BMW Motorsport: ETCC Qualifying Anderstorp
BMW Corporate Communications 2003 European Touring Car Championship Rounds 13, 14 - 6/7 September, Anderstorp (Sweden) - QUALIFYING BMW drivers hope for a good Sunday Qualifying in Anderstorp produced disappointing grid positions for the BMW drivers with fourth for the BMW Team Deutschland 320i of Jörg Müller being the marque’s best result. However, the BMW Team Italy-Spain drivers, Fabrizio Giovanardi and Antonio Garcia were more competitive than in the recent races so they have reason to feel optimistic. Most disappointed driver of the day was Andy Priaulx (BMW Team Great Britain) who, despite help from Sweden's Fredrik Ekblom, who drove for the RBM team in 2002, qualified tenth. Positions for the BMW drivers are: 4th Jörg Müller, 5th Antonio Garcia, 7th Fabrizio Giovanardi, 9th Dirk Müller, 10th Andy Priaulx. BMW Team Deutschland - Schnitzer Motorsport - Charly Lamm: "It is good to be back in action after the long summer break. After today's qualifying we can see the championship is heating up. In that respect it was good Jörg qualified as the fastest BMW just behind the Alfa trio. We would also have expected Dirk to be further up the grid, but a mistake he made on his fastest lap put him back to ninth in this very tight competition." Dirk Müller (GER) (1m 39.981s) (carrying 40 kilos ballast): "At least I am in the top ten. I made a mistake as I pushed too hard on my second set of tyres and almost lost the car, so I am happy to managed to keep it on the track. I have a good race car so now we just have to see what we can do tomorrow." Jörg Müller (GER) (1m 39.590s) (carrying 20 kilos ballast): "On one hand I can be happy because I have the fastest BMW, but if you see the performance of the Alfa Romeos, especially Tarquini who is fighting with me for the Championship, it is going to be very difficult in the race. I have to take my advantage at the start and let’s hope I can get it." BMW Team Great Britain - RBM - Bart Mampaey: "First and second free practice went really well. We improved the car between the sessions and in the second one were fastest BMW. I am still a little bit surprised and shocked that we were not able to get a good starting position, as I really thought we had a good car. For one reason or another we did not get the grip out of the tyres in qualifying. I think we will have a long night and a lot of work to do to think how we can turn this situation round. The Alfas were very impressive and we will see how the races are, but at the moment we are more in a defending than a challenging position and we need to turn that around by tomorrow morning." Andy Priaulx (GBR) (1m 40.204s) (carrying 20 kilos of ballast): "I am a little bit confused as I had a really good couple of practice sessions and felt we were moving forward. In qualifying we just didn’t seem to improve on our new tyres, which for me was a big surprise. I just don’t have any answers for that at the moment so have to study the set-up and the data and come up with something for the race. However, I feel confident for the race as I think my car will be good on old tyres." BMW Team Italy-Spain - Ravaglia Motorsport - Roberto Ravaglia: "Garcia was quick this morning with the used tyres compared with the other BMW drivers and then in qualifying did a good lap and was able to stay with them and ended up just behind Jörg. Fabrizio qualified with just one set of new tyres, as he had to use one set this morning when he spun, so I am happy with the result. Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA) (1m 39.729s): "That was okay as I got a much better feeling with my car, because this morning me and the car were in completely different places. Unfortunately I had to use a set of new tyres in the free practice as I ruined a set when I spun, so only had one set for qualifying. I am happy as the car is good and I am only two tenths from third place. I have nothing to lose at this time so in the race I just have to go flat out." Antonio Garcia (ESP) (1m 39.654s): "From the first free practice we were not that bad. In the second free practice we saw we were still competitive so that was good for me. In qualifying with the first set of tyres I did a 39.7 which I was happy with. I thought I could improve a lot on the second set, but unfortunately I didn’t do a perfect lap. It is still okay as I am in fifth and the second fastest BMW." Results: 1. Nicola Larini (ITA/Alfa Romeo) 1m 39.064s, 2. Gabriele Tarquini (ITA/Alfa Romeo) 1m 39.144s, 3. Roberto Colciago (ITA/Alfa Rmeo) 1m 39.515s , 4. Jörg Müller (GER/BMW 320i) 1m 39.590s, 5. Antonio Garcia (ESP/Alfa Romeo) 1m 39.654s, 6. Rickard Rydell (SWE/Volvo) 1m 39.684s).