Bavaria Beer Champ Car Grand Prix of Holland - Saturday Qualifying quotes

Sebastien Bourdais #1 McDonalds Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone (Qualified 1st) – To be honest I didn't think we were going to be P1. In the first 15 minutes, it felt like it, but then in the first run we just really struggled and we had not changed much on the Mc Donald’s car. So I didn't know what really happened.

On the second and third run, when we went out with the Red Bridgestone Option Tires, it was fantastic; the car came alive and I had a great time. Like I said this place is fantastic. It's really fast and a lot of fun when the car is working. So just another one, and hopefully we can have a good race and do the best we can.

Justin Wilson #9 CDW Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone (Qualified 2nd) – "I’m very disappointed with our lack of pace today. We just couldn’t quite work it out in qualifying and had a few problems. A rear tire delaminated during our second stint, but I’m not sure if that was all of our problem or not. We’re fortunate that we got the front row slot from yesterday and now we’ve got to concentrate on making a good race car."

Tristan Gommendy #22 Pay by Touch / MegaSpirea Cosworth/DP01/ Bridgestone (Qualified 3rd) – "I think the Pay By Touch MegaSpirea PKV Racing team had a good qualification. We came here without a lot of pressure on us because the season is almost over. But, we worked hard and we came up with quite a good setup.

Dry track, wet track it did not make a difference. We were quick. We did some good fine tuning between the morning practice and this afternoon. My engineer, Yves Touron, did a good job, because the car was exactly how it was suppose to be.

Obviously, we needed a step more to have a perfect car. But, I think we could have done the same time as Bourdais. I just didn’t want to risk causing a red flag, because we were already in a good situation. I want to thank the whole Pay By Touch MegaSpirea PKV Racing team. They did a good job. We just have to keep working hard for the race tomorrow."

Neel Jani #21 Red Bull-Gulfstream Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone (Qualified 4th) – "This morning was really a good session for the Red Bull Gulfstream PKV Racing team. We were the quickest car on the track and I was quite happy with that. This afternoon…on the first set of Bridgestone tires the car was good, but I felt I had some improvement in me. But, I couldn’t quite get the lap together during the first stint because of traffic.

On the second stint I had a really good lap going and again I caught some traffic, but still I put quite a good lap together, which put me third for the session and fourth on the grid. The biggest thing for me is that we did not improve on new tires as much as we should have, so I think we still have some more speed in the car for the race. Overall, it was a good day, not great, but a good day."

Simon Pagenaud #15 Aussie Vineyards Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone (Qualified 5th) – "It was a good session overall. I think we used our first set of Bridgestone ‘red’ tires well. We gained a little bit of time on our second set of ‘reds’, but I was expecting gain more. I don’t think we could have done pole, because 1:18.765 was a little too fast, but we certainly could have done P2.

Honestly, I’m very happy, it’s a pretty good recovery from the last race. I think we can have a great race, do good fuel save and get up on the podium. I’m glad that Craig Gore is here and hopefully I can show the Aussie Vineyards colors up front tomorrow and get a podium in front of him."

Graham Rahal #2 Medi | Zone Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone (Qualified 6th) – "The Medi | Zone car is much better than the qualifying position shows. I’m actually disappointed with the outcome. It was eventful for us. There were a lot of ‘offs’ today which is usually uncharacteristic for me. We ran well in the pre-qualifying practice and ended up P2 (second fast) so we were hoping to challenge for pole. There were times when the wind just caught me out like when I had the thing sideways. There was a cone on the track and I was trying to avoid it and got a little sideways.

It was just a tough day but at the end I think that we have a pretty quick car. The problem is, literally, there is no passing here. Certainly the last lap I had a pretty good lap going but then I messed up in Turn 8 and lost it. I don’t think I would have gotten Gommendy but I certainly would have been in front of Pagenaud and Jani but that’s the way it goes. The segment times don’t matter, you have to put the whole lap together. I think we’ll do okay in the race.

