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02.05.2008
GBR On Top at Brands Hatch Event: A1GP Brands Hatch, Great Britain (round 10 of 10)
Home nation A1 Team Great Britain topped the time sheets in the second of today's two free practice sessions at Brands Hatch, as the final round of the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport got underway at the legendary Kent circuit in Great Britain in changeable weather conditions. Despite spending some of the hour long session confined to the garage while the team worked on the car, GBR's Robbie Kerr stamped his authority on the first day of A1GP track action on home soil, setting a fastest lap of 1m14.891s around the challenging 4.22 km / 2.62 miles Grand Prix circuit.
China's Congfu Cheng, who knows the Brands Hatch circuit well, set the second fastest time of the day while Jonathan Summerton, who scored USA's maiden A1GP race win last time out in Shanghai, set the third fastest lap time. Current title leader Switzerland's Neel Jani enjoyed a trouble-free session, finishing the afternoon in a comfortable fourth position, followed by Ireland's Adam Carroll and India's Narain Karthikeyan in fifth and sixth place respectively. Championship rival A1 Team New Zealand got the weekend off to a strong start this morning, with new boy Chris van der Drift - who has only taken part in one rookie session prior to this weekend - topping the time sheets. Lead driver Jonny Reid took over this afternoon and set the eighth fastest time overall behind the Netherlands' Jeroen Bleekemolen in seventh. Portugal's Filipe Albuquerque, who clocked the second fastest time this morning, finished the day ninth overall, closely followed by France's Franck Montagny, who has never driven the Brands Hatch circuit before, in 10th. Great Britain's Robbie Kerr reflected on the first day of action on home soil and looked ahead to qualifying tomorrow: 'We went out early on this afternoon and the car was reasonable but we had a couple of little issues and rather than waste time and laps trying to solve it gradually we decided to take the tyres off and go through everything properly. We took our time and made a few changes then we got the car back together and went out at the end of the session and went quicker. The car has definitely got a good balance but there are still things we can improve on. We're fairly confident but we're not going to predict anything. We've just got to go out there and keep working at it. Qualifying is key in A1GP - if you're not there at the top on that first flying lap, you're not going to be there at the end.'
Official Practice Session 1 - Rookie drivers and developing nations only 1 NEW ZEALAND Chris VAN DER DRIFT 01:16.1 13 01:16.1 4 01:16.1 2 PORTUGAL Filipe ALBUQUERQUE 01:16.3 15 01:16.1 15 01:16.1 0.001 3 CZECH REPUBLIC Filip SALAQUARDA 01:16.7 15 01:16.2 11 01:16.2 0.115 4 SWITZERLAND Alexandre IMPERATORI 01:16.4 12 01:16.5 12 01:16.4 0.326 5 SOUTH AFRICA Wesleigh ORR 01:17.1 14 01:16.4 6 01:16.4 0.337 6 IRELAND Niall QUINN 01:16.8 12 01:16.5 14 01:16.5 0.409 7 BRAZIL Xandi NEGRAO 01:17.3 14 01:16.6 7 01:16.6 0.502 8 AUSTRALIA Nathan ANTUNES 01:17.5 18 01:16.8 4 01:16.8 0.657 9 CANADA Daniel MORAD 01:16.8 8 01:16.9 8 01:16.8 0.714 10 GREAT BRITAIN James WINSLOW 01:17.4 13 01:16.9 8 01:16.9 0.837 11 FRANCE Nicolas PROST 01:17.9 15 01:17.1 15 01:17.1 0.989 12 NETHERLANDS Arie LUYENDYK 01:18.3 10 01:17.5 6 01:17.5 1.401 13 ITALY Francesco PROVENZANO 01:18.2 12 01:17.6 13 01:17.6 1.517 14 MEXICO David MARTINEZ 01:18.1 13 01:18.0 7 01:18.0 1.926 15 LEBANON Khalil BESCHIR 01:22.0 8 01:18.4 16 01:18.4 2.279 16 INDONESIA Satrio HERMANTO 01:19.2 12 01:18.4 10 01:18.4 2.316 17 MALAYSIA Aaron LIM 01:20.6 3 01:18.8 11 01:18.8 2.674 18 INDIA Parthiva SURESHWAREN 01:19.2 12 01:18.9 12 01:18.9 2.813
Official Practice session 2 1 Robbie KERR GREAT BRITAIN 14 01:14.891 - 14 2 Congfu CHENG CHINA 29 01:15.130 0.239 29 3 Jonathan SUMMERTON USA 20 01:15.243 0.352 27 4 Neel JANI SWITZERLAND 24 01:15.302 0.411 24 5 Adam CARROLL IRELAND 23 01:15.308 0.417 26 6 Narain KARTHIKEYAN INDIA 22 01:15.339 0.448 27 7 Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN NETHERLANDS 23 01:15.340 0.449 24 8 Jonny REID NEW ZEALAND 23 01:15.356 0.465 31 9 Filipe ALBUQUERQUE PORTUGAL 18 01:15.359 0.468 24 10 Franck MONTAGNY FRANCE 24 01:15.459 0.568 27 11 Filip SALAQUARDA CZECH REPUBLIC 12 01:15.477 0.586 21 12 Adrian ZAUGG SOUTH AFRICA 25 01:15.655 0.764 25 13 Fairuz FAUZY MALAYSIA 30 01:15.732 0.841 35 14 Edoardo PISCOPO ITALY 29 01:15.799 0.908 36 15 Xandi NEGRAO BRAZIL 17 01:15.917 1.026 24 16 Michael AMMERMÜLLER GERMANY 31 01:16.040 1.149 32 17 James HINCHCLIFFE CANADA 16 01:16.257 1.366 23 18 John MARTIN AUSTRALIA 11 01:16.552 1.661 14 19 Adam KHAN PAKISTAN 32 01:16.862 1.971 37 20 Satrio HERMANTO INDONESIA 3 01:17.090 2.199 10 21 David MARTINEZ MEXICO 22 01:17.601 2.71 26 22 Khalil BESCHIR LEBANON 4 01:17.949 3.058 23
For additional information about A1GP including ticket sales and television viewing times and a full list of international broadcast partners, please visit www.A1GP.com ABOUT A1GP WORLD CUP OF MOTORSPORT Launched in March 2004, the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport is more than just another racing phenomenon; it's an entirely new concept. Pitting driver against driver and country against country for the first time in history, A1GP brings together 22 nations to compete as equals, without financial or technological advantage. With three days of on-track action, an A1GP event offers a rare opportunity for fans to interact with teams and drivers. Exclusively inclusive, A1GP brings the thrill of international motorsport to billions of fans across the globe. Now at the end of its third season and taking in a mix of established world-famous venues plus exciting new state-of-the-art facilities and tight twisty street circuits, A1GP promises to deliver high-speed adrenalin fuelled action at every turn.
-Nikki Rooke ,Charlie Reid - photos A1GP
Author: automobilsport.com copyright (maggyp)
Last modified: Friday, 02.05.2008 - 08:08 More reports from this category all copyright automobilsport.com.
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