Speed Euroseries - Le Castellet - Qualifying Report The SPEED Euroseries’ new era as support package for the LMS got under way this afternoon with 45 minutes of qualifying, 16 Honda powered cars out on track and pole position for a former Grand Prix driver.
With just five minutes to go in the session, Alex Caffi, veteran of 56 Formula One starts, pulled out a quick lap, fractions of a second faster than Warren Hughes who had dominated much of the session. “I am happy to score the first pole position of the new series,” said the Italian who emphasised his enthusiasm for the six-event package.The honour of being out first fell to Darren Burke (Juno) with Julian Schell (Ligier) close on his heels. However, Alex Craven, whose Lanan Racing Ligier had been suffering from gear shift maladies during the earlier practice session, and Alex Caffi in a works Wolf were initially quickest with lap times in the 2 min 04 bracket.
A small group led by Steven Kane (Ligier) soon knocked a couple of seconds off this but Warren Hughes had yet to get into his stride. The new WF03s had probably been quickest in the morning practice. The Hughes/Jody Firth car certainly was. A transponder failure put the Nigel Moore/Joey Foster car further back but the team reckoned the car could well have been second fastest.
About 15 minutes left in qualifying Hughes was almost down to the two-minute mark. With 24 minutes remaining he became the first under two minutes with Kane’s time the only one near. WFR Team mate Joey Foster was, at this stage, underlining what an effective package the Peter Elleray design is appearing to be with third place, falling back soon after behind Ivan Bellarosa in the other factory Wolf. With 10 minutes to go four drivers, Hughes, Kane, Bellarosa and Caffi were below 2 mins 01 seconds with the latter three particularly close. Five minutes later and Alex pointed out to the rest his Formula 1 experience with a time a mere fraction ahead of Warren.
By this time Hughes had parked his car in the pits well satisfied with the way the session had gone. “I thought we’d done enough,” reflected team owner Jonathan France. However, as he pointed out there was no point in just driving round and round. The car has come a long way since its brief shake down. Warren was still experiencing a “niggle” with the brake balance of the car but declared himself, nevertheless, highly delighted. With Warren in the pits, Alex was still top when the chequered flag was brought down. The result was particularly satisfying for the Wolf team given the fact that an electrical problem in the earlier practice had meant a loss of around 1,000 revs. This solved, the Wolf was circulating around five seconds a lap faster despite the fact that its gear ratios were still too short causing Alex to lift on the straights. It all bodes well for tomorrow with a genuine international battle expected. Alex and Warren’s times were perilously close while Steven Kane was “pretty pleased to be third” despite a disrupted fastest laps. | 
