July 03, 2004
Running order (based in reversed order from 2004 European Grand Prix Race)

Group 1 (5 cars) - Kieran Ryan, Nazario Nuti, Matt Hunt, Ryan McConkey, John Harland

Group 2 (5 cars) - Vincent Keersmaekers, Paul Sleight, Andreas Wagner, Cristian Forausberger, Chris Goodley

Group 3 (6 cars) - Javier Aparicio, Angelo Wolner, Miodrag Mihailovic, David Brown, Ross Loram, Kari Koski

Group 4 (6 cars) - Daniel Wilkinson, Toby Lock, Steve Elencevski, Matt Maple, Mikko Jakonen, Scott Whiteman

Intro:

Hello and welcome to follow Formula One Virtual World Championship qualifying session live from sunny Indianapolis, USA. Weather today looks to be nice and sunny so we should have perfect conditions for the 9th qualifying session of the season.

Lap around the track:

?Powering up to some 209mph / 335km/h in seventh gear as you cross the famous yard of bricks, you then brake hard for the tight right hander that takes you onto the twisty infield section of the track. The 90-degree turn is taken at 56mph / 90km/h in second gear and flows into an equally tight left-hander, which is taken at of 71mph / 115km/h, still in second.

?The circuit then gently bends to the right as you accelerate to turn four. You brake from speeds of around 140mph / 225km/h in fifth to 80mph / 128km/h for the right hander. A short burst of power takes you to turn five, a 45-degree right hander, which is taken at 71mph / 115km/h in second gear.

?Another quick spurt on the throttle leads to the long 180-degree left hander of turn six. This swings you into turn seven, a right-hander that is negotiated at similar speeds and leads onto the back straight.

?Accelerating towards the 90-degree turn eight, you reach 181mph / 290km/h in seventh gear before dropping to 75mph / 120km/h in third for the left hander. The s bends of turns nine and ten follow immediately. The tight right-hander of nine is taken at 46mph / 75km/h in first gear, with your speed increasing ever so slightly to 56mph / 90km/h in second for the left hander of ten. On the exit it?s quick on the power along the short straight that leads to the final corner of the infield section, reaching some 126mph / 200km/h, before braking to 81mph / 130km/h to negotiate the right hander.

?Accelerating out, the circuit begins to curve to the right as you rejoin the oval. Flicking up through the gears, you keep hard on the throttle through the rights of turns twelve and thirteen, which leads you back onto the pit straight. Turn twelve is taken at 156mph / 250km/h and by the time you reach the long, sweeping banking of turn 13, you are travelling at some 190mph / 305km/h in top gear as you begin another lap.?

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Group 1:

(Ryan, Nuti, Hunt, McConkey, Harland)

Ryan

Phoenix

Kieran Ryan rolls out from Phoenix F1 garage to begin his out lap. There are some clouds overhead, but they are not threatening, so it should be all dry Qualifying, and the Michelin runners might have small tyre advantage over Bridgestone on these conditions. Kieran Ryan drove one race earlier at Monaco, there he was driving Simsoa car and he did superb job by taking the poleposition and finishing the race in 2nd place.

Ryan ups his pace as he goes over the line to start his flying lap of the 4.192km Indianapolis circuit. He will set the benchmark in all sectors for others. S1 in time of 21.894 that's very good sector time, he is really flying out there. S2 time is 52.549 and that's very good also. Now only the long sweep back to start finish straight to complete his lap in 1m09.973 that's a very good time indeed!

Ryan's stunners was 2 tenths quicker than last years fastest lap in race.

Ryan Finish Line 1 Sector 1 21.894

1:09.973 Sector 2 52.549

Nuti

JTM

Nazario Nuti now he is driving first time this year as he replaces Juan Tortella at JTM team. Nuti is only 22 thousands behind after S1. He drops nearly 4 tenths on sector 2 and is now 0.381 seconds behind the Phoenix F1 driver. P2 for Nuti, he had very good final sector and closes the gap down to 0.243 seconds at the line. JTM team looks very pleased with his effort.

Nuti Finish Line 2 Sector 1 21.916 +0.022

1:10.216 +0.243 Sector 2 52.930 +0.381

Hunt

SCUM

Matt Hunt is back behind the wheel of SCUM Holden car, but through the S1 he is already over 3 tenths down. At S2 he looses even more time is now over 1.1 seconds behind so he will go to p3 when he crosses the line. 3rd place in time of 1m11.234 for Hunt, 1.261 seconds slower than polesitter Ryan.

