Fuente: © Renault F1 Team (English)
http://www.renaultf1.com/

FORMULA 1 - RENAULT: Loïc Duval takes pole in Macau

RDD driver Loïc Duval has taken pole position for the qualifying race of the 2005 running of the Macau Grand Prix, in a thrilling final qualifying session. Loïc’s fellow RDD member Lucas DiGrassi will start 4th on the grid.

/noticias.info/ This Sunday, Macau, China, will be the venue of the world’s most prestigious Formula 3 race. This intercontinental Formula 3 Cup represents the season highlight for the international Formula 3 scene. The Da Guia street circuit is one of the most challenging tracks in the world with fast sections followed by almost 90 degree, rectangular shaped corners that have to be driven at pedestrian speed. In the past, a row of household names-to-be, such as Ayrton Senna (1983), Michael Schumacher (1990), David Coulthard (1991), Ralf Schumacher (1995) and Takuma Sato (2001) have won the race.

For this year’s edition, Frenchman Loïc Duval and Brazilian Lucas DiGrassi, both members of the Renault Driver Development squad – who finished 6th and 3rd respectively of the Formula 3 Euro Series 2005 championship - will be aiming to add their names to the illustrious list of winners of this highly prestigious race.

In today’s eventful qualifying session, Loïc took pole position with 11 minutes remaining. The session was red flagged four times as other drivers struggled to master the course, but the Frenchman, making his second appearance in the event, made no mistakes to take his ASM car to his first Macau pole.

“I’m truly delighted with my pole position,” commented Loïc, “although pole isn’t ideal here in Macau as you don’t enjoy a slipstream on the long straight. It was a very difficult session, with a lot of traffic. I have to admit that my free lap, during which I set the fastest time, wasn’t perfect, but I’m confident for tomorrow’s race. I’ve always enjoyed street circuits and I know I can aim for a good performance.”

In the meantime, Lucas DiGrassi set the second fastest lap of the session for Manor Motorsport in the dying minutes of final qualifying. Lucas will start from fourth position however, as he was penalised for failing to slow for yellow flags after Joao Paolo de Oliveira crashed. The stewards decided to delete Lucas’ two fastest laps as a consequence.

“I had just two free laps during the course of the qualifying session,” Lucas said afterwards. “The first one was early in the session and the second one in the closing stages… but only the latter worked fine. Off course, I’m disappointed after losing my two best lap times. However, I’m still starting from the first two rows which is important here, as this offers you the chance of being on top following turn one. Hopefully, I will make a great start tomorrow and gain positions before the first corner. Then, we’ll see what happens after that!” notas_de_prensa_archivo