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Griever20 · 10-02-2017, 08:24 AM

South African GP: Free Practice and Qualifying Report
motorsport-live.com

July 1st, 2017

Cape Town, where the barriers are never far away and the stars and starlets are there... and the prime minister of South Africa is expected to give out the winners trophy tomorrow... the question is... Rossini or Steinmann driver, or a surprise victor?

The two top teams were spying at each other like it is 1940 as the Silver Arrows wanted a piece of the Scuderia's new front wing, and prancing horse was still trying to get a glimpse at the Steinmann-Mercedes engine... leading to some hilarious tries to enter the opposing garage...

And this time, nearly all top drivers set a lap on the ultra soft in free practice, giving us a glimpse at the pecking order. And it was close. Dieter Wexler led the parade with a 1:09.912 with Nina Holtz second by just +0.069. Wexler went out late in the session to set that time... and was slow in the third sector because of traffic.

Surikov was a surprise third, then Chapman and Rodrigues.

And then in qualifying, the dance began... Wexler first to start his flying lap... good first sector... Margate fast in sector one! -0.176 faster than Wexler... but loses out later in the lap. Wexler 1:07.787, Margate 1:08.003. Rodrigues... P2... 1:07.970... Wexler put in a monster third sector...

Can the Steinmann answer that... Chapman -0.082 faster in sector two... P1! 1:07.676 but the Windsor of Aki Lipponen is also on rails... -0.287 faster at the second intermediate... provisional pole for the Finn! 1:07.495! Lipponen, Chapman, Wexler, then the second Windsor of Ana Oliveira!

Can that Windsor surprise pole hold up? Lots of white sectors... and the only change... Holtz went up to P4.

The second career pole for Aki Lipponen after Singapore in 2016, roughly three tenths of a second faster than last years pole lap by Harry Chapman. Surprise #2 of the session... Iker Vidal in seventh in the Lotus.

Team Radio of the Day:
"P1 right now, amazing lap mate, amazing lap" "OK"
Aki Lipponen, Windsor Racing after his pole lap.

--

That was a sexy attempt by Iker. P7, which also means we will go with the flow on the tyre choice and start the race on the ultra soft, no reason to give up places we gained in qualifying. What tyre we go on after that... we will see, may be the soft for a longer run, that will highly depend on how the first stint goes.

As for Jeremy... good qualifying for his standards and his car. He will get some soft boots on his car to run two long stints on them, and ideally a ultra soft run at the end.

Normally, you would expect at least one, maybe two safety cars here, but last year, not a single driver crashed... so we plan for a incident free race.

10-02-2017, 08:24 AM	#134
Griever20 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Dortmund, Germany Posts: 3,723	2017 South African GP(7/16): Qualifying South African GP: Free Practice and Qualifying Report motorsport-live.com July 1st, 2017 Cape Town, where the barriers are never far away and the stars and starlets are there... and the prime minister of South Africa is expected to give out the winners trophy tomorrow... the question is... Rossini or Steinmann driver, or a surprise victor? The two top teams were spying at each other like it is 1940 as the Silver Arrows wanted a piece of the Scuderia's new front wing, and prancing horse was still trying to get a glimpse at the Steinmann-Mercedes engine... leading to some hilarious tries to enter the opposing garage... And this time, nearly all top drivers set a lap on the ultra soft in free practice, giving us a glimpse at the pecking order. And it was close. Dieter Wexler led the parade with a 1:09.912 with Nina Holtz second by just +0.069. Wexler went out late in the session to set that time... and was slow in the third sector because of traffic. Surikov was a surprise third, then Chapman and Rodrigues. And then in qualifying, the dance began... Wexler first to start his flying lap... good first sector... Margate fast in sector one! -0.176 faster than Wexler... but loses out later in the lap. Wexler 1:07.787, Margate 1:08.003. Rodrigues... P2... 1:07.970... Wexler put in a monster third sector... Can the Steinmann answer that... Chapman -0.082 faster in sector two... P1! 1:07.676 but the Windsor of Aki Lipponen is also on rails... -0.287 faster at the second intermediate... provisional pole for the Finn! 1:07.495! Lipponen, Chapman, Wexler, then the second Windsor of Ana Oliveira! Can that Windsor surprise pole hold up? Lots of white sectors... and the only change... Holtz went up to P4. The second career pole for Aki Lipponen after Singapore in 2016, roughly three tenths of a second faster than last years pole lap by Harry Chapman. Surprise #2 of the session... Iker Vidal in seventh in the Lotus. Team Radio of the Day: "P1 right now, amazing lap mate, amazing lap" "OK" Aki Lipponen, Windsor Racing after his pole lap. -- That was a sexy attempt by Iker. P7, which also means we will go with the flow on the tyre choice and start the race on the ultra soft, no reason to give up places we gained in qualifying. What tyre we go on after that... we will see, may be the soft for a longer run, that will highly depend on how the first stint goes. As for Jeremy... good qualifying for his standards and his car. He will get some soft boots on his car to run two long stints on them, and ideally a ultra soft run at the end. Normally, you would expect at least one, maybe two safety cars here, but last year, not a single driver crashed... so we plan for a incident free race. __________________ The Montreal Expos... Exposing the New MLB? MLB 2015 - Being the Brewmaster(ended) MLB 2013: The Blue Jays That Never Were(concluded)