Strong Qualifying Run Boosts Turvey's Hopes Of Home Success

Round 5: Silverstone, qualifying

Car  9: Oliver Turvey    (GBR) - P5, 1m 39.701s
Car 10: Davide Valsecchi (ITA) - P1, 1m 39.901s

British drivers have high hopes of success in this weekend's British Grand Prix at Silverstone - and the same is true in the GP2 Series curtain-raiser. iSport driver Oliver Turvey is one of those in contention and he'll line up fourth after a strong performance in today's qualifying session. He was classified fifth at the end of the session, but moves up one position because rival Christian Vietoris has to serve a 10-place penalty for causing an accident during the previous race, in Valencia.

Davide Valsecchi (ITA, iSport International). Credit: Jakob Ebrey/GP2 Media

Silverstone has been extended since the GP2 Series last visited - and the leading drivers were closely matched around the revised, 3.666-mile circuit. Davide Valsecchi was 0.2s shy of team-mate Turvey, but starts only 11th.

"That was a decent session. The car felt quick and every change we've made seems to have worked. I was always in contention for pole and briefly went quickest on my first set of new tyres, but traffic tripped me up during my second run. I managed to improve my time, but with a cleaner lap I could perhaps have gone a tenth or three faster.

"I'm not unhappy, though, because the car is definitely competitive and starting from the second row gives me a realistic chance of challenging for victory. The new-look Silverstone has a nice flow and I have traditionally done well here. I won in Formula BMW and F3 and scored two podium finishes last season in the World Series by Renault, so I hope I can maintain that run of form this weekend."

"My starting position might not look too good, but it doesn't reflect reality. The car felt well balanced and I was very happy with the set-up, but I didn't get a properly clean lap on either set of tyres. In both instances, I set my quickest time on rubber that was several laps old. But for that I'm sure I would have been able to challenge at the front, with Oliver, so I know I definitely have the potential to do well tomorrow. I had a small off towards the end, when I ran wide through the gravel, but I was simply pushing to improve and tried to ask a little too much from my tyres. It has been a disappointing day in some respects, but at the same time it's encouraging, too."

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