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02.05.2008
Come rain or shine, Rossi's the man! Spa-Francorchamps Collective testing Michaël Rossi (TDS Racing) today proved why he was the on-form driver during winter testing, after taking the lead in both sessions, on a dry track in the morning session and in the wet in the afternoon. Dimitri Enjalbert (Tech1 Racing) finished second and Sébastien Dhouailly (Team Lompech Sport) third. The favourites lost no time in establishing their lead during the first session of the day. Fabrice Walfish (Oregon Team) took the initial lead. The times got steadily faster at the beginning of the session, as lap on lap, Michaël Rossi (TDS Racing) and then Bernhard Tin Brinke (Equipe Verschuur) fought their way to top place. Michaël Rossi, the man to beat during the off-season, launched into a series of increasingly quick laps, putting in a time of 2'31''356. Dimitri Enjalbert (Tech1 Racing) managed second place in front of Fabrice Walfish. After fine tuning their set-ups, the 22 Eurocup Mégane Trophy drivers stepped up the pace at the end of the session. Michaël Rossi improved on his own lap time. Sébastien Dhouailly (Team Lompech) briefly dislodged Rossi from first place, but the TDS Racing driver reclaimed his position and had the final say. Michaël Rossi set the fastest time for this first session with a lap of 2'29''228. Dimitri Enjalbert, Sébastien Dhouailly and Fabrice Walfish completed the top four which was by then 100% French. The Belgian Maxime Martin (Boutsen Energy Racing) got under way in a comfortable manner to take fifth place. A change of conditions for the second session followed a downpour which left the track wet. The racing line was drying out some minutes later. With Bernhard Ten Brinke ahead of Mathieu Cheruy (Tech1 Racing) and Jonathan Hirschi (Tech1 Racing), the drivers filed into the pits to put on slicks. The positions changed rapidly, Maxime Martin showed his form, followed by Michaël Rossi who once again found himself at the top of the timings. Michaël Rossi was rather pleased with his performance, considering this was his first outing on this circuit: "I have never driven here before. The circuit is impressive. Today confirmed my performance in collective testing, when I was on the pace. I mustn't put any more pressure on myself and just need to do the same thing in qualifying." Dimitri Enjalbert was also experiencing the Spa track for the first time today: "I took the time needed to work out the track. I realized that slipstreaming is really important here and that is going to make the races really interesting. It is vital to qualify in the top five. If you can manage that, anything is possible." The weekend's single qualifying session will be held on Saturday morning. This will be followed by two 40-minute races, the first one on Saturday afternoon and the second race on Sunday. Pos Driver Team Time S1 Lap S1 Time S2 Lap S2 Time Gap First Gap Previous 1 Michaël ROSSI TDS 2:29.228 16 2:31.602 13 2:29.228 2 Dimitri ENJALBERT Tech 1 Racing 1 2:30.433 17 2:34.560 14 2:30.433 +1.205 +1.205 3 Sébastien DHOUAILLY Team Lompech Sport 2:30.805 16 2:33.042 12 2:30.805 +1.577 +0.372 4 Fabrice WALFISCH Oregon Team 1 2:31.024 17 2:32.669 14 2:31.024 +1.796 +0.219 5 Maxime MARTIN Boutsen Energy Racing 2:31.109 15 2:34.124 14 2:31.109 +1.881 +0.085 6 Matthieu CHERUY Tech 1 Racing 1 2:31.128 17 2:33.088 17 2:31.128 +1.900 +0.019 7 Jonathan HIRSCHI Tech 1 Racing 2 2:31.287 12 2:34.707 17 2:31.287 +2.059 +0.159 8 Bernhard TEN BRINKE Equipe Verschuur 1 2:31.382 13 2:33.848 19 2:31.382 +2.154 +0.095 9 Renaud KUPPENS Boutsen Energy Racing 2:31.581 17 2:34.226 15 2:31.581 +2.353 +0.199 10 Ralph MEICHTRY Race Performance 2:31.986 17 2:34.298 16 2:31.986 +2.758 +0.405 11 Jean - Philippe MADONIA TDS 2:33.241 9 2:35.362 12 2:33.241 +4.013 +1.255 12 Wim BEELEN Equipe Verschuur 2 2:33.433 10 2:35.610 8 2:33.433 +4.205 +0.192 13 Hoevert VOS Equipe Verschuur 2 2:34.688 10 2:34.865 14 2:34.688 +5.460 +1.255 14 Andreas MAYERL Race Performance 2:34.975 7 2:36.270 15 2:34.975 +5.747 +0.287 15 David DERMONT Boutsen Energy Racing 2:35.203 10 2:37.389 15 2:35.203 +5.975 +0.228 16 Bernard DELHEZ Tech 1 Racing 2 2:35.256 15 2:38.230 16 2:35.256 +6.028 +0.053 17 Giuseppe TERMINE Oregon Team 1 2:36.295 19 2:36.592 14 2:36.295 +7.067 +1.039 18 Harrie KOLLEN Equipe Verschuur 1 2:38.612 16 2:42.173 17 2:38.612 +9.384 +2.317 19 Angelo BAIGUERA Oregon Team 1 2:40.718 15 2:42.131 15 2:40.718 +11.490 +2.106 20 Pierre HIRSCHI Team Lompech Sport 2:41.455 10 2:42.962 14 2:41.455 +12.227 +0.737 21 Rafael UNZURRUNZAGA Blue Jumeirah Team 2:50.837 15 2:48.348 11 2:48.348 +19.120 +6.893 22 Jean - Charles MIGINIAC Team Lompech Sport 2:49.619 7 2:49.941 16 2:49.619 +20.391 +1.271
- Blanca de Foronda-
Author: automobilsport.com copyright (maggyp)
Last modified: Friday, 02.05.2008 - 07:01 More reports from this category all copyright automobilsport.com.
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