UpdateF1 >> Formula 1 News > A1GP: Lapierre fights back for France

Frenchman tops second run

Team France returned to the top of the A1 Grand Prix timesheets when Nicolas Lapierre topped the second practice session at Eastern Creek, Australia.

Lapierre built on his strong performance in the morning run – during which he went third fastest – to head home in-form Brazilian Nelson Piquet by two tenths of a second.

The fact that he had been feeling unwell since arriving in Sydney made the performance all the more impressive.

However, like many men, Lapierre was still caught out on occasion by the difficult conditions.

Scattered showers fell throughout the session and saw Lapierre, Piquet, Mexico’s Salvador Duran, and Malaysia’s Alex Yoong all have spins.

There were more major incidents for the teams from Pakistan, China, and Japan.

Pakistan caused the first of two red-flag stoppages when Adam Kahn had a high speed spin and damaged the front of the car.

Japan’s Hayanari Shimoda escaped his flying off unlike China’s Tengyi Jiang who caused the second of the stoppages when he spun backwards into the barriers.

On the track, Neel Jani was again competitive in the Team Switzerland entry.

Similarly quick was former F1 ace Jos Verstappen who put the Netherlands on top early before eventually finishing fourth.

Duran of Mexico was fifth, Jonny Reid of New Zealand sixth, and a second former F1 racer in Malaysia’s Alex Yoong was seventh.

* Driver changes. Christian Jones, son of former F1 world champion Alan, was replaced by Will Davidson at Team Australia for the second session of practice.

The team looked to compare drivers on the opening day ahead of making a final decision on who to run before Saturday qualifying.

Paddock speculation suggested that Jones would be sidelined, despite his father heading the Australian outfit.

* Turn one troubles. Eastern Creek’s opening turn caused headaches for many men on day one.

Salvador Duran (Mexico) and Alex Yoong (Malaysia) were among those who were sent into the gravel by the high-speed bend.

However Nelson Piquet, Team Brazil, couldn’t see what the fuss was about. He said he was happy to hold his A1 racer flat at 290 kilometres per hour through the famed turn.

* Lap record. Nelson Piquet’s time of 1:19.226 during Friday’s first run was a new Eastern Creek lap record.

The Brazilian beat the previous best – set in a V8 Supercar – by well in excess of three seconds.

Written: Fri, 04 Nov 2005 06:56:43