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Verstappen, Firman, set pace

Former F1 pilots dominated the opening day of the A1 Grand Prix of Nations Malaysia at Sepang on Friday.

The day began with the highly-experienced Jos Verstappen – formally of Benetton, Arrows, and Minardi – putting Team Netherlands on top in the first hour-long practice session.

The Dutchman’s strong start was followed by a top time from Team Ireland’s Ralph Firman – formally of Jordan – in the afternoon.

Verstappen’s early time was the days fastest, though Firman’s effort was only a couple of tenths behind.

Ominously for the ex-F1 pair, the dominant outfits of Brazil and France were never far behind.

Nelson Piquet Jr recorded the second and sixth fastest times respectively, while Alexandre Premat – who replaced Australian round winner Nicolas Lapierre – was fourth and fifth.

Also notable was the pace of Bryan Herta – another highly experienced driver – who proved strong with the day’s fourth fastest time overall for Team USA.

Herta, who made his A1 debut two weeks ago in Australia, showed great improvement on his previous outing and looks threatening as the field heads towards qualifying.

Surprisingly, and almost a first for the A1 series, there were no major incidents to report on Friday.

Both hour long practice sessions were completed without interruption meaning the drivers were able to spend plenty of time on track.

* Busy schedule. Team Germany’s Adrian Sutil was sidelined for the Malaysian round after breaking his thumb during a crash at Eastern Creek.

The team elected to replace Sutil with Timo Scheider who faces an arguous task in making it to Sepang for Saturday qualifying.

On Friday Scheider was on FIA GT Championship duties in Dubai but was expected to board a plane soon after the completion of the race at 5:00 in the afternoon.

Written: Sat, 19 Nov 2005 00:16:02