the forefront from the start of qualifying. In Q2 the Mercedes drivers were the only ones to get through on the soft tyres only. Both saved a set of supersoft, w | Forum

Alex Noren stormed into a two-shot lead at the halfway stage of the Nedbank Golf Challenge after a historic second day at the Gary Player Country Club. Cheap Nike Air Max 98 For Sale . Leaderboard Nedbank Golf Challenge Fabrizio Zanotti made the first ace in the 35-year history of the tournament, and that achievement was soon followed by the events first albatross courtesy of Lasse Jensen, but it was the red-hot Noren who ended the round in the outright lead. Alex Noren put himself on course for a fourth win of the season Noren, who became the first three-time winner on the European Tour this season at last months British Masters, fired a 67 to reach eight under par, while home favourite Louis Oosthuizen carded a best-of-the-week 66 to earn a share of second with compatriots George Coetzee, Jaco Van Zyl, Chris Wood and Zanotti. Henrik Stenson slipped to one under as he returned an erratic 74, but the Race to Dubai leader retained his six-shot advantage over nearest challenger Danny Willett after the Englishman was also two over for the day and five over for the tournament. Noren fired a superb 67 to earn a two-shot lead The second round finished in darkness following an earlier delay of an hour and 42 minutes due to the threat of lightning, and Noren came out firing on the resumption as he made five birdies on the back nine to romp home in 32.The in-form Swede picked up three shots in four holes immediately after the turn, although he did blot his card with a bogey at the 12th, and further gains at 15 and 17 lifted him to the top of the field. Highlights of the second round at the Gary Player Country Club in Sun City. Noren took over the clubhouse lead from Oosthuizen, who made the biggest move of the day after producing the first bogey-free round of the week to vault 19 places up the leaderboard.The former Open champion birdied the fourth and sixth and then reeled off three in a row around the turn and, although the putts dried up down the stretch, he managed to get one to drop for another birdie at the 17th to move to six under par. Henrik Stenson remains six clear of Danny Willett despite an erratic 72 Coetzee made his fourth birdie of the round at the closing hole to cap a second straight 69, while Zanotti provided the early fireworks when he followed birdies at the opening two holes with his perfect blow at the fourth - holing his seven-iron at the 210-yard par-three to register the 40th ace of the European Tour season. Watch NOW TV Watch Sky Sports for just ￡6.99. No contract. The Paraguayan looked certain to be in the lead by the close of play when he birdied 10 and 14 to get to eight under, but he dropped shots at each of the final two holes to sign for a 68. Louis Oosthuizen produced the first flawless round of the tournament Wood, like Oosthuizen, kept a bogey off his card and picked up three birdies in five holes to close out a front-nine 33 before he parred every hole of the inward half in a resolute 69, while Van Zyl made it a five-way tie for second after mixing four birdies with a lone bogey.Alejandro Canizares birdied the final two holes to card a 68 to earn solo seventh on five under, but Ross Fisher dropped to four under after a poor finish in the fading light. Fabrizio Zanotti enjoyed the first hole-in-one in the events history The Englishman moved to within two of the lead after making three straight birdies from the eighth, and he responded to a bogey at 12 with a good putt for a three at 17 before he pulled his second into the hazard at the last and ran up a double-bogey six for a 72.Fisher is alongside Matthew Southgate, who also birdied eight, nine and 10 and picked up two more at the 16th and 18th to return a 68, while Branden Grace moved into the top 10 with a five-birdie 69. Italys Fabrizio Zanotti holes out at the fourth in Sun City to take the lead in the Nedbank golf Challenge Ryder Cup star Andy Sullivan is a further stroke adrift as he also fired a 69, and Jensen produced the shot of the day shortly after dropping shots at the 10th and 12th holes.The young Dane struck a mighty three-iron from 240 yards out at the long 14th, and his ball took a kindly bounce in the fringe and rolled into the cup for the third albatross on the European Tour this season.New on-air time: Due to the threat of bad weather on Saturday, live coverage of the third round will now start at 7am on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golf. Also See: Nedbank leaderboard Zanottis historic ace Fan falls into hazard Danger at Lost City Air Max 98 Outlet Online . -- Playing time has been limited for Maxim Tissot this season, so the Montreal Impact defender made the most of his first scoring opportunity on Saturday. Air Max 98 Cheap . Scott won the Australian PGA last week in his first event in Australia since winning the U.S. Masters in April. American Matt Kuchar, ahead by two strokes with four to play and even with Scott with one to go, double-bogeyed the 18th after taking two shots to get out of a bunker. http://www.airmax98outlet.com/ . During the athletes parade, the 23-strong Ukrainian team was represented by a lone flagbearer in an apparent protest at the presence of Russian troops in Ukraines Crimean peninsula. ESPN rounds up all the reaction from up and down the paddock after qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.MercedesLewis