing they had come across before, and was something more applicable to Formula 1, they had no grounds to appeal the penalty. In all the drama it was top be a very good round for defending Champion Joern Neumann as the Sworkz driver posted the third fastest time ahead of Alex D’angelo and Natanaele Senesi. Having TQ’d the first two rounds, Toni Gruber would get 6th for the round having opted to go with used tyres.
Summing up his Q3 as a ‘solid run’ not knowing yet it was to become a TQ run, Hamon said, ‘we still need to make improvements’. On new tyres for the qualifier, he said ‘I am happy we made run time easily and I’m also happy Toni didn’t TQ.’ Trying to gather information on what his rivals are doing in terms of tyre strategy, the Australian said he might have to look at adapting what the Italian’s are doing by running a mixture of new rears and used fronts.
Clearly frustrated by the penalty, speaking before he had been informed of the decision, Catanzani was pleased to finally go the distance and still have a fast car. The European Championship Top Qualifier said the track was not as fast as the first qualifier but running a different Gimar engine for Q3 the run time was now good although his mechanic Joaquin De Soto cautioned it was always going to be close to the limit here with fuel. Looking to Day 2 of qualifying, the 18-year-old is confident he can fight for overall TQ over the remaining three rounds, each drivers best 3 from 6 to count.
Asked if he had finally found a competitive set-up after setting the third fastest time, Neumann replied, ‘We will see tomorrow. We thought before it was good and then we struggled in the first two qualifiers. Hopefully now it will stay good.’ Asked what he had done to find the improvement in form, the German said, ‘we made a lot of changes so I don’t know which one gave the biggest improvement’. Adjusting the ackerman, the wheelbase of the car and the front diff, which combined gave him a more stable rear allowing him to push much harder, he said a manifold change had made his engine more aggressive which was also a positive for his driving style.
Describing his Q3 performance as ‘OK’ having opened the day with a P2 and P3, D’angelo said ‘when it is hot our car works a lot better, when the temperature is low we have less grip’. Opting for new rear and used front tyres for the run, the Genius Racing driver said he has been managing his tyres so as to save them for tomorrow with the aim of gaining places in the final qualification ranking list.
Running at the top of the timing screen for much of the day’s final qualifier, Senesi said it was going good but he suffered super high tyre wear and towards the end of the 7-minutes he started to lose steering and that dropped him to 5th. On for a good time in the opening qualifier he would run out of fuel but making a manifold change and adjusting his radio settings he said the run time was now good. With a P4 in Q2, the Xray driver said he needs another good round and the goal now is on making it into Super Pole.
Always up against it on used tyres, selecting the best tyres from the two sets he used to TQ the opening two rounds, Gruber was happy with his day overall. The Hong Nor driver said, ‘we saw in the final practice our pace is good and we managed to carry that into qualifying. I learnt from Q1 and controlled myself in Q2. I think now Q4 is an important one.’ The only driver to run 24-laps, the German has the advantage of the tie breaker but his intentions are not to need to call on that by delivering a third TQ run in the morning.