FASTEST TIME

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32958, 3 July 1972, Page 22

FASTEST TIME

Amon has pole place (N.Z.t A Reuter —CopvHshK CLERMONT FERRAND The New Zealander, C. Amon, won the pole position for the French Formula 1 grand prix with only minutes to go in the final practice on Saturday.

He sped round the 51-bend circuit in 2min 53.45ec, at an average speed of 103.9 miles an hour.

The final two-hour session was divided, and after the first hour Amon had the fastest time of 2min 54.75ec. In the final hour, his countryman. D. Hulme, in a McLaren, lowered the time to 2min 54.25ec. Amon put in a really fast lap just before rain began to fall to take the pole position. The second row of the grid will be filled by the Scot, J. Stewart, in the leading Tyrell Ford, and the Belgian. J. Ickx. in a Ferrari.

Stewart produced a time of 2min 55sec in the first half of the practice, and Ickx. in a late burst, came to within a tenth of a second of this time before running out of fuel. Stewart's team-mate, F. Cevert (France), is not certain to start, although his time of 2min 58.1 sec was fast enough to qualify Cevert tore a ligament of his left wrist when he crashed the new Tyrell 005. His wrist was heavily strapped, and he hoped that with the aid of pain-killing injections, he would be able to drive.

The Brazilian, E. Fittipaldi, the present leader in the world drivers’ championship, has yet to find the best way round the circuit, and he could not better a time of 2min 58sec, which put him in seventh place on the grid.