Hamilton (1st): I loved that lap, it felt fantastic. It was poetry in motion - the adrenaline was crazy. Ive felt good all weekend and it all started with the initial setup from Friday. Ive been working closely with my engineers and mechanics, taking small steps forward with the balance of the car, and I knew if it all came together then I could do that kind of lap time. Its a really tough circuit and you have to get everything right, especially the braking zones. The team has done another fantastic job today and Im looking forward to the race tomorrow.Nico Rosberg (2nd): Ive had a good weekend so far, but Lewis produced some really good laps. I couldnt match him today. But my race pace was really good in practice on Friday, so Im very positive for tomorrow. Its a long race and you never know what can happen, I will give it everything. Its clear our car is the quickest around the Monza track and I anticipate a great duel with Lewis again. The atmosphere is great and it would mean a lot to me if I were to win here.Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: That was a very impressive and dominant performance for the team - and especially from Lewis as well. He has had a little advantage throughout most of the weekend and he could make really good use of it this afternoon. It was important to get both cars through Q2 on the soft tyres, so we have that strategic advantage for the first stint and then more options in the race, and both boys did that quite comfortably.We have seen some good gaps this afternoon and during practice - the car has been in a good sweet spot ever since we hit the track on Friday morning. But, like always, we only score the points on Sunday afternoon. So lets do our properly homework tonight and everything we can to make sure the picture looks just as good tomorrow evening.Paddy Lowe, executve director (technical): Congratulations to Lewis on an absolutely stunning lap in Q3 for pole position and a great job by Nico to complete the front row. The car ran really well today and its testament to the hard work and dedication of the team back at Brackley and Brixworth, as well as the team here in the garage to get the right setup in place for the drivers.We elected to run the soft tyre in Q2, considering that the better tyre to start the race on, with the knowledge it had the pace to get us safely through to Q3. Both drivers were also keen to get more practice on the soft tyre. Congratulations once again to the team on a fantastic result at this amazing historic venue.FerrariSebastian Vettel (3rd): Overall it has been a good weekend so far, putting both cars in the second row. Im sure we can have a good race from there tomorrow. Hopefully we can take the advantage at the start but we have to wait and see. Once the lights go out we hope we can find a good traction which the tyres should give us. Its a long way down to Turn 1 and even if we can try something the race is not one stretch, its 53 laps around here.To be honest, after I saw the times already in Q1 and in Q2 on a different compound, I knew it would be difficult, but you never know...I was pushing as hard as I could, probably too hard in the first run in Q3 and it wasnt a good lap; fortunately in the end I got it back again. I think overall Im pretty happy, not so much with the beginning of the lap but I think our race pace is better than the gap in qualifying indicates, so well see. We dont mind whos behind us, the important thing is whoever is in front and we still have two cars.The gap is a bit bigger than we would like, but equally the last two races things are coming down a little bit more and things are heading the right way also back in the factory. Even if we dont like it, we need to be a bit patient, Im sure it will come.Kimi Raikkonen (4th): Today we did the best we could and got the most out of the car. For sure we would have been more satisfied with the first row, but this is the maximum we could achieve. We have to be happy with what we did knowing our limits, but obviously our aim is to be higher up. Tomorrow is a different day and if we can make a very strong start we can build our race.Certain teams will start with different tires, time will tell what will happen in the long run, but we felt that starting with the Supersoft compound was the best choice for us. Its going to be a long race, tricky for the tires, and a lot of things can happen; we have to put ourselves up there and if something happens we have to try to maximize our result. Well try to make the good choice when it comes to pit stops and see how it pans out. Our rivals have been very strong today, but well try our best tomorrow and hopefully we have the chance to challenge them.WilliamsValtteri Bottas (5th): I felt it was a very good qualifying today. Fifth is a good position to start in and Ill be on the clean side of the track, so we definitely maximised the potential of the car. I felt I did one of my best qualifyings ever. I think we have a good chance to score some good points and I hope Felipe can also come back from P11 with a free choice of tyres to get some strong points for the team.Felipe Massa (11th): P11 is not where we expected to be today - we thought we would get into Q3 quite easily, so its a bit disappointing. I had to go very slow on my outlap before my second run in Q2, and as a result the tyres lacked the grip I needed to improve my time and everyone else was going quicker. The benefit is that I get a free choice of tyres tomorrow