Difficult qualifying session for HRT at home race
Karun Chandhok and Bruno Senna qualified their Hispania Racing, HRT F1 Team cars 23rd and 24th respectively for tomorrow’s European Grand Prix at the Valencia Street Circuit. Both drivers were able to run faster than in yesterday´s sessions and improved their times.
Karun Chandhok did a best lap time of 1.42.600 and Bruno Senna clocked a best time of 1.42.851. Before, in this morning’s third and last practice session, the Spanish team ran 37 more laps through the streets of Valencia without any problems.
Dr Colin Kolles, Team Principal: “We expected more than the result we did today. Even if we could fix the problems we had on both cars yesterday, unfortunately, we couldn’t perform as well as we did in the races before. The lap times of the new teams are close and if you do a small mistake on a street circuit like this, you get pushed back on the grid. But we will be well prepared for tomorrow’s race and we hope to fight for positions with the other teams again. ”
Karun Chandhok, Race driver #20: “I am very pleased with how it went today. We had a far more productive practice session this morning and played a lot with the electronic settings on my car which was very useful for qualifying. My fastest lap was pretty good - it's never neat and tidy around here but I think I got the maximum from the car this afternoon. The temperature is expected to be quite high again tomorrow so it will be a tough race for the cars, tyres and drivers. Our race pace has generally been good so I am looking forward to a long race tomorrow.”
Bruno Senna, Race driver #21: “It was a difficult qualifying session today when the track improved a bit. But I didn’t get my lap together and I lost a lot of time. Unfortunately, I couldn’t end up with a better result than this. But it is going to be a long race tomorrow and I hope to do a better job then.”
