Saturday: Force India in Force!

What a surprise during this qualifying session! It will surely be remembered and recorded as the first pole position for a Force India. Giancarlo secures the 4th pole position of his career, the first with the Indian team. The Force India cars made a sensation on the Spa-Francorchamps track this Saturday. In the morning, it was Adrian Sutil, the German who managed to climb to the top of the timing sheets and take the 3rd fastest time. The Italian Fisichella achieved the 8th fastest time, just three-tenths behind his teammate.

During the qualifying sessions, both Force India cars managed to qualify for Q2 without any issues. Better yet, they competed for the fastest time of the weekend with BMW and Toyota. Ultimately, it was Adrian Sutil who placed 11th, just ahead of world champions Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. As for Fisichella, he achieved the perfect lap and will start from pole position on Sunday during the Belgian Grand Prix, which is known to be challenging. This demonstrates that Force India has made up for the deficit it had at the start of the season and can more than hope to score its very first points in its history.

**Giancarlo Fisichella – 8th and 1st**:

This is one of my favorite circuits, I’ve always done well in the past, and I knew we would be competitive this year. I really didn’t expect to be on pole! It was simply amazing, it’s like a dream. I’m so happy for myself, for the team, for the mechanics, and the engineers who did a fantastic job. They made a big step forward in Valencia, especially considering our budget and resources. This morning, we had a little accident when I hit a rabbit, but my engineer told me we were lucky, and it’s true! What a result! I’m no longer just looking at the points, but for more now. We are on the right path, and we need to finish the job!

Adrian Sutil – 3rd and 11th:

It’s an incredible day for the team. Congratulations to Giancarlo: it’s an amazing result for him and a very good thing for the team. We have worked hard, and the guys truly deserve such a result. For me, it was a pretty good session, but I’m still a bit disappointed because I didn’t manage to use the soft tires effectively. The hard tires were much faster on my car – we don’t know why, but we’ll definitely study the matter. Normally, we should be in Q3 – as Giancarlo showed – but from my 11th place, I still think points are possible. We are quite good on long stints, and the car is performing well. From that point of view, I’m rather happy.

Dr. Vijay Mallya – Chairman & CEO:

« What an incredible result we’ve achieved here! I am so proud of Giancarlo, the team in the garage and at the factory, and also for the entire Indian nation. There’s nothing more to say: we have been true to ourselves and the country is proud. »