for the race which will help us with the strategy, so hopefully we can make the most of that.Rob Smedley, head of performance engineering: Overall I think its been a positive session for us, and a good weekend so far. I was fairly confident going into qualifying that we could get a result like this. Valtteri has absolutely maximised everything he could, and managed to get us ahead of the two Red Bulls as well which will be great for the race tomorrow. Felipe wasnt able to quite get his lap together in Q2 unfortunately, but starting P11 gives us a free choice of tyres and he showed great pace on Friday, so we can still get a lot from starting in that position.Red BullDaniel Ricciardo (6th): We expected to be floating around the top five and we were one thousandth of a second off fifth. Its a little frustrating but at least there were no major surprises. Qualifying on the soft tyres would have been ideal but the pace was really high and our lap time was close to the cut off. We were forced to use the super-soft instead to be on the safe side getting into Q3.If we had qualified on the soft tyre we could have had a good fight with Ferrari but that will be a little harder now we are on the super-softs. We knew Williams would be quick around here but with DRS and being strong on the brakes we can still pull off some moves. I think we can have good race pace and it would be nice if we can find an edge overnight but either way we can have some fun and challenge for top five.Max Verstappen: (7th): Im actually pretty happy with qualifying today. I thought we would be more behind but actually everything was very tight. We lost radio communications in the end so I didnt know where I was and when I came back and saw that I was seventh I thought thats not too bad. Were within three hundredths to P5 so I think we cant complain, especially with the compromises we have to make with the downforce levels.You never know what will happen tomorrow, normally were a bit stronger in the race than in qualifying, so lets hope for a good race. Of course you always want to be further ahead but we have to be realistic and this track is a challenge for us.Christian Horner, team principal: Mercedes were obviously in a class of their own today. At a circuit we knew would pose the biggest challenge to us on the calendar; sixth and seventh is about where we realistically expected to be. We are very close to the Williams of Bottas and hopefully at the grand prix tomorrow we can show a stronger race pace.Force IndiaSergio Perez (8th): I think we can be satisfied about todays result. We have been struggling all weekend, but we worked really hard last night to improve the car balance and made a step forward for qualifying. Some of our rivals seem to have very strong pace, but I think we maximised our qualifying effort with both cars in the top ten. In Q1, it was crucial to put together the perfect lap on my first run; that gave me a bit more freedom in Q2, with an extra set of new tyres available.All in all, it was an exciting session and I had a very intense battle with Nico. The strategy options for the race are quite limited and will depend on what happens during our first stint on the supersoft tyres, and how things go on lap one. Our long run pace looked better than our one lap speed, so hopefully we can match the cars ahead of us and get a good result.Nico Hulkenberg (9th): Im as happy as I can be with ninth on the grid. For some reason weve struggled to find the harmony and balance with the car this weekend, so its a good result to see both cars through to Q3. Weve tried a lot of things with the set-up and made some small improvements, but Im still not entirely happy with the balance.Tomorrow is another day - tyres will play a big role and its going to be interesting to see how things play out. When the middle of the grid is so close we need to make sure we make the correct strategy calls because the final results will be decided by some very small gaps.Bob Fernley, deputy team principal: Getting both cars through to Q3 was the goal today and we are pleased to achieve that objective. Eighth and ninth is a good effort and probably a fair reflection of our pace this weekend. We should have a good race car tomorrow, but getting a strong start will be the priority because we know how tough overtaking is around this circuit. The calls from the pit wall will also play a pivotal role in our final result. At the very least we need to hold position and put pressure on the cars ahead to come away with some points.RenaultKevin Magnussen (21st): We expected both Belgian and Italian qualifying to be tough and whilst we qualified better than expected in Spa we didnt achieve that today in Monza. I hoped that with a really, really fantastic lap, we might just have a shot at Q2. I gave everything I had on the first run, I then tried to get a tow from Lewis on the second one but it didnt work. For the third run, I just tried really to give it everything but I went off. Were always aiming higher and I really went for it this afternoon.Jolyon Palmer (20th): We knew it was going to be pretty challenging here and so it was proved to be. On the positive side, I had a nice race simulation yesterday and the car does feel well balanced so better things should be possible on Sunday. Ill be hoping for a bit of spice in the race to help us on our way!Toro RossoCarlos Sainz: P16 is not such a disappointing result if you look at where we were yesterday, so we can bbe a bit happy