“This is one of the good days, the best so far this year,” claimed Caterham team principal Cyril Abiteboul after Giedo van der Garde managed to progress through to Q2 for the first time in 2013.
The Dutchman was ecstatic with his performance which sees him start 15th, the best starting position the team has achieved since 2010.
“I’m obviously very pleased to put my name into the Q2 timesheets for the first time this year and I want to thank Tony, Cyril and the whole team for the jobs everyone did today,” he said.
“Honestly, it’s a great feeling, but it’s still part of the learning process for me. I’ve said since the start of the season that I’d make progress, and today showed how far we’ve all come in just six races, and there’s more to come.”
The 28-year-old is confident he can make progress in the race.
“Sunday could be very interesting. I start between the two Williams cars of Bottas and Maldonado and I’ve had good starts all year, so hopefully I can have another good launch, avoid anything like the GP2 mess on Friday, and from there anything’s possible.
“I finished on the podium here last year in GP2 and, while that’s not going to happen this year, we will definitely be racing quite a few cars all afternoon.”
Abiteboul praised the team and hopes Saturday’s achievement will motivate the team to do better.
“This is another small step in our ongoing development, another reason why we are all here working so hard to be part of the show, and I want everyone in our team to use this as another source of motivation for Sunday and the rest of the season. We obviously have the main task ahead of us tomorrow, but days like this are why we’re in this sport, and to have our first Q2 of the year when Tony’s on track with us makes this a very special day.”
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