Today proved to be a waiting game for Erik Stark but one that finally earned him pole position at his home Grand Prix. The strong wind that had been blowing straight down the course saw a different Swede top the timing screens after the first qualifying session. Ola Pettersson in his BaBa hull looked like he had done enough to earn him his first ever pole, but as conditions changed it began to favour those drivers racing Molgaard hulls and Stark’s name soon appeared at the top of the timing screens.
“That’s so much better than last year” said Stark, who twelve months ago had crashed out of qualifying. “Tonight we have a dry boat, the mechanics have an early night and I have pole position. I’m really starting to trust the new Molgaard hull” he said, “It turns when I want it to and stays there.”
Another driver that benefitted from the change in conditions was the Italian driver Paolo Zantelli, who had only tested his new Clerici hull for twenty minutes before leaving for the race in Stockholm.
“In the first session we ran with a propeller that I had used when I raced here last year” said Zantelli. “We took a gamble and ran a brand new one that I haven’t tested, so you can imagine how surprised I was when my radioman told me the times.”
Pettersson was realistic enough to realise that as the gusting condition began to die down, the chances of him remaining on pole were beginning to diminish.
“Sure I was disappointed that I had lost the pole, but that’s racing, third on the grid is still a result as far as I am concerned” said the Swede. “Let’s hope that the wind gets up again, and then I think I will have an advantage in the start run to the first turn for tomorrows Grand Prix.”
Sharing his view was Pal Virik Nilsen, who starts alongside him in his BaBa hull. The Norwegian driver who crashed out during last years Swedish Grand Prix, admitted that it had taken a while before he felt comfortable racing again at the Riddarfjarden. Virik Nilsen had got out early in the second session and had improved his time but only after he made a propeller change.
“I brought two new props here this weekend, so we tried both of them and then I said no let’s just use the one from last year and it worked a treat.”
Twenty two drivers will start in tomorrow evenings Motorlotteriet Swedish Grand Prix following the retirement of the Polish driver Adrian Maniewsky. His Rostyle hull was involved with a collision with Winand De Jager at the pit entrance turn buoy. After a protest hearing it was decided that the collision was a racing incident and no further action would be taken. De Jager’s BaBa hull was undamaged and he will start in fourteenth place on the grid.