because yesterday we couldnt go further than P19, so weve done some good work and made some progress. Air Max 98 Outlet. We battled our way through to Q2 and this was our target, so Im satisfied to have got the most out of the car today.The only thing is that this isnt where wed like to be, when weve been fighting for Q3s and P8s all year long up until now... Id like to be fighting for the top ten, but this is where we are right now, unfortunately. Lets see what we can do tomorrow: it will certainly be a tough race but anything can happen!Daniil Kvyat: During todays qualifying session I felt quite comfortable in the car for the first time this weekend and Id like to thank my mechanics and engineers for this. I was completing a good lap in Q1 but I unfortunately lost some time in the last corner during my final timed lap because of Grosjean - my team would have deserved him to look into his mirror!This cost me about two tenths, which is very annoying... I couldve got into Q2. Its a pity, but lets see what we can do tomorrow - I dont expect any miracles and for sure it will be a tricky race, but I will give it my best to finish as high up as possible.Phil Charles, cheif race engineer: A disappointing qualifying for us today. Our recent trend for lowly speed trap rankings was always going to be a potential source of grumpiness here in Monza and that proved to be the case today. The poor straight-line performance was compounded by both drivers not getting the rub of the green. In more detail, Daniil had some car issues up until qualifying and was making a decent improvement in Q1 until he caught Grosjean going slowly in the last corner. Unfortunately, this cost him around 0.15s and a place in Q2.In fairness, some issues with our transponder system may have contributed to showing an out lap instead of a flying lap, making it difficult for other teams to see what our drivers were doing. We are working hard to rectify this issue. As for Carlos, he did a decent job in Q1 but did not manage to put together his best lap in Q2, where a small mistake in the first chicane cost him quite dearly on his last run. A couple of places higher on the grid could have been possible.We have also had some gremlins on the chassis side recently and this makes todays result even more painful. As engineers, drivers and mechanics, we have all worked hard this weekend to complete a programme of tests to try to understand this further. On the positive side, we are starting to make some progress with our issues and so we will come back motivated tomorrow to try to achieve the best result we can.McLarenFernando Alonso (13th): This was probably about where we expected to qualify. We went very well in practice yesterday, so I think we were brought back to reality this afternoon. Q1 was hard for us, and we went for a single new-tyre lap in Q2 and pushed to the maximum, so we have to be happy with ourselves.We always expected Monza to be hard for our package, but its still a bit disappointing to be fighting against a Manor. Well study the strategy overnight, but weve got the choice of starting tyre, so will try and take full advantage of everything tomorrow.Jenson Button (15th): This was always going to be a tough weekend for us, but I thought today might have been a little bit better. It didnt go quite as well as we might have hoped: I didnt do a perfect lap - I drove some better laps through practice - and Fernando pulled out a little bit on me in Q2But well make it good tomorrow. I still think we can race better than we qualified - thats been a strength of ours for the past few races - and our starts have been good recently, so hopefully well push forwards during the race.Erc Boullier, racing director: We always knew that qualifying at Formula Ones fastest circuit would be difficult for us, but it nonetheless feels disappointing not to have been able to mount a stronger challenge to move into Q3.Still, we know that were more than capable of mounting a stronger challenge in the race - and, with freedom of choice over our starting tyre, well be looking to make progress both on track and in the pit-lane. Were hopeful of a better result tomorrow.Yusuke Hasegawa, Hondas head of F1 & executive chief engineer: We knew coming into Monza that this would be a difficult race weekend for us, but finishing in P13 for Fernando and P15 for Jenson in qualifying is still a little disappointing.Both McLaren-Honda drivers drove well today, both in FP3 and qualifying. However, the gruelling fast circuit did not help, and we were out-paced on the straights, which led to a larger than usual gap to the frontrunners.As with most tracks, the long-run stability of our cars should help us to do better in the race than in qualifying, and we also have the option to choose the best tyres to start the race, so we will strategise tonight with the team to aim for points in tomorrows race.SauberFelipe Nasr (18th): It is unfortunate that we could not make it into Q2 today, as I think it would have been possible. I had a decent first stint in Q1, and knew that I could improve on the second set of tyres. It was a good lap, but unfortunately I lost engine power at the exit of Lesmo on the second and last try in Q1, which compromised my lap time. On the other hand, it is positive that we have definitely made a step forward with our aero package.Marcus Ericsson (19th): It was a disappointing qualifying. Q2 was our objective, which could have been possible today. For me the balance of the car has shifted