GP2 ASIA NEWS

Autosport

Hulkenberg takes night race pole

By Matt Beer Thursday, February 12th 2009, 20:17 GMT


Nico Hulkenberg continued his excellent GP2 Asia qualifying form by taking pole position for the series' inaugural night race in Qatar.

Having started from pole on his GP2 debut at Sakhir last month, ART driver Hulkenberg grabbed the top spot again in the floodlit Losail session in the closing moments with a lap of 1:35.741.

That gave him first place by a commanding 0.7 seconds over Campos's Sergio Perez, who was victorious in the last race in Bahrain.

Perez's teammate Vitaly Petrov, who had led the way in first practice, ended up third having led the way for most of the session. The Russian was in front when iSport's Hamad Al Fardan spun into the gravel and caused a red flag with three and a half minutes to go, and when qualifying resumed for a final sprint, Petrov was shuffled down the order by Hulkenberg and Perez.

Championship leader Kamui Kobayashi (DAMS) grabbed fourth late in the session, ahead of Piquet's Roldan Rodriguez and Hulkenberg's ART teammate Sakon Yamamoto.

Pos Driver Team Time
1. Nico Hulkenberg ART 1:35.741
2. Sergio Perez Campos 1:36.464 + 0.723
3. Vitaly Petrov Campos 1:36.487 + 0.746
4. Kamui Kobayashi DAMS 1:36.525 + 0.784
5. Roldan Rodriguez Piquet 1:36.583 + 0.842
6. Sakon Yamamoto ART 1:36.667 + 0.926
7. Javier Villa Super Nova 1:36.685 + 0.944
8. Davide Valsecchi Durango 1:36.923 + 1.182
9. Edoardo Mortara Arden 1:36.987 + 1.246
10. Jerome d'Ambrosio DAMS 1:37.027 + 1.286
11. James Jakes Super Nova 1:37.274 + 1.533
12. Marco Bonanomi Meritus 1:37.328 + 1.587
13. Alvaro Parente Meritus 1:37.409 + 1.668
14. Diego Nunes Piquet 1:37.605 + 1.864
15. Fabrizio Crestani Ocean 1:37.752 + 2.011
16. Giedo van der Garde iSport 1:37.789 + 2.048
17. Michael Herck DPR 1:37.928 + 2.187
18. Giacomo Ricci DPR 1:38.069 + 2.328
19. Luiz Razia Arden 1:38.264 + 2.523
20. Davide Rigon Trident 1:38.320 + 2.579
21. Hamad Al Fardan iSport 1:38.383 + 2.642
22. Rodolfo Gonzalez Fisichella 1:38.384 + 2.643
23. Yelmer Buurman Ocean 1:38.453 + 2.712
24. Frankie Provenzano Trident 1:39.314 + 3.573
25. Michael Dalle Stelle Durango 1:41.623 + 5.882
26. Kevin Nai Chia Chen Fisichella 1:43.139 + 7.398


WRC NEWS.....



Petter Solberg wins opening superspecial in rally Norway with self run Citroen Xsara!!! Amazing.

By David Evans Thursday, February 12th 2009, 20:23 GMT


Petter Solberg has made a dream start to the Rally Norway, his first event with his own team, by winning the opening stage and leading his home round of the World Rally Championship in his private Citroen Xsara WRC.

In front of 20,000 of his cheering countryman at the Oslo superspecial, Solberg posted a time six tenths of a second faster than his nearest rival, Ford's Mikko Hirvonen.

This is the first time Solberg has led a rally since Jordan last year, where he set a joint fastest time in stage one, and is the first time in two years that he has led a rally on his own.

Solberg missed the opening round of the WRC in Ireland earlier this month after Subaru withdrew from the WRC, forcing him to establish his own team to run a 2006-specification Citroen.

Stepping from the Xsara, the delighted Solberg acknowledged the fans and said: "We're back in business! It's just like the old days. Now we'll see what we can do tomorrow."

The only drivers to suffer any problems on the opening stage were Citroen's Dani Sordo, who stalled on the start line, and former Suzuki factory driver P-G Andersson, who stalled his Skoda Fabia WRC in a hairpin. They lie sixth and 30th respectively.

Behind Solberg and Hirvonen, Sebastien Loeb (Citroen), Mads Ostberg (Adapta Subaru) and Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford) complete the initial top five.

Patrik Sandell made the perfect start to his career as a Red Bull Suzuki driver, posting the fastest Production class time in his Fabia S2000.

The main action gets underway from Hamar, north of Oslo, at 9am local time tomorrow.

Leading positions after SS1:

Pos Driver Car Time
1. Petter Solberg Citroen 1:32.8
2. Mikko Hirvonen Ford + 0.6
3. Sebastien Loeb Citroen + 0.7
4. Mads Ostberg Subaru + 1.2
5. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 2.3
6. Dani Sordo Citroen + 3.0
7. Urmo Aava Ford + 3.4
8. Henning Solberg Ford + 4.2
9. Matthew Wilson Ford + 4.7
10. Anders Grondal Subaru + 5.3