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Fisichella to start 17th

Sepang (Malaysia): Pipped by Honda’s Rubens Barichello in the last corner, Force India’s Giancarlo Fisichella will start 17th in Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix after yet again coming tantalisingly close to making the cut for the second qualifying session here on Saturday.

The other Force India driver Adrian Sutil, who struggled to get the car balance on the softer tyres, will start 21st on the grid.

It turned out to be almost a repeat show of Melbourne as Fisichella once again impressed in the final practice session and looked set to make it to the second qualifying session before Barichello marred his party with just 0.042s separating them.

Force India, however, can take heart from the fact that while other teams’ fastest lap times in qualifying have remained the same as in 2007, the Vijay Mallya-owned side improved its quickest lap by over two seconds.

“Just five hundredths away from Q2, it was very close. I am a little disappointed with not getting there, but I did my best and did a fantastic lap,” Fisichella, a champion here with Renault in 2006, said.

Despite not making it to Q2, Fisichella remained optimistic about the car. “It’s very encouraging — just five hundredths from the top 16 and Q2, and just under a second from the quickest lap time of that session — it is very promising for the future,” said the Italian.

Sutil too shared his teammate’s optimism. “It was not a good qualifying, but to be honest I was expecting this as we had not had a great practice session in the morning. In the race and over longer runs I think we are better. In Melbourne it was OK and I have a good feeling there is more in the car,” he said.

Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne admitted it was frustrating to be within a second of the quickest time in the first session and still be 17th on the grid. — PTI

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