Hunt Finish Line 3 Sector 1 22.233 +0.339

1:11.234 +1.261 Sector 2 53.708 +1.159

McConkey

MMC

Drivers was Disqualified.

McConkey Finish Line 0 Sector 1 22.016 +0.122

1:09.884 -0.089 Sector 2 52.827 +0.278

Harland

Puma

John Harland will be the final man on the 1st group. The Brit is 6 tenths down after S1. This is Harland's 2nd outing on Puma F1 car. At Canada he didn't have the best debut on the series and this doesn't look to be stunner either. S2 completed and he is now 2.1 seconds down on Ryan's time, 3rd quickest Hunt was 1 second faster after S2 so Harland can't catch him and will go to P4 when he crosses the line. 1m12.049 for Harland, he too gained some time compared to Ryan over final sector, but was still just over 2 seconds slower than Phoenix F1 driver.

Harland Finish Line 4 Sector 1 22.495 +0.601

1:12.049 +2.076 Sector 2 54.676 +2.127

After first group Ryan leads. Nuti is second, Hunt is 3rd and Harland is in 4th place. We will be right back, don't go away.

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Group 2:

(Keermaekers, Sleight, Wagner, Forausberger, Goodley)

Welcome back to follow Indy qualifying session. 2nd group is ready to roll out and we will see drivers like Keermaekers, Sleight, Wagner, Forausberger, and Goodley on this set. Keersmaekers

Woods

Didn't Drive

Keersmaekers Finish Line - Sector 1 -.--- +-.---

-:--.--- +-.--- Sector 2 -.--- +-.---

Sleight

MMC

Drivers was Disqualified.

Sleight Finish Line 0 Sector 1 22.030 +0.136

1:10.278 +0.305 Sector 2 53.134 +0.585

Wagner

Puma

Puma's Andreas Wagner now - S1 and he is 6 tenths down. Team Harland was slightly quicker trough first sector so Wagner has some work to be done if he wishes to beat his teammate. S2 and the Swiss is 1.499 behind now and Harland is now 6 tenths behind so Wagner should take p4 easily. The Clock stops on Wagner who goes fourth, 1.8 seconds slower than Ryan in pole. Wagner lost 3 tenths to Ryan on final sector and beat his teammate by 3 tenths.

Wagner Finish Line 4 Sector 1 22.531 +0.637

1:11.830 +1.857 Sector 2 54.048 +1.499

Forausberger

MMRT

MMRT's first runner is Cristian Forausberger. Four tenths off the pace at the first split for the Belgian. S2 and he drops nearly 1 second more to Ryan's pace and is now 1.4 seconds behind. Wagner was 1.5 seconds off so Forausberger might drop the Puma-duo down one place. 1m11.702 for Forausberger and he takes 4th place 1.7 seconds slower than current polesitter Kieran Ryan.

Forausberger Finish Line 4 Sector 1 22.340 +0.446

1:11.702 +1.729 Sector 2 53.944 +1.395

Goodley

Woods

Chris Goodley on 2nd Woods Racing Toyota's is next. Teammate Vincent Keersmaekers didn't drive so we can't compare his lap to his teammate. S1 and Goodley starts promising as he is only 2 tenths down. But he looses 7 tenths more over S2 and is now just over 9 tenths off the poletime. This is still faster than Hunt did and the SCUM driver is currently on 3rd place so Goodley could take that place. 1n10.860 for the Britt and he takes P3 from Hunt. Ryan, Nuti and Goodley is the top-3 after 2nd group of drivers has completed their qualifying runs.

Goodley Finish Line 3 Sector 1 22.107 +0.213

1:10.860 +0.887 Sector 2 53.471 +0.922

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Group 3:

(Aparicio, Wolner, Mihailovic, Brown, Loram, Koski)

In 3rd group we have both Simsoa drivers, 2nd SCUM and MMRT driver and also Loram driving EIRE and Koski driving FinOz cars. But before Loram and Koski we see Aparicio, Wolner, Mihailovic and Brown on track. Aparicio

Simsoa

1st of Simsoa drivers start his flying lap, it's Javier Aparicio. S1 for the Spanish driver see him over 4 tenths down on Ryan's time. Phoenix F1 driver set really good benchmark for the others. S2 for Aparicio and he is now 1.3 seconds down and very close to Forausberger's time there. The MMRT driver is currently on 5th place, so if Aparicio's Simsoa has enough speed on the oval section he might go to 5th. He claws a tenth back through S3 and goes to 5th place. 1m11.253 for Aparicio.

