Points Finish For Phil Quaife In Magny Cours

01 July 2007

The fifth race of the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup was held in Magny Cours, France, today supporting the Formula One French Grand Prix. Phil Quaife, racing at the circuit for the first time, came through with a strong points finish result in 11th place. Quaife ran the 45 minutes practice session on old tyres previously used in Bahrain, so he concentrated on car setup and not outright performance. At the end of the session, he had posted 21st quickest lap. Saturday's grid-setting 45 minute session saw Quaife improve his pace to line up for the race on the ninth row. With both periods of pre-race track time held in dry weather, Sunday's race was set to be full of drama immediately a rainstorm passed through just before the start. The grid of 27 cars lined up for the start with the track damp from the changing weather conditions. With spray from cars ahead on the opening lap there were order changes up and down the field and Quaife used the situation to his advantage, making progress through the field in the early stages. By the sixth of the planned 14 lap race Quaife had broken into the top ten, lying in ninth place, but with the track becoming increasingly slippery from oil on the track, mixed with the water from the earlier rain, he was struggling for grip and pace. Dropping back down the order in efforts to keep on track and post a points finish, Quaife drove well, while other more experienced drivers spun off track. The conditions were deemed too treacherous to continue after 12 laps had been completed and the race was stopped at this point. Finish positions were declared from one lap earlier, giving Quaife his 13th place finish and a valuable four points to add to his six already recorded this season. Quaife said after the race, "We tested here a couple of weeks ago, so I knew the layout of the circuit, but we ran with very old tyres then and this track changes all the time, so it was very different this weekend. Qualifying is key at a track like this and when there are so many cars in the field it's also very tough. I'm only around a second off pole, yet I wind up 18th, so I need to find the few tenths it needs to move closer to the top ten. "It was quite a difficult race, particularly from about mid-distance when there was a lot of oil on the track which really slowed me. I was having a good battle with the other Brits – Williams and Hynes – before that, but in the second half of the race I struggled with grip and traction with the tyre wear, and on each lap the condition of the track changed, so it was very challenging. We made it to the end though and collected some points, we're so close, but still battling to get into the top ten. That's the goal now." The Porsche Mobil1 Supercup reaches its halfway point next weekend with Quaife's home race at the British Grand Prix-supporting sixth round of the 11 race series.