Sweden’s Pierre Lundin will start from pole position for the UIM F2 Grand Prix of Switzerland after he mastered the rollers that had caused many of the driver’s problems during the top ten ‘Shoot-Out’.
Clear blue skies and high temperatures had tempted large numbers of spectator boats out to watch the action and despite the presence of the local police several drivers said that their two laps were compromised by the wash from spectator boats. Both Erik Edin and Owen Jelf, who had both posted times in the top five during Q2 struggled to repeat their previous performance in Q3.
“When it was my turn to go out I could see the wash on the far side of the course but they still told me to go out” said Edin. “It left me very frustrated because now I will start tomorrow from tenth place, six places behind Osterberg who is my closes rival in the championship title hunt.”
For Jelf though it was mixed blessings. After finishing third in Q2, his highest all season, he knew that a change in strategy was beginning to pay off.
“I had just got feed up with starting at the back of the grid” said Jelf, “So we went back to the drawing board. The first thing we did was put the BaBa hull back in default mode, change it back to where it was when I first got it, changed the propellers, set up and boat balance, plus I also changed my mind set.”
Despite these changes the British driver will start in ninth place having fallen victim to several rouge washes during the ‘Shoot-Out’.
His fellow countryman, Matt Palfreyman was also having a tough day on Lake Lugano, when he stuffed his Moore hull in Free Practice. The impact tore off a pickle fork and blew the deck hatches clean off.
“A dramatic day for some but just a normal day in the office for me” said Palfreyman. “To be honest the way the day was heading I was happy to get into the top ten, so to get fifth place is an absolute bonus.”
Starting two places ahead of him is Stefan Hagin, who has finally got to grips with his Molgaard hull. The young German driver spent hours putting the boat through its paces and is now repeating the benefit.
Sitting alongside him on the start pontoon will be Alex Carella who described his short return to F2 as being tough but beautiful.
“Today Lundin’s performance was out of this world” said the Italian “Sure I’m not happy with second place but you have to remember that I only spent an hour testing this boat before coming here. The race will be hard because within a couple of laps we will catch the backmarkers. I’m not too bad at finding the gaps and I’m sure the show will be good.”
When Lundin arrived in the pits on Friday he knew that taking a cautious approach to the weekends racing would pay dividends in the long run. Which is how he approached today’s qualifying.
“Around here I understand that you need to be a bit of a poker player” said Lundin, “So during Q1 and Q2 I really didn’t want to show my hand, then for the ‘Shoot-Out’ we decided to run a ‘Mr Dynamite’ special propeller and it did the business for us today. In fact it was the same prop I used at the European Championships in Lithuania. Yes, the rollers meant the boat flew today so if the conditions stay the same, then the spectators are really in for a show.”
All bets will be off when the twenty four driver’s line up on the start pontoon at 16:45 local time for what will most defiantly be an intriguing afternoon of racing here in Campione d’Italia.