Aparicio Finish Line 5 Sector 1 22.350 +0.456

1:11.253 +1.280 Sector 2 53.916 +1.367

Wolner

SCUM

Angelo Wolner made his debut at Canada where he didn't have too successful race, after disqualification at Qualifying he finished the race in 14th place. S1 for Wolner and he is nearly 5 tenths down, teammate Hunt was few tenths quicker there and is currently on 4th place with time of 1m11.234. S2 sees Wolner to loose a second to Ryan and he is now 3 tenths down on Hunt's time also. P8 for Wolner, disappointing final sector for him as he lost 3 tenths more to Ryan, 1m11.727 for him and nearly half a second slower than teammate Hunt.

Wolner Finish Line 8 Sector 1 22.372 +0.478

1:11.727 +1.754 Sector 2 54.038 +1.489

Mihailovic

MMRT

2nd of MMRT's on track now as Miodrag Mihailovic starts his flying lap. Teammate Forausberger is currently on 6th place with lap time of 1m11.702. S1 for Mihailovic is 22.247 tenth quicker than teammate and 0.353 slower than Ryan did. S2 now see the MMRT driver to drop 6 tenths from P1 time, but he is now half a second in front of teammates time and very close to Goodley's P3 time. Mihailovic lost few hundreds to Ryan on S3 and he goes to 4th, 1m10.939 and beats teammate by 8 tenths.

Mihailovic Finish Line 4 Sector 1 22.247 +0.353

1:10.939 +0.966 Sector 2 53.464 +0.915

Brown

Simsoa

David Brown is starting his flying lap on his Simsoa car. Teammate Aparicio is currently on 6th place. Aparicio's lap time was 1m11.253. S1 shows Brown is just over 2 tenths down on P1 time but already 2 tenths quicker than Aparicio was. S2 for the Brit and he is now just over second down on Ryan's stunning time and opens up the gap to Aparicio to 3 tenths. Flat out over the line and Brown goes to P5 1m10.985 beating teammate's time nearly 3 tenths. Simsoa driver are now 5th and 6th place.

Brown Finish Line 5 Sector 1 22.144 +0.250

1:10.985 +1.012 Sector 2 53.593 +1.044

Loram

EIRE

Ross Loram has been in the shadow of his teammate Scott Whiteman. There are ever growing rumours that Loram would loose his driving seat quickly if he can't find more speed and start challenging the point scoring positions. So far nothing is official, just rumors and Loram sets S1 time, but is already half a second down to leader, this is not too good news for him. S2 and Loram is now 1.5 seconds down and equals Wolner's sector time. Wolner is currently 8th. The Clock stops on Loram and he goes 8th, 1m11.391 for the EIRE driver, 1.418 seconds down on P1 time.

Loram Finish Line 8 Sector 1 22.437 +0.543

1:11.391 +1.418 Sector 2 54.035 +1.486

Koski

FinOz

Last man on 3rd group is FinOz Racing driver Kari Koski, FinOz has the same situation as EIRE has as Kari is left in the shadows of Steve Elencevski's. Steve has been twice on pole and took his and teams first ever win at European GP few weeks ago. Meanwhile Kari's best qualifying position is 3rd and he has scored only 9 points so far, while Steve has 39 points. S1 for Koski and he is only 53 thousands down on Ryan's time, can he do it? Koski keeps up the pace through S2 and is now 0.246 down and quicker than p2 holder Nuti is. Disappointing final sector for FinOz driver as he goes to p3 0.325 seconds slower than Ryan and looses out to Nuti over the final sector.

Koski Finish Line 3 Sector 1 21.947 +0.053

1:10.298 +0.325 Sector 2 52.795 +0.246

That was the 3rd group and final break before the fastest drivers from Canadian GP. Ryan leads, Nuti is 2nd and Koski 3rd, we will be right back.

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Group 3:

(Wilkinson, Lock, Elencevski, Maple, Jakonen, Whiteman)

Final group of 6 cars, Wilkinson, Lock, Elencevski, Maple, Jakonen who leads the drivers champ and Canadian GP winner Whiteman. Wilkinson

Phoenix

2nd Phoenix driver is starting his flying lap. Teammate Kieran Ryan leads and team manager Andy Graydon is watching the monitors at the pit wall. S1 for the Australian and he is 0.2 seconds down on his new teammate, can he pick up the speed on S2? 53.336 for Wilkinson and he looses half a second to his teammate and is now nearly 8 tenths down. The clocks stops for Wilkinson and he goes to 4th 1m10.675, some 7 tenths down to his teammate.

