Pedro de la Rosa thrilled with “perfect” qualifying at Suzuka

Pedro de la Rosa enjoyed set another competitive qualifying session at Suzuka, as the Spaniard out-qualified his team-mate as well as the Marussia of Charles Pic and the Caterham of Vitaly Petrov. The team has visibly improved throughout recent races, and have remained positive throughout the year.

Although HRT have remained towards the back of the pack throughout the majority of the season, the Spanish-outfit have continued to improve at each race of the season. Lately, HRT have improved greatly throughout the various race weekends, and have begun to reel in the likes of Marussia during qualifying and the race. This has been evident this weekend, as de la Rosa has comfortably beaten both a Marussia and a Caterham in qualifying around Suzuka.

"Today I went out to give it my all and I’m happy with how it went.” Explained an upbeat Pedro de la Rosa after qualifying, “In qualifying I did two good laps; the second one was even better, almost perfect, and tomorrow we will start ahead of Caterham and Marussia which is already a success. More so at a circuit like this one. We’ve got to be more than happy with what we’ve done. Tomorrow in the race we will go for everything. The important thing is to have a good pace, look after the tyres and finish strong.”

However, with Pedro de la Rosa thrilled with qualifying 21st for tomorrow’s race, team-mate Narain Karthikeyan endured yet another frustrating qualifying session. The Indian driver spun during final practice, damaging the new-spec floor and being forced to return to the old design for qualifying. This saw Karthikeyan at a disadvantage in comparison to de la Rosa, as he qualified 24th and last,

HRT have remained positive despite a tough season for the Madrid-based outfit, and are once again confident of a competitive race tomorrow as they strive to battle with the likes of Caterham and Marussia. With Michael Schumacher set to incur a ten-place grid penalty, Pedro de la Rosa will start tomorrow’s race from 20th on the grid.

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