Defending champion A1 Team Germany dominated today’s free practice sessions at Brno circuit, as the second round of the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport season got underway in the Czech Republic.
18-year-old Christian Vietoris, who has tested but never raced at Brno, topped the time sheets with a blisteringly quick 1m45.336s around the 5.4km circuit, breaking the lap record of 1m47.696s which was set by Malaysia’s Alex Yoong at last year’s A1GP Brno event in October 2006.
Vietoris is pleased with his team’s start to the weekend and is looking forward to qualifying tomorrow:
‘We started with a really good set up in the rookie session. It was a pretty good start and the car was quite good. In the second rookie session we had a little problem but we were able to get the car ready for the second practice this afternoon and we had a good level and new tyres so now we’re looking forward to tomorrow. ‘
Great Britain’s Robbie Kerr was on strong form from the outset, finishing the day an impressive second fastest, just six tenths off the German car. The 28-year-old driver obviously enjoyed the session and is happy to be back in the British car:
‘After Zandvoort, it’s an absolutely great start for the team and for me it’s great to be back in the car here in Brno for the second race of the season and to be immediately on the pace. It’s not bad for your first lap round this weekend so we’re fairly happy, but we do need to make a few improvements to the car to make sure we stay at the front all weekend. ‘
The GBR racer was closely followed by A1 Team New Zealand with the third fastest time, which was particularly impressive as the team’s lead driver Jonny Reid does not qualify for the rookie sessions and only took part in half of the hour-long session this afternoon.
Adam Carroll, making his race debut for A1 Team Ireland at Brno this weekend, was on good form and enjoyed a competitive first day of practice, setting the sixth quickest time of the day in the emerald-green car.
Local hero and rookie driver Erik Janis finished the day 14th overall and is excited about racing in front of his home crowd this weekend:
‘Brno is my home circuit and everybody expects it from me that I will be able to fight at the front like Tomas (Enge) last year, but it is very difficult for me because I have still not much experience. Today at the beginning of the rookie session it wasn’t so bad - we were in the top five and the time wasn’t bad. In the last practice session we were not satisfied with the set up and we’re struggling a little bit with the car and we hope that we will do better tomorrow. ‘
When asked about the cool weather conditions, Janis commented:
‘I don’t think that it is a problem that it is quite cold and I hope that tomorrow the weather will be better and I hope for no rain conditions. ‘
Malaysia’s Alex Yoong, who took a famous double victory at Brno last year, ended the day a disappointing 17th but remains calm ahead of the weekend:
‘We started the session with the same set up as last year but the car had masses of oversteer and the track was still quite green. The other drivers were setting quick times though so we need to have a look at the car and go back to the drawing board. We know we can be quick here so we just need to go through the car and be methodical and get it sorted for tomorrow. ‘
A1 Team Switzerland’s Natacha Gachnang impressed the paddock in the rookie session this morning, clocking the sixth best time of the morning and becoming the fastest female to have driven an A1GP car.
Official Practice Session 1 - Rookie drivers and developing nations only
POS A1 TEAM DRIVER TIME GAP FIRST LAPS
1 GERMANY Christian VIETORIS 01:48.841
11
2 PORTUGAL Joao URBANO 01:48.842 +0.001 8
3 CANADA Robert WICKENS 01:49.037 +0.196 10
4 AUSTRALIA John MARTIN 01:49.131 +0.290 21
5 IRELAND Adam CARROLL 01:49.138 +0.297 12
6 SWITZERLAND Natacha GACHNANG 01:49.267 +0.426 18
7 CZECH REPUBLIC Erik JANIS 01:49.323 +0.482 11
8 INDONESIA Satrio HERMANTO 01:49.461 +0.620 23
9 USA Charlie KIMBALL 01:49.520 +0.679 24
10 BRAZIL Sergio JIMENEZ 01:49.641 +0.800 7
11 MALAYSIA Aaron LIM 01:49.659 +0.818 6
12 FRANCE Nicolas PROST 01:49.908 +1.067 18
13 LEBANON Khalil BESCHIR 01:49.954 +1.113 15
14 SOUTH AFRICA Wesleigh ORR 01:50.291 +1.450 13
15 NETHERLANDS Arie LUYENDYK 01:50.840 +1.999 21
16 MEXICO Michel JOURDAIN 01:51.222 +2.381 19
17 ITALY Paolo BOSSINI 01:51.738 +2.897 19
18 INDIA Parthiva SURESHWAREN 01:51.885 +3.044 22
19 CHINA Marchy LEE 01:51.955 +3.114 16
Official Practice session 2 (14.00 - 15.00)
POS A1 TEAM DRIVER TIME GAP FIRST LAPS
1 GERMANY Christian VIETORIS 01:45.336 - 17
2 GREAT BRITAIN Robbie KERR 01:45.956 0.62 17
3 NEW ZEALAND Jonny REID 01:46.171 0.835 11
4 NETHERLANDS Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN 01:46.347 1.011 16
5 PORTUGAL Joao URBANO 01:46.604 1.268 14
6 IRELAND Adam CARROLL 01:46.616 1.28 19
7 FRANCE Nicolas LAPIERRE 01:46.934 1.598 15
8 BRAZIL Sergio JIMENEZ 01:47.181 1.845 18
9 SOUTH AFRICA Adrian ZAUGG 01:47.218 1.882 16
10 INDIA Narain KARTHIKEYAN 01:47.490 2.154 16
11 SWITZERLAND Neel JANI 01:47.591 2.255 16
12 CANADA James HINCHCLIFFE 01:47.609 2.273 17
13 INDONESIA Satrio HERMANTO 01:47.857 2.521 20
14 CZECH REPUBLIC Erik JANIS 01:47.987 2.651 17
15 CHINA Congfu CHENG 01:48.102 2.766 17
16 AUSTRALIA Ian DYK 01:48.130 2.794 21
17 MALAYSIA Alex YOONG 01:48.147 2.811 16
18 ITALY Enrico TOCCACELO 01:48.280 2.944 16
19 LEBANON Khalil BESCHIR 01:48.724 3.388 17
20 MEXICO Michel JOURDAIN 01:48.882 3.546 20
21 USA Buddy RICE 01:49.148 3.812 18
22 PAKISTAN Adam KHAN 01:50.284 4.948 23
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