11/05/2007
NEWS STORY
Timo Glock has started his weekend in fine style by claiming the top spot in free practice this morning in Barcelona.
The German looked strong throughout, setting a best time of 1.29:126 halfway through the session, with Giorgio Pantano finishing two tenths behind him and Kazuki Nakajima rounding out the top three positions.
In hot conditions the drivers rolled out of the pitlane at midday, led out by Xandi Negrao and Ho-Pin Tung. Unfortunately for the Chinese driver his session lasted just two corners as he lost the back end of his car and rolled to a halt by the fence.
The early part of the session was a straight fight between Andy Soucek, Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok, with all three men spending time at the top of the timesheets before Glock pulled out a lap one second faster than anyone had yet managed.
While the rest of the field pushed hard to get back in touch with the German, Glock drove serenely on, setting the fastest lap in the 17th minute and running even faster in the first two sectors in the closing minutes of the session before lifting off in the final turn.
Most of the field found the extra speed they needed as the session rolled on – the top ten positions were covered by just one second, with 21 drivers within two – but when Nicolas Lapierre and then Chandhok spun off trying to find that extra little bit there was no chance for anyone else to close the gap.
Just outside of the top three Pastor Maldonado, Chandhok, Lucas di Grassi and Bruno Senna will also think they have a good shot at improving in this afternoon's qualifying session.
One man who will be praying for a change in luck for qualifying will be Mikhail Aleshin – the debutant managed just one untimed lap in practice before an as yet unknown engine malady frustratingly meant all he could do was watch his competition from the pitlane.
The problem means that he will not have turned a single timed lap in a GP2 car until qualifying begins, a somewhat less that ideal entrance into the series for the genial Russian.