Sport | Motorsport
Drivers battle the elements at Autodrome
Varying weather, ranging from hard rain to bright sunshine, was the main talking point yesterday during the first day of practice for the Grand Racing weekend at Dubai Autodrome.
- Staff report
- Published: 23:35 December 4, 2008
Dubai: Varying weather, ranging from hard rain to bright sunshine, was the main talking point yesterday during the first day of practice for the Grand Racing weekend at Dubai Autodrome.
"Our circuit is a demanding one at the best of times with sunshine," said track manager Richard Birch.
"However with the constantly changing conditions drivers are faced with greater challenges and as we know in racing rain provides a platform for the best drivers to shine. It is going to be an interesting weekend."
The first day proved very interesting with several drivers within split seconds of one another in all three series FIA GT3 European Championship, Speedcar Series and GP2 Asia.
Japan's Kamui Kobayashi (DAMS Team) stunned his GP2 Asia opposition with a blistering lap in qualifying, almost a quarter of a second faster than his nearest rival, which secured him the all-important pole for the first race. His impressive performance came as no surprise following his first round in Shanghai where he was constantly among the front runners. He will be going all out for victory during Grand Racing as he seeks to move up from third in the championship.
Fellow countryman Sakon Yamamoto (ART Grand Prix) made it an all Japanese front row after setting the second fastest time, while Russia's Vitaly Petrov (Barwa Campos Team) was third quickest ahead of championship leader Roldan Rodriguez (Piquet GP) from Spain.
In the Speedcar Series it was recent Formula One driver Vitantonio Liuzzi, from Italy, driving for Team UP, who set the fastest time by less than a hundredth of a second from fellow countryman Gianni Morbidelli in the Palm Beach-Al Futtaim machine. Remarkably, the next seven drivers were within one second of Liuzzi's best time. Frenchman Jean Alesi (Team HPR- Bouygues) was third fastest despite setting the pace throughout most of practice. Meanwhile, the 2008 FIA GT3 Championship will be decided this weekend with seven contenders in contention.
Setting the pace in practice at the front was the Hexis Racing Aston Martin squad of Jean-Claude Lagniez/Frederic Makowiecki, but most likely to challenge championship leaders Arnaud Peyroles/James Ruffier (Martini Callaway Racing Corvette) will be the Matech Ford GT team of Ian Khan/Thomas Mutsch, who were comfortably in the top ten.
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