Barcelona, Spain – October, 27 2007. Malaysia’s
Fairuz Fauzy just missed out on the chance to take pole
position for the final World Series Renault 3.5 race of
the year. Fairuz finished 12th in race one on Saturday,
but with the first ten finishing positions reversed for
race two, he missed the cut by just two places.
Unusually for Fairuz, the Cram Competition driver was
hampered in qualifying by treacherous weather conditions.
The rain in combination with problems getting heat into
his tyres, forced the Malaysian to start from the tenth
row of the grid at Barcelona, in the Renault World Series
season finale.
Prior to Saturday’s wet-qualifying session, Fairuz
had been quick in Friday’s two 45-minute collective
testing practice sessions, setting the pace early on. The
first period started on a damp track, following early morning
rain, but a dry line quickly emerged. Fairuz set the fifth
quickest time after 15 laps, with a 1m 37.151s. The sun
appeared for the second session, but was red-flagged following
a crash for Richard Philippe. Fairuz was ninth fastest,
up to four seconds fastest quicker than in the morning,
setting a best time of 1m 33.808s.
Fairuz was out in Group A on Saturday morning, but the
rain made the grand prix circuit extremely difficult and
it was a challenge to master the slippery conditions at
the Circuit de Catalunya venue. “We just couldn’t
find the right balance with the tyres in qualifying despite
running a full wet set-up on the car,” explained
Fairuz. “It was a bit of a lottery out there and
although the track was getting quicker towards the end
of the session, I couldn’t seem to get the temperatures
up in the wet tyres to give me the grip I needed to set
a competitive lap. Then we just seemed to run out of time.”
But a forceful drive from the tenth row of the grid saw
the 22-year-old scythe through the field. He made his mandatory
stop as soon as the pitlane opened (on lap five) and spent
the majority of the race duelling with Alejandro Nunez.
On the final lap Davide Valsecchi made contact with Filipe
Albuquerque and two places were up for grabs. Fairuz took
advantage, but finally it was Nunez that secured tenth
place – which gives him pole for race two tomorrow
(because of the reverse grid rule). The Malaysian rued
how close he came to securing that position.
“I know that mid-race if I’d managed to overtaken
Nunez, I could have started from pole position in the final
race of the year,” he said. “It’s a shame
that we just couldn’t make it, but that’s the
story of motor racing, one mistake can make or break a
race. The aim tomorrow is just to keep out of trouble,
as there will be a lot of action in the final race of the
year and I just want to secure more points.”
The final World Series by Renault race takes place at
1300 local time at the grand prix circuit of Barcelona.
Results – race one
1 Miguel Molina (Pons Racing) 26 laps in 42m 09.242s
2 Salvador Duran (Interwetten.com) +1.144s
3 Alvaro Parente (Tech 1 Racing) +9.033s
12 Fairuz Fauzy (Cram Competition) +32.895s
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