a bit from FP3 to qualifying. I was struggling with more oversteer, which made it more difficult to put a lap together. That cost me some lap time, which was enough to miss out in Q1. For the race it will be important to look after the tyres.ManorPascal Wehrlein(14th): Really happy with qualifying, especially when you take into account how things were for us this morning. We were struggling, I couldnt get a clear lap; it was frustrating as it wasnt quite coming together then. But it did in qualifying, when it mattered, and definitely the pace was right there, perhaps more than we expected.Im very pleased that weve qualified ahead of those guys. (below It shows just how much weve achieved and although I got the most from the package today, theres still more to find in the car that I hope we can tap into in the race. It will be difficult tomorrow; everyone has a Monza package for Monza! But weve put ourselves in the mix and from here we can have a very good race, maybe making the most of some opportunities. As for the start, Spa was disappointing - it was racing - but we start again tomorrow. The first two corners are very tight, so we have to watch out, but Im excited and confident and I want to do a really great job.Esteban Ocon (22nd): The car just died. The dash went, the engine cut - I had no information. It looks like a repeat of yesterdays electrical problem, but were taking a good look and exploring everything to make sure that doesnt happen again tomorrow. Thats what makes qualifying so frustrating, I guess. We know the pace is in the car; Ive been strong here all weekend, particularly this morning, which is why we expected great things from qualifying. Pascal showed how strong the car is, so congrats to him. These problems happen though and now I have to channel that frustration and energy into the race. We need to be focused because anything can happen here, especially with the opening lap and the tight corners at the end of long straights. I think well see a great race tomorrow generally and I hope for me and the team too.Dave Ryan, racing director: Well, first off, apologies to Esteban. We let him down today with a repeat of yesterdays electrical problem and that just isnt good enough. Hopefully we can sort things out tonight and provide him with a reliable car with which he can again demonstrate his immense talent in tomorrows race.Pascal, on the other hand, suffered no such reliability problems and put in a superb performance this afternoon to easily make Q2 for the second race in a row to qualify 14th overall, splitting the two McLarens on the grid in the process. A great result for the team, but coming into this event, thats about where we thought we would end up, so on plan really.Obviously qualifying is one thing, but the race is what its all about and thats where our focus is now. Its going to be a long night for our strategy guys, but thats what they thrive on, so lets see what they come up with tomorrow morning and well take it from there.HaasRomain Grosjean (12th, drops to 17th for gearbox change penalty): It was obviously disappointing to go into qualifying knowing I had the five-place grid penalty. We paid the price there that we didnt have any running time this morning. Im not very happy with qualifying. Its great for Esteban to be out there in Q3. Its great for the team.For me, I really struggled in qualifying to get the best from the car. With the tire pressures so high, it means you cannot push very hard. Its a bit of a shame. Well see what we can achieve tomorrow in the race, but starting 17th is not ideal.Esteban Gutierrez (10th): First of all, I have to say thank you to the team. Im very grateful and proud of them because everybody has done a great job in achieving the consistency that has allowed us to work on the details that make the difference. In qualifying, for the first time we broke the top-10 barrier by getting into Q3.It was an amazing effort from everyone involved in setting up the car throughout the weekend and having the communication and level of understanding to make it work. The laps were fantastic. I really enjoyed them and I loved pushing the car. Today we have extracted the maximum from our opportunities and we have to make sure we do the same tomorrow.Guenther Steiner, team principal: A great effort from the team again. Unfortunately, Romain had a transmission problem in FP3, which took him out pretty early. We couldnt get him as prepared as we wanted to for qualifying. We came back, though. He qualified 12th, which is now 17th with the grid penalty.Esteban did a fantastic job today. Hes been on it the whole weekend. We ended up 10th in Q3. We always said we wanted to get into Q3, and weve done that now. We need to try to do it again and again, and get better at it.PirelliPaul Hembery, motorsport director: Track temperatures were about the same than we saw yesterday for free practice, with strategy already at the forefront from the start of qualifying. In Q2 the Mercedes drivers were the only ones to get through on the soft tyres only. Both saved a set of supersoft, while the Mercedes drivers will be the only ones in the top 10 to be starting the race tomorrow on the more durable soft tyre - from the first two places on the grid. So it remains to be seen whether or not this will affect their thinking on strategy tomorrow. With both one or two stops possible, the tactics for the grand prix will be extremely interesting. 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