Ataxia wrote:38th for Komarek in qualifying?! 38TH?!
(Bad) Luck of the draw. No quali session.
L'Equipe wrote:Voeckler slams "abhorrent" Dinella driving
Infiniti team principal Frederic-Maxime Voeckler has lashed out at the driving standards of series newcomer Roberto Dinella, who was suspended from driving at the next round by series officials for an incident with Pedro Renales in today's B Class race.
The Frenchman pulled no punches in chastising the touring class rookie for his error, absolving Renales of any responsibility for the incident, and even calling for a more serious punishment for the Adriatica driver.
"Dinella's driving digusts me," said Voeckler. "There is no place for that kind of driving in motorsport. It was utterly abhorrent. He spends 500 metres making no attempt to pass, only focusing of finding a way of putting Renales in a wall at full speed. And he succeeded."
"A one race ban is appropriate for a case of negligence, where a driver make a stupid mistake. But this was no mistake. We saw in the first round at Adelaide that Dinella was happy to use his car as a weapon, and instead of heeding his warning for that driving, he decided to go out and do something far worse. He needs at the very least an extended ban, or perhaps thrown out of the championship permanently like [Edward] McWilliams and [Humbert] Moyenmoutier."
While Voeckler showed some sympathy towards Dinella's team, Adriatica Touring Racing, for the situation, he also said they must be proactive in reprimanding and controlling their driver, to ensure incidents like these don't happen in future.
"I understand that Adriatica may need Dinella for his paycheck to make ends meet, but a line must be drawn," he continued. "We already have a good relationship with the team, one of the guys on my driver management books, Guly, is one of the ATR drivers, and he has shown what the car and team are capable of in good hands. The team is capable of doing good. But they must put their foot down here and bring their erratic and temperamental second driver into line. There must be extremely serious consequences to his extremely serious actions."
Gazzetta dello Sport wrote:Delvecchio looking forward to home event, leaves Australia disappointed
Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Delvecchio has had a torrid start to his season, having been forced to start on the last row of the grid at the season opener in Adelaide, and then being forcibly removed from contention at today's race on Mount Panorama.
The young Italian was one of the pre-season favourites to challenge for the B Class title, but currently languishes down in 25th overall, with a mere 10 points on the board compared to leader Carlos Torres' 90.
"I look forward now to Treviso," he enthused. "I made my debut here last year and won first time of asking. I don't know if it's possible to repeat that feat, but that's the goal!"
"The first Oceania leg was a big disappointment, but there's no point in dwelling on it," he continued. "In Adelaide I feel I did a good race, but the grid draw meant it was impossible to get a good result that day, so nothing I can do there. As for today, it was a giant mess. It was a little bit of going two steps back to go one forward, but finally when it looked like progress was being made, I got blocked by some idiot a lap down, and then when I had to slow for this guy I got hit in the rear and turned around. It's one of those things in touring car racing, no point to complain."
Despite the abysmal start to the season, Delvecchio still thinks he can be a contender for the title come the end of the year.
"The package is good, the team is strong, I am assured in my ability. I have won in this class before and done well even in the A Class last season. The possibility to be champion is still there, it's a long way yet until the end of the season, everything can happen. But of course, we must start getting some strong results on the board in this first European leg to get ourselves back in the mix."