Yoong denied dispensation
The stewards at Imola have refused to give Alex Yoong a dispensation to start tomorrow's race after the Malaysian failed to qualify his Minardi-Asiatech within 107 percent of Michael Schumacher's pole position time
The stewards ruled that there were no special circumstances applicable to Yoong, who had had a decent chance to record a qualifying time.
"I was a bit handicapped at the outset by never having driven this circuit in the dry," Yoong moaned. "I felt I had it sorted after the second 45-minute session this morning but I underestimated the levels of grip available here with the car in qualifying trim. I'm particularly sorry for the guys who worked really hard to get me into the race."
Team boss Paul Stoddart said: "We really feel for Alex, especially when you consider that in the last two races he has been within half a second of his teammate Mark Webber in qualifying. His car had a brake balance problem today and the 2.5s gap between them in no way reflects his true ability."
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