Jos Verstappen 6th in qualifying

Published on 19 November 2005 by Thorsten Hendriks

Team Netherlands has qualified 6th for the Malaysian A1GP race. After 2 sessions the grid for the sprint race was determined, as it started to rain. Jos drove on old tyres in his first outing and he didn't achieve more than an 18th place. At the end there was the threat of rain and Jos was one of the first to be on the track, this gave him a 6th place. Then the rain started to fall and improving the lap time was impossible. Only team Lebanon, Czechia and Mexico had another try but this proved useless.

"I am happy with this 6th place. We made an error in the first outing by choosing old tyres. We thought and hoped that the rain would blow over but it didn't. The times of the first and second session determined the end result. I think I could not have done better than 4th anyway. We were driving with a dry weather setup in the rain, not ideal but close to fourth fastest though."

"It does mean that we have an extra set of new tyres for the race. We will have to wait and see if it stays dry. I am quite positive concerning the race. I've been fastest twice during practice, anything can happen but we are able to compete for podium."

Switzerland claimed pole and left France behind them with a difference of almost a second. Surprisingly Ireland on third and Brazil - normally to be found in the top 5 - got stuck on 8th even behind Malaysia. Bryan Herta is getting used to his new car and positioned himself on 12th; a lot better than in Australia.

Result:

   TEAM           COMB. TIME  DIFFERENCE
1  SWITZERLAND     3'48.962
2  FRANCE          3'49.868    +0.906
3  IRELAND         3'49.969    +1.007
4  GREAT BRITAIN   3'49.972    +1.010
5  NEW ZEALAND     3'50.569    +1.607
6  NETHERLANDS     3'51.036    +2.074
7  MALAYSIA        3'51.199    +2.237
8  BRAZIL          3'51.398    +2.436
9  PORTUGAL        3'51.547    +2.585
10 ITALY           3'51.894    +2.932
11 INDONESIA       3'51.996    +3.034
12 USA             3'52.013    +3.051
13 SOUTH AFRICA    3'52.118    +3.156
14 PAKISTAN        3'52.200    +3.238
15 INDIA           3'52.829    +3.867
16 GERMANY         3'53.267    +4.305
17 MEXICO          3'53.656    +4.694
18 CZECH REPUBLIC  3'53.766    +4.804
19 JAPAN           3'53.948    +4.986
20 AUSTRIA         3'54.989    +6.027
21 CHINA           3'56.047    +7.085
22 CANADA          4'00.397    +11.435
23 LEBANON         4'17.659    +28.697
24 AUSTRALIA       4'17.860    +28.898

Thorsten Hendriks