TEST DAY FOR THE FIA EUROPEAN TOURING CAR CUP
The third FIA European Touring Car Cup got underway today
at the Adria Raceway in Italy with four 60-minute test sessions.
The weather was drizzly for the first two sessions, and the
track wet. In spite of this lap times were faster and faster
as the competitors got to know where to put their wheels.
Eventually the rain stopped and the third and fourth sessions
were held on a drying track that was very tricky because of
the puddles.
In the Super 2000 class Chevrolet Motorsport Danmark drivers,
Pontus Mörth and Henrik Lundgaard made their ambitions
clear from the very beginning posting the two fastest laps
of the day: 1:35.642 for the Swedish Mörth and 1:37.064
for his Danish team-mate.
Russian drivers declared themselves as the men to beat in
the Super Production class; the day’s best lap was clocked
by Aimol Racing’s Dmitry Dobrovolskiy in his Opel Astra
Coupé (1:43.589).
Tomorrow morning the drivers will take part in two 30-minute
free sessions (at 9.00 and 11.30) that will be followed in
the afternoon (at 15.00) by the 30-minute qualifying session
that will determine the grid for Sunday’s Race 1.
HORELIKS FASTEST IN THE FIRST SESSION
Nineteen drivers took part, and Latvian Janis Horeliks posted
the fastest lap of 1:38.079 in the JH Motorsport Honda Civic.
Kristian Poulsen from Denmark was fastest until the last
twenty minutes in his BMW 320si but finished second half a
second behind. Pontus Mörth (Chevrolet Lacetti) was third
with Irish driver Emmet O’Brien (BMW 320si) in fourth.
Halfway through the session Alexander Lvov’s Golden
Motors Honda Accord stopped on the track and was towed back
to the pits with engine problems that sidelined him for the
rest of the day. Earlier Lvov had posted a lap time of 1:42.602
but then slipped down to 8th behind the BMW of César
Campaniço and the Honda of Jens Reno Møller.
In Super Production Aleksey Basov drove his Honda Civic to
the fastest lap with a time of 1:44.548, that was also good
enough for 9th position overall. Anton Markin and Basov’s
team-mate Nikolay Agapov placed second and third in the class,
the latter rejoining after going off at Turn 4.
Maksim Tsimbalov emerged as the fastest in the S1600 class,
lapping in 1:54.214 at the wheel of his Volkswagen Polo.
Right at the end of the session, Alexander Lvov Jr in the
sport-Garage Audi A4 went off into the gravel trap at turn
6 and Campaniço, who had posted the 5th fastest time,
stopped on the track with fuel feeding problems.
MÖRTH’S CHEVROLET TOPS SECOND SESSION
The second session, again on a wet track, saw Pontus Mörth
posting the fastest time in his Chevrolet Lacetti with a time
of 1:38:050, improving by over one and a half second from
his first session time. The Swede also improved the fastest
time set by Horeliks in the previous test by three tenths
of a second.
The Toyota Corolla of Philip Geipel was second fastest ahead
of Emmet O’Brien in the BMW. The pair were separated
by less than one tenth of a second, although Geipel’s
gap from Mörth was eight tenths.
Mörth’s team-mate Henrik Lundgaard improved his
first session time by over two seconds clocking the fourth
fastest time of 1:39:097, just ahead of his fellow Danish
countrymen Michel Nykjær (SEAT León) and Jens
Reno Møller (Honda Accord). Tomas Engström (Honda
Accord) and César Campaniço (BMW 320si) were
classified 7th and 8th, with Andrey Smetsky (Honda Accord)
and Kristian Poulsen (BMW 320si) rounding out the top ten.
The Super Production class was led by Arkadiy Pavlovskiy
in the Aimol Racing Opel Astra Coupé (12th overall
with a lap of 1:48.308) with Anton Markin in second. In the
S1600 class Maksim Tsimbalov was again fastest with a time
of 1:49:103.
CHEVROLET DOMINATE IN THIRD SESSION
Pontus Mörth and Henrik Lundgaard posted a one-two in
the third test session for the Chevrolet Motorsport Danmark
team. Mörth clocked his and the fastest time of the day
so far with a 1:35:642 and edged his Danish team-mate by 1.8
seconds. After 15 minutes Tomas Engström had posted a
provisional fastest time in the session with Emmet O’Brien
second. Five minutes later Richard Kaye in the Engstler Motorsport
BMW 320i set a time of 1:41:144 placing him third. Another
BMW 320i driver Stefano Valli made into the top 7 with a time
of 1:43:307.
Halfway through the session Engström remained fastest
with Mörth posting a time only a tenth slower. Further
down the order Michel Matejovský (Alfa Romeo 156) posted
a time of 1:42:615 placing him 8th.
With 20 minutes to go Mörth again took the top spot
with a time of 1:37:220 nearly a second faster than his second
session time; he eventually managed to improve further to
1:35.642. Lundgaard moved up to second with Engström
third, separated by only 0.003 seconds. Team-mates O’Brien
and Kristian Poulsen were classified 4th and 5th, with Ceresoli
in 6th.
After not taking part in the second session Aleksey Basov
emerged again as the fastest in Super Production setting a
time of 1:44:525 (11th overall), just one tenth faster than
Dmitry Dobrovolskiy.
For the third consecutive session Maksim Tsimbalov posted
the fastest time in the S1600 class (1:46.158).
Twenty four drivers took part in the session.
MÖRTH MAKES IT THREE OUT OF FOUR
Pontus Mörth was fastest in all but one of the practice
sessions in Adria today. His fastest time in the fourth session
was 1:36:473. The Swede’s Chevrolet Lacetti had already
posted the fastest time of the day in the previous session
(1:35:642).
Twenty nine drivers competed in the last session of the day
which was run on a nearly dry track and began with Tomas Engström
posting a provisional fastest time of 1:37:260 followed by
Janis Horeliks in second and Emmet O’Brien