Stephen Ottley, Australia Herald Sun
October 20, 2007
Spaniard Oriol Servia upstaged local hero Will Power by stealing provisional pole position for tomorrow's Gold Coast Indy 300.
Power was on top for most of the session until Servia pulled his best lap out at the last possible moment to secure a front-row start for the race by a bare 0.033 seconds.
Despite intense pressure from a pumped up hometown crowd Power was philosophical about missing out and is confident he can claim pole position for tomorrow's race in today's second qualifying session.
"There's nothing we can do about it," Power said.
"We'll come back tomorrow and have a shot at pole.
"It would have been ideal (to get provisional pole)," he said.
"I would have been more relaxed knowing I had a spot locked up."
The biggest problem Power is trying to overcome is getting a clear lap on the narrow and crowded circuit with several drivers crashing and spinning causing stoppages.
"It's difficult around this track, we have so many red flags," he said. "When you have the chance of a clear lap you've got to put the lap in."
It was a frustrating day for Power as he was penalised by officials for an incident at the previous round of the series at the Assen circuit in Holland.
The Aussie was one of five drivers to be docked 40 seconds of the series' Power-to-Pass function; a limited amount of extra power that helps the drivers overtake.
Because of a software glitch Champ Car officials banned the use of the function at Assen but Power, along with teammate Simon Pagenaud, Dan Clarke, Neel Jani and Bruno Junqueira were not informed and used it briefly in the race.
The group will only be given 35 seconds of power boost while their rivals will have a full complement of 75 seconds.
Once again Power's arch-rival, Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais, failed under pressure and slammed the wall at the track's second chicane in a repeat of his mistake one year ago. He explained that he made contact with a bundle of tyres that sits on the entry to the corner and it set him out of control.