By Huw Alban
April 29 2002

After the strong free practice form OrangeArrows looked in great shape for a competitive qualifying hour. Frentzen did well to qualify inside the top 15 in 13th place, but he has been inside the top 10 all weekend. By comparison Bernoldi seemed to flounder and finished 20th. Dark clouds loomed over the Imola circuit about 20 minutes before the session was due to start. In a pre-qualifying interview with ITV, Heinz-Harald Frentzen talked about what makes for a good lap of Imola. In his opinion it is a good combination of acceleration and braking; the corners on the circuit are not particularly challenging in his opinion.

Enrique Bernoldi was the first car out on the circuit, but disaster struck almost immediately with his Cosworth engine letting go in spectacular style around the Acque Minerale. Fortunately there is a tunnel under the circuit near that point so at least he can get back to the garage easily and jump into the spare car. Unfortunately the spare is set up for Heinz-Harald so the team are going to have their work cut out for them to get it ready for him.

Bernoldi makes it back to the Arrows garage with 49 minutes of the hour long session to go. Heinz-Harald Frentzen makes it out onto the track for the first time a couple of minutes later. His first quick lap is a 1'24"879, quick enough for 8th on the grid at this point. It is expected that most of the grid will take to the track early to get a lap in, as the weather forecasters are predicting rain about half way through the session.

Enrique Bernoldi manages to get a lap in in the spare car with 40 minutes of the session left to go. His first attempt in an unfamiliar car is a 1'26"254, enough for 20th spot on the grid. Frentzen's first run time has now dropped to 14th with most of the grid now having posted lap times.

Frentzen managed to improve his time to a 1'24"210 on his second run, enough to haul himslef up to 10th. Bernoldi also improves on his next quick lap to 1'25"589 and makes up one place to 19th. The top teams are posting laps at this time and the TV commentary noted that the circuit was getting faster and faster as more and more tyre rubber gets laid down on the track.

Bernoldi's third run is even better, and a 1'24"808 moves him one more place to 18th with 27 minutes of the session left to go. Frentzen's efforts meanwhile have been demoted 2 places to 12th.

Frentzen puts in another run with 10 minutes of the session left to go. As he completes his quick lap, Bernoldi drives out of the Arrows garage for his next run of the afternoon. Frentzen's run isn't any quicker and he stays 12th. Bernoldi also fails to improve on his best time so far and he stays in a lowly 20th.

With 2 and a half minutes to go, Jordan's Takuma Sato posts a quick lap to pinch 12th from Frentzen. Frentzen takes to the track to join the group out to make the most of the last few minutes of the session and improves to a 1'23"862, but he stays 13th because of an even better lap from BAR's Olivier Panis.

OrangeArrows will start the San Marino Grand Prix from 13th and 20th places.