Sporting a carbon fibre cast on his left leg as he continues to recover from a hairline fracture, Tuka Rocha was in action today for A1 Team Brasil at the Eastern Creek circuit near Sydney, Australia, for round seven of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. He took part in all the available practice sessions, and the team was pleased with the performance as he set some very competitive times.
In this morning’s wet two-part rookie practice, Tuka was quickly on the pace, adjusting to the track well. With eight minutes remaining, he posted an impressive second quickest time, and by the end of the session he was in third, only behind teams South Africa and France. By the second segment, the rain had stopped and the track began to dry slightly. Unfortunately Tuka was forced to miss more than half of the session due to a technical problem, and came out with the final nine minutes to go. He completed just six laps, finishing the session 12th fastest.
The sun was shining on Eastern Creek by this afternoon’s one-hour second free practice. A1 Team Brasil chose to limit its track time in order to save tyres for tomorrow, but did struggle with set-up during the session. Tuka completed 15 laps, finishing 18th in the standings.
There will be one final hour of practice tomorrow morning, before the afternoon’s four-part qualifying session, which will determine Sunday’s sprint race grid line-up.
Tuka Rocha: “I am happy to say that my leg was okay today, I had a little bit of pain when I left the pits but after that there was no pain. The rookie sessions were positive for us and the first bit in the wet was very good. We had some problems in the second bit which meant we couldn’t run much but looking overall at the practice, it was good. This afternoon we struggled with something that we have to find, and we also preferred to limit our laps and keep the tyres for tomorrow. â€
Free Practice 1 (Rookies and Developing Nations Only)
Segment A: Laps: 12 Position: 3rd Fastest Lap: 1:42.225 (+1.654)
Segment B: Laps: 6 Position: 12th Fastest Lap: 1:38.690 (+2.121)
Free Practice 2
Laps: 15 Position: 18th Fastest Lap: 1:21.763 (+2.540)
| 
|