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Superleague
- Jarama, 09.11.07
Bourdais
na 'pole', candidatos afundam-se
Sébastien
Bourdais (Sevilla FC) conquistou, em Jarama, a sua primeira 'pole
position' na Superleague Formula by Sonangol, enquanto a luta pelo
título ficou mais aberta já que nem o Liverpool nem o
Tottenham Hotspur conseguiram passar a fase de grupos.
Os
Spurs, que dipõem de 49 pontos de vantagem sobre os seus
rivais da Premier League, falharam a passagem aos 'quartos' por
apenas dois centésimos de segundo, o que significa que Craig
Dolby sairá amanhã da décima posição
da grelha.
O
piloto do Liverpool, Adrian Valles estará ainda mais para
trás, depois de ter sido sétimo no Grupo B, dois
lugares atrás de Dolby. O espanhol sentiu-se prejudicado,
quando naquela que estava a ser a sua volta mais rápida ficou
'preso' atrás de Yelmer Buurman, do Anderlecht. Partirá
de 14.º para a corrida 1.
A
batalha pela 'pole position' foi terrível: o Sevilla bateu, na
final, o Anderlecht por seis milésimos de segundo, a mais
curta margem na história da Superleague. Bourdais mantém
a sua boa forma desde a sua entrada nesa competição,
após o seu abandono da Fórmula 1. A sua vitória
sobre Buurman veio depois de ter sido o mais rápido no seu
grupo e de ter eliminado Nelson Panciaticci do Lyon e Esteban
Guerrieri do Olympiacos, respectivamente nos quartos e meias-finais.
Buurman
pareceu renascido ao bater Max Wissel do FC Basel, que até
então estava a dominar o fim-de-semana (foi o mais rápido
nos treinos livres e na fase de grupos) e Antonio Pizzonia do
Corinthians, que conquistou três poles esta época. Em
ambos os confrontos, Buurman foi mais lento nos dois primeiros
sectores, para inverter a situação a seu favor no
último.
O
Olympiacos partirá da terceira posição, á
frente do Corinthians, com o Galatasaray - para quem Ho-Pin Tung fez
a melhor exibição da época - em quinto e AC
Milan em sexto. O Lyon sairá de sétimo, depois da
melhor qualificação da época para Panciaticci, e
o FC Basel completa o top 8.
Ainda
na fase de grupos, a AS Roma foi a primeira baixa de topo, depois de
Julien Jousse ter falhado o apuramento no Grupo A, os vencedores de
corridas Tristan Gommendy (FC Porto) e John Martin (Rangers) também
ficaram de fora.
O
maior choque deu-se no Grupo B, quando os dois primeiros do
campeonato, o Liverpool e Tottenham falharam a passagem aos
'quartos'. Neste grupo também Pedro Petiz pelo Sporting ficou
de fora.
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Superleague
- Jarama, 09.11.07
Bourdais
takes first pole, title contenders struggle
Sevilla’s
Sebastien Bourdais took his first Superleague Formula by Sonangol
pole position in qualifying at Jarama, but the title race was blown
wide open as both Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur failed to make it
out of the group stages.
Spurs,
who trailed their Premier League rivals by 49 points heading into
this weekend’s final round of the 2009 season, missed out on a
place in the knockout stages of qualifying by just two one hundredths
of a second, meaning driver Craig Dolby will start Sunday’s
first race in tenth.
Liverpool
driver Adrian Valles will be even further back on the 18-car grid
after finishing seventh, two places behind Dolby, in qualifying Group
B. The Spaniard was clearly disgruntled when he felt his best lap was
ruined after he was caught up behind Anderlecht’s Yelmer
Buurman. He will start race 1 from 14th.
The
battle for pole position was a stunner as Sevilla beat Anderlecht by
six thousandths of a second in the final, the closest margin in
Superleague Formula history. Bourdais continued his fine run of form
since joining the series from Formula One, with a superb qualifying
display. His victory for the Spanish club over Buurman came after the
French driver had topped his qualifying group before defeating Nelson
Panciatici of Lyon and Esteban Guerrieri of Olympiacos in the Quarter
and Semi-Finals.
Buurman’s
path to the final saw him produce impressive comeback victories over
FC Basel’s Max Wissel, who went fastest of anyone in practice
and the group stages of qualifying, and Corinthian’s Antonio
Pizzonia, a three time pole winner this season, in the knockout
stages. In both match-ups Buurman trailed his opponent in the first
two sectors of the 2.391 mile lap but turned things around in the
third to win.
Olympiacos
will start Sunday’s race from third on the grid ahead of
Corinthians, with Galatasaray, for whom Ho-Pin Tung enjoyed one of
his best displays of the season, fifth and AC Milan sixth. Lyon
line-up seventh, after Panciatici’s best qualifying performance
of the season, with FC Basel completing the top eight.
Earlier,
in the group stages, AS Roma became the first high-profile qualifying
casualty when Julien Jousse failed to make it out of Group A. The
Frenchman had set the second best time of anyone in free practice but
was knocked out late in the session thanks to superb last gasp
efforts from FC Basel and Olympiacos. 2009 race winners Tristan
Gommendy (FC Porto) and John Martin (Rangers) also went out.
The
biggest shock of all was reserved for Group B though, and both
Liverpool and Tottenham will now be anxious to avoid any costly
incidents as they try to negotiate a congested midfield in their
search for big points at the tight Madrid circuit during tomorrow’s
first race.
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