Q & A with Fabrizio Giovanardi

Q. How was the qualifying session for you?

Fabrizio Giovanardi: I didn't try a lot in the free practice this morning because the conditions were not good, and in the second practice I had some trouble with set-up so my lap time wasn't good. My feeling was not very happy but we investigated the car found what was wrong and what was the best set-up for me.

In qualifying the conditions were always changing and at the end when the circuit was no completely dry, but 90 per cent dry, the car was good again like in testing during the winter.

Q. Would you prefer wet or dry races tomorrow?

FG: It makes no difference because we have a very good grip level with the wet tyres, better than last year. So it means our set-up works well in the dry and the wet.

Q. Has anybody's performance surprised you?

FG: No, I'm not surprised by the pace of the BMW, or the Honda. I think this championship will be very different to before. You will see 10 cars fighting for the title, not just two.

Q. What do you think of SEAT's performance?

FG: They are potentially very strong but I think they have still to explore the car. What they know from the World Touring Cars doesn't transfer well because things are different. We use different tyres and no heaters, with slower trickier circuits.

Sometimes to have more power is good but in other ways not so good because what you gain in one direction you can lose in the other. But I think the SEATs will be there with us.

Q. Is second on the grid about where you expected to be for the first race?

FG: Yeah, it's ok. For me it's very good as long as I'm in the first two rows for every race, because here you avoid most of the accidents at the first corner and you are in the game for the podium.

Also, the outside of the grid is perfect for me. Every time I start on the inside it's very hard because the wall is close and you cannot slide the tyres too much or have other cars close because you can crash easily.