PACIFIC-FORDS HOLD POSITION
A dramatic final qualifying session ended with the Pacific-Fords of Andrea Montermini and Giovanni Lavaggi qualifying 21st and 23rd for tomorrow's Belgian Grand Prix, although both drivers were briefly qualified mid-field following the rain shower at the start of the session. Their hopes that the unpredictable Spa weather would result in them starting 14th and 18th ended when the track dried rapidly towards the end of the session, but they were able to maintain the grid positions achieved yesterday.
In this morning's untimed practice session Andrea reported some balance and grip problems which the team worked to rectify, and by the end of the session he said the car was much improved. This balance was lost in qualifying, however, Andrea commenting that the rear of the car had lost grip and was oversteering as a result. His best lap was ruined at the very end of qualifying when rain affected two corners on the circuit.
Team mate Giovanni Lavaggi spent this morning trying a number of changes to his car's set-up, and in final qualifying was much happier with the balance. He was lapping faster and faster at the end of the session, eventually encountering the rain which starting three minutes from the end.
ANDREA MONTERMINI (I) : 21st - 2m02.405s
"This morning we played around with the front of the car to try and solve an understeer problem, but although we improved the balance I then found the car oversteering in qualifying because we went the wrong way with a change. The track was quite fast towards the end and I think everyone was hoping to set their best time on the last minute or so, but there was rain at two corners and so you had to back off."
GIOVANNI LAVAGGI (I) : 23rd - 2m06.407s
"The car was handling ok after all the changes that we tried this morning. When the rain started at the beginning of qualifying I managed one timed lap, but I had to be very careful because there were cars spinning off and crashing in front of me. When the track dried I was able to go quicker on each lap, but when the rain started again I decided to stop rather than risk something happening."
Belgian Grand Prix
Final Qualifying, 26 August 1995