Pascal Wehrlein almost placed Manor in Q2
After the disappointment in Melbourne, Manor has found the recipe for the new qualifying sessions. Pascal Wehrlein almost made it to Q2 but had to settle for 16th place. On the other hand, Rio Haryanto finished second to last in the session.
Pascal Wehrlein is proving why Mercedes is betting on him and that his DTM title is no fluke. Although he was the first eliminated in Melbourne, he made a spectacular start, which allowed him to be 13th during the first part of the race.
In Bahrain, he will start much higher on the grid as he ranked 16th in the session, being the last eliminated from Q1. He placed behind him, on merit, both Sauber cars, both Renaults, and the Sahara Force India of Sergio Perez, not to mention his teammate. He could only be delighted: « I’m so happy! What a difference compared to Melbourne! It’s really a shame to miss out on Q2, but I’m so thrilled to be so close, and it’s really a good place to build on. »
He hopes to be part of the fight in the heart of the pack, even though he knows that his car wears out its tires more than his competitors: “We are in a good position for tomorrow, even if we suffer from degradation on long stints. It’s a long race. So we have to manage that. It would be great to have the same kind of start as in the last race. I hope we can remain competitive against the cars around us.”
Dave Ryan, the team director, could only congratulate his driver: « A really fantastic performance from Pascal today. We have made real progress. We spent a lot of time figuring out what we needed to improve here after the disappointment in Melbourne. It feels good to see it translate into real progress. »
However, Rio Haryanto was clearly not satisfied with his performance, which placed him 21st in the session: « After a very good FP3 this morning, I am quite disappointed with my qualifying session. I only had one lap and didn’t get enough from my fast lap. »
With the participation of www.racingbusiness.fr
