Spa, Belgium – August 17, 2007. A stunning lap by
Fairuz Fauzy netted the Malaysian his first ever pole position
at Spa-Francorchamps for the latest round of World Series
by Renault 3.5. The 24-year-old punched the air with delight
as he stepped out of his Cram Competition machine, knowing
he’ll head the field in Saturday’s 20-lap encounter.
“I’m so happy to get my first pole, I couldn’t
ask for anymore,” beamed Fairuz. “It was so
important, after being quickest in testing yesterday, that
we maintained the pace into qualifying. We’ve proved
that and I have to thank my team, Cram, for such a great
car.”
Qualifying at the legendary Belgian circuit was tricky,
as the track was still damp from a typical Ardennes rain
shower. The first 20 minutes session of qualifying was
still wet, but when Fairuz appeared in the second period
the circuit was dry enough for slick rubber. He set the
quickest time on his second set of tyres, to guarantee
the four championship points that are awarded for pole
position.
“It was very difficult, because of the conditions
on the track,” explained Fairuz. “You needed
to ensure you braked at exactly the right point and didn’t
go off line as it was very easy to lose control on the
wet part of the circuit.”
An early red-flag thwarted the Malaysian’s first
attempt in qualifying, but after returning to the pits
for new tyres, he lapped the Belgian circuit at a blistering
pace, setting his best time, a 2m 03.224s lap to secure
pole position. Clivio Piccione was the next quickest driver,
just +0.048s slower than Fairuz!
“After the podium in Hungaroring, to get my first
pole shows that we’ve got a lot of momentum going
into the race. It’s fantastic to get rid of the problems
and back luck which affected the start of our season and
now we can focus on getting a good result in the race.
I just need to make a clean start and stay out of trouble,” added
Fairuz. “It shouldn’t be a problem, I just
have to make sure the pit stop and the weather don’t
prevent us from getting a good result.”
Fairuz lines up alongside the fastest driver from the
first qualifying session, Alvaro Barba on the front row
of Saturday’s 20-lap race, which starts at 1555 local
time.
Top three times - Spa:
1 Fairuz Fauzy (MAL), Cram Competition, 2m 03.224s
2 Clivio Piccione (MON), RC Motorsport, 2m 03.272s +0.048s
3 Bertrand Baguette (FRA), KTR, 2m 03.727s +0.503s
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