Saturday: De la Rosa beats a Marussia and a Caterham
Thanks to the development of parts brought to Singapore, the HRT team made a new step forward this weekend in Japan. Pedro de la Rosa took advantage of it to stand out by outperforming Vitaly Petrov and Charles Pic during the qualifying sessions.
Pedro de la Rosa – 24th and 21st [20th on the grid]:
« Today, I really gave it my all on the track and I am happy with the result. The team did a fantastic job and the car’s setup has improved noticeably. During qualifying, I did two good laps; the second was even better than the first, almost perfect, and tomorrow we will start ahead of a Caterham and a Marussia which is already a great achievement. Especially on such a track. We must be thrilled with what we have accomplished. Tomorrow during the race, I will give everything. The most important thing is to have a good pace, conserve the tires, and finish strong. »
Narain Karthikeyan – 23rd and 24th:
This morning, the car was working very well and my first laps were fantastic, but then I spun and damaged my new floor, so I had to revert to the old one. During qualifying, I had little grip and on my last lap, I went wide at 130R. It wasn’t a good qualifying session for me, but the car is much better and, even though tomorrow will be a tough race, we will try to finish as high as possible.
The grid positions are provisional and may change depending on the penalties applied after the qualifying session.
