Ananda starts in 22th position at F3000

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian young racer Ananda Mikola managed to enter the seventh qualifying round of the F3000 championships at A-1 Ring circuit in Spielberg, Austria, on Saturday. Ananda will start in the 22nd position.

Ananda started in the 26th position in the first qualifier after clocking one minute and 41.771 seconds. He improved his time in the second qualifying round with 1:36.312. His new teammate, Dino Morelli, failed to follow his lead and finished 30th.

Tension was high during the qualifying round due to bad weather. Dark clouds above the circuit forced the racers to go as fast as they could to beat the rain.

In the earlier two laps, most of the racers recorded their fastest time, including Soheil Ayari who led the way with 1:35.544. At this moment, Ananda thought he could record his fastest time but unfortunately he collided with French driver Sebastien Bourdais.

In the third lap, Ananda clocked his fastest with 1:41.771 which took him to the 26th position. A few minutes later, rain poured down, making it difficult to go faster.

When the rain stopped on the outset of the second qualifier, most racers improved their time and forced Ananda down to the 30th position until the last two laps.

Ananda made a fantastic move in the last lap to better his starting position to 22th. Just five minutes before the second qualifiers ended, he entered the pit to refuel.

"Unfortunately, I spent too much time in the pit. I made the fastest time in the last lap. If I could do each lap 10 seconds faster, I might have got the 18th starting position," he was quoted by Antara as saying.

Belgian Jeffry Van Hooydonk is in the first starting position after clocking 1:33.336 followed by David Sealens, also from Belgium, with 1:33.529 and Mark Webber, who clocked 1:33.776.

Bruno Junqueira, who top the standings position, will start in the 20th with 1:36.121.

Ananda's mechanic, Giorgio Pirovano, said that Ananda had made a fantastic move in the last lap. "If the qualifying flag had not been waived and Ananda could have done another lap, I think he could've started in the 15th position," he said. (ivy)