Nelson Piquet Jr Nürburgring qualifying report

GP2 Series Round 6 Qualifying - Nurburgring

_{source: piquetsports.com}

Nelson Piquet Jr will begin tomorrow's Nurburgring GP2 race one from the seventh row on the grid after an unlucky qualifying session saw him suffer behind an accident and then slowed by a yellow flag.

After a productive free practice session this morning, which eventually saw him finish sixth fastest, Nelson began this afternoon's qualifying confident he had the set-up to run high in the standings. He had two sets of new tyres with which to complete his fast laps. On his first fast lap he set a brilliant time in the first sector but then got caught when his team-mate Xandi Negrão spun in front of him in the second sector. Nelson spun himself in his efforts to avoid a collision but then went on to set another great time in the third sector.

Using the second set of new tyres, Nelson was again on the pace before a yellow flag put a stop to his efforts.

Nelson finished the session in 14th position, and is aiming for a points finishing position in tomorrow's race, which begins at 14.30hrs and runs for 35 laps.

Nelson Piquet Jr (Car No. 3)
"It's just been more bad luck for me today. In practice this morning the car was basically okay, although we needed to do some work on the balance ready for qualifying. This afternoon we had two sets of new tyres so we could try for two fast laps during the session. On the first set on my fast lap my first sector time was really quick and also my final sector time was fast, but in the middle sector Xandi spun and I tried to avoid him and spun also, so the lap was ruined. Then on the fast lap with the second set we had a yellow flag. So now I am 14th, which isn't good but I will go for a top eight position tomorrow, try to get some points and then be in a good grid place on Sunday."