Qualifying session

For the first time in season '95 Alessandro Nannini succeeded in being
the fastest in a timed practice session. But not only Nannini, but all
the Alfa Romeos seem to be back to form, with five cars amongst the top
six, split only by Mercedes youngster Sandy Grau in third position. But
Sandy Grau was not only the fastest Mercedes, but also the man, who
lost lots of oil shortly after his fast lap and so caused a session
break. Although the track was cleaned after this incident, only one man
succeeded in entering the Top 15 afterwards: Manuel Reuter performed a
real Harakiri lap and conquered 14th position.

7 - Alessandro Nannini "This was quite a good lap", said the Italian
with a happy smile on his face. "But this can't have been the limit, as
I never reach my personal limits in the morning. So, I think there is
more to come this afternoon."

18 - Stefano Modena The Euroteam pilot was second fastest and satisfied
but not happy: "It's a pity, that I had a gearbox problem on the finish
straight. It took me a long time to change from fourth to fifth gear,
otherwise the provisional pole might have been possible. But the car is
very competitive, so I'm confident for the rest of the weekend."

5 - Alexander Grau "The lap was good and so was the set-up of my car.
Then I heard a funny noise which sounded, as if the car was loosing the
undertray. But the car was still running okay, so I decided to finish
the lap. If I had known, that I was loosing oil, I had left the ideal
line at once."

26 - Giancarlo Fisichella The Alfa youngster conqered fourth position
and seemed to be very satisfied: "As you can tell, I like here. It was
a fast lap, but not my limit. No predictions for this afternoon, but I
hope for a Top five placement and would be totally happy with a starting
position in the first row of the grid."

19 - Michael Bartels The double winner from Diepholz drove his first
qualifying with the sequential gearbox and had mixed feelings after
the session: "Okay, the fifth time is not so bad. But I'm still not
accustomed to the new gearbox, which I couldn't test at all before
this weekend. So, if I had the choice again, I'd choose my good old
mechanical gearbox. Although I'm sure that you can be faster with the
sequential one if you are accustomed to it. And it's much more difficult
to destroy an engine with this kind of gearbox."

30 - Gabriele Tarquini "I didn't expect myself, that I would become
accustomed to a Class 1 Alfa so quickly. And not only this. The track
is brandnew to me and it's the first weekend that I'm driving a step
2 Alfa. So I'm more than pleased with my performance in this session.
Especially regarding, that I was only six 100th of a second slower than
the second fastest."

6 - Kurt Thiim "I missed the braking point in the last corner in
front of the hairpin. This cost me at least four 10ths of a second.
Nevertheless I'm rather satisfied, for it means I could have been much
faster and my car is really competitive."

15 - Dario Franchitti "This was just a safety lap, I didn't risk too
much. But it was fast enough to enter the Top Fifteen, and that's all I
wanted to achieve."

14 - Bernd Schneider "I gave it my all, but with all the weight in the
car I wasn't fast enough. So I went out after the break to guarantee
that I would stay amongst the Top Fifteen. But fortunately all the
others were not fast enough to edge me out of my position."

1 - Klaus Ludwig The reigning champion, fastest in yesterday's free
practice session, was only 13th today but took it with a smile. "I
didn't want to be faster because I need the excitement. I Also knew,
somebody would go out and put some oil on the track."

9 - Manuel Reuter The Le Mans winner hadn't been out before the break
and had to risk all afterwards to enter the Top Fifteen. "There was
an enormous pressure, but I knew, I would make it. For I always think
positive. It was a lap on a knife's edge but it turned out to be
successful although I there was a slight contact with the wall."