The Medi | Zone team does great pit stops and their strategy is strong so we’ll be able to move forward that way. It’s going to be a tough race. We had a three run strategy in qualifying because we didn’t use any Bridgestone ‘reds’ yesterday (in the wet) so we figured since we had 15 laps and the tires were good here on the fourth or fifth lap so you don’t need a six-lap stint. Therefore you could make three runs and that’s what we did."

Jan Heylen #34 Grafiprint Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone (Qualified 7th) – "Overall, I’m happy with our sixth position finish today. I always look back and think that I could have done better but I kept on the red tires for the entire session and got up to speed pretty quickly posting a top six result.

We were able to put up a top lap time yesterday in warm up and had good times today showing that we can maintain our speed so we hope we can continue this momentum through to the race tomorrow.

I think if we can take advantage of our good pit strategy and keep on pace with the leaders we can achieve this. We have missed out on a few potential podium finishes this year so I hope that bad luck stays away tomorrow so we can come home with a strong finish."

Will Power #5 Aussie Vineyards Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone (Qualified 8th) – "It’s just one of those weekends where it’s tough to have anything go right for you. We caught a little bit of traffic in qualifying. We only needed one tenth to move four spots, we definitely had the speed today.

The Aussie Vineyards car handled great and was really nice. There were probably a few adjustments we could have made, but overall the guys gave me a great car."

Robert Doornbos #14 Team Minardi USA Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone (Qualified 9th) - In Elkhart Lake, we were second early in the race and finished the race seventh -- so to start now from ninth, maybe it's good fortune. It’s shocking that we couldn't get a good car in qualifying basically. It's not like we have one problem to address. It just isn’t a very fast car.

But it happened before this year that we struggled in qualifying but that the car was really fast in the race. The races are also very long and we know from the past in Champ Car, a lot can happen. But it will be tight into turn one and we just need to make the best of it.

Dan Clarke #4 Minardi Team USA Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone (Qualified 10th) - "After the week that just gone by, I feel like a new man. We qualified in the top 10, and I know there’s more time in the car, so I’m feeling positive.

My Minardi Team USA car often seems to go better in the race than in qualifying, so we’ll get our heads down now and work on strategy for tomorrow. I’ll then aim to keep my nose clean and have a strong race – the reception from the fans here in Assen has been great, and it almost feels like a home event for me."

Bruno Junqueira #19 Sonny’s Bar-B-Q Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone (Qualified 11th) – "We had issues with traffic again today. We could have easily been three-tenths quicker today which would have been a lot better than 11th. We were disappointed with the way traffic came out, but tomorrow is another day."

Alex Tagliani #8 Rocketsports Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone (Qualified 12th) – "We wish we could have done better in terms of our grid position, but I think after two days we are starting to get a direction for what the #8 Rocketsports car needs and wants.

It is not the best car that we have had so far, but you never know what can happen during the race. Tomorrow we are going to try something different and see if that will help us find a little more speed and better handling. With the way these races go and the strategy we develop, we can probably have a good race and aim for a good top five finish."

Oriol Servia #7 Indeck Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone (Qualified 13th) – "Very disappointing session, we haven’t been this far back the whole weekend. I thought we had a good car but when we put on the Red Bridgestones for qualifying, we just couldn’t go any quicker. I’m not very happy, but tomorrow is when the points are given so we’ll just have to keep our nose clean and climb our way through the field."

Katherine Legge #11 Dale Coyne Racing Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone (Qualified 14th) – "It was a really tough session for us today. I feel that we should have been in the top-ten pretty easily, but I could never get more than a couple laps put together in qualifying because there was always somebody spinning off the course in-front of me and I also had an excursion over the chicane that messed my time up as well. I'm pretty confident that we have a really good race car for tomorrow."

Paul Tracy #3 Indeck Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone (Qualified 17th) – "Qualifying today was a disaster. I was out on my first few laps just waiting for the tires to come in and I tried going over the curbs at the chicane, I touched one of the cones and the front wing broke and collapsed my front left suspension.

My guys did a great job repairing the damage but by the time we got out there wasn’t enough time, on the only quick lap I had, Bruno (Junqueira) came back into the track right in front of me and ruined my lap. It’s really a shame because we had a good car, this morning we were third quickest and I was confident that we could’ve qualified right up there."

- Karina Redmond-

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