Wilkinson Finish Line 4 Sector 1 22.138 +0.244

1:10.675 +0.702 Sector 2 53.336 +0.787

Lock

JTM

5 to go? Toby Lock starts his flying lap on his JTM car. S1 and the Brit is 3 tenths down to Ryan's time. Did the Phoenix driver do lap which will hold to the end? S2 for Lock and he is now 6 tenths down and looks like he might crab the 4th place away from Wilkinson. 1m10.588 and indeed he takes P4 while his teammate Nuti holds on P2 with 4 drivers to go.

Lock Finish Line 4 Sector 1 22.221 +0.327

1:10.588 +0.615 Sector 2 53.172 +0.623

Elencevski

FinOz

Steve Elencevski played down the FinOz chances after disappointing Canadian GP where they weren't so competitive as they had hoped after successful European GP. Steve said he doesn't wait too much from this race either and hopes to get back to the Europe and do some testing for the British GP few weeks time. S1 and the Australian is 0.111 down on Ryan's time. Teammate Koski is on 3rd place currently, but Kari was slightly faster on 1st sector. Hold on! What a stunner from Steve to S2 as he sets new record there and goes 68 thousands under Ryan's time, he was nearly 2 tenths quicker on the twisty infield, can he hold it to the end or does he have too much downforce for the fast oval section? 1m09.992 and he goes to P2 by only 19 thousands! That was close but Ryan holds on?

Elencevski Finish Line 2 Sector 1 22.005 +0.111

1:09.992 +0.019 Sector 2 52.481 -0.068

Maple

Mapes-VO

Drivers was Disqualified.

Maple Finish Line 0 Sector 1 21.856 -0.038

1:10.236 +0.263 Sector 2 52.827 +0.278

Jakonen

Mapes-VO

2 to go? Mikko Jakonen and Scott Whiteman, first Jakonen. S1 and the Finn is 1 tenth down but can he make it back on sector 2 as Elencevski did. S2 time 52.896 and he is now over 3 tenths down to Ryan's time, I don't think he can do it, but you never know. The clock stops for Jakonen and he goes to P3 1m10.180 and he looses out to Ryan and Elencevski.

Jakonen Finish Line 3 Sector 1 21.998 +0.104

1:10.180 +0.207 Sector 2 52.896 +0.347

Whiteman

EIRE

Last man, Scott Whiteman, Kieran Ryan and Phoenix F1 is on the front row and alongside is FinOz driver Steve Elencevski, but what can Whiteman do, can he drop them down one place and maybe take 4th pole of the season? S1 and Whiteman is flying 21.756 is new record and he is 0.138 seconds quicker than Ryan, now into twisty infield section, can he hold on? S2 time 52.393 not as fast as Elencevski did, but slightly quicker than Ryan and that's the important information here. 0.156 seconds advantage to final sector should be enough? Over the line goes EIRE car and YES, Whiteman takes pole 1m09.568 and at the end he is 4 tenths quicker than Ryan, stunning final sector and great lap in overall for the Australian EIRE driver. EIRE teams looks to be very happy with Whiteman's time.

Whiteman Finish Line 1 Sector 1 21.756 -0.138

1:09.568 -0.405 Sector 2 52.393 -0.156

Summary

Scott Whiteman did superb lap to take the pole from long time leader Kieran Ryan. Steve Elencevski did solid job as in earlier qualifyings and starts from 3rd place on the grid. 3 disqualifications as both MMC drivers (Ryan McConkey and Paul Sleight) and also Matt Maple (Mapes-VO) were disqualified by illegal cornering (Cut turn 8 too much).

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1 Whiteman 9.568

2 Ryan 9.973

3 Elencevski +0.019

4 Jakonen +0.207

5 Nuti +0.243

6 Koski +0.325

7 Lock +0.615

8 Wilkinson +0.702

9 Goodley +0.887

10 Mihailovic +0.966

11 Brown +1.012

12 Hunt +1.261

13 Aparicio +1.280

14 Loram +1.418

15 Forausberger +1.729

16 Wolner +1.754

17 Wagner +1.857

18 Harland +2.076

19 McConkey penalty

20 Maple penalty

21 Sleight penalty

- Keersmaekers no time

Poleposition development

Ryan Finish Line 1 Sector 1 21.894

1:09.973 Sector 2 52.549

Whiteman Finish Line 1 Sector 1 21.756 -0.138

1:09.568 -0.405 Sector 2 52.393 -0.156