Poncharal: `Edwards told me he´s going to win´

Colin Edwards has been one of the standout Saturday performers thus far in 2008, qualifying on the front row of the grid for four of the opening five races to date. On Saturday he followed up on his Shanghai pole with second place, and is on course to make reality a bold prediction made to Tech 3 Yamaha Team Principal Herve Poncharal.

`Everybody asks me and Colin why he does well in qualifying and not so well in the races. I honestly don´t know, but he said something to me after China. He spoke with me and said `I am going to win the French Grand Prix,´ recounted Poncharal after the qualifying session.

`One day it has to happen. He´s fast. Let´s just hope that one day luck smiles on him,´ added the Frenchman after watching yet another sterling display from his veteran charge. `Colin has been going fast all weekend, and was unlucky that he was just beaten to pole. On the spot you´d be disappointed, but we´re pleased with an important front row. We just hope that the weather is good and we can give a good fight.

`I thought I might have had pole, but everybody knows that you can´t count out what happens in the last two minutes of qualifying,´ said Edwards himself. `It would have been nice to get pole for my French team, but we´ve got tomorrow,´ he added.

Edwards dropped down the field from pole at last year´s race, but has showed a strong race pace in Friday and Saturday´s practice session. Could his audacious prediction come true in Le Mans?