HRT happy with ‘best qualifying to date’ in China

For the second race in succession, HRT have been able to qualify within the 107% rule. The Spanish outfit were unfortunately unable to qualify for the opening race of the season in Australia, and have hailed their latest qualifying effort as their best to date.

Regardless of the fact that HRT have qualified on the back row of the grid for Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix, the atmosphere within the team is positive. Heading into qualifying, Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan both felt a substantial improvement in the balance of the car in relation to the final practice session which took place prior to qualifying earlier this morning.

"I think it was, by far, our best qualifying session to date.” Explained Pedro de la Rosa, who qualified 23rd for the race. “I’ve already said many times that we’ve got a lot of room for improvement, but the important thing is that we’ve cut down the distance with regards to pole position considerably, some four seconds from first, and that’s very positive for us. In this qualifying session we’ve made various changes to the set-up and the car responded well.”

With a difficult 56-lap race ahead of the two HRT’s tomorrow, their aims are now set on finishing the race with the performance the team showed in qualifying.

"We’re satisfied with today’s result and, in general, with the work the team and drivers put in which, added to the upgrades we’ve brought to this Grand Prix, have enabled us to qualify comfortably inside the 107%.” Said technical director, Toni Cuquerella, “From here we have to continue improving as our rivals aren’t far away. Tomorrow’s objective is to finish with both cars and for the performance shown in qualifying to translate into the race also”.

Last time out in Malaysia, both Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan finished the race. Narain Karthikeyan even ran as high as 10th when the tropical storm hit, before becoming involved in racing incidents’ with Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel. Karthikeyan will undoubtedly be hoping for a much cleaner race tomorrow, as HRT continue improving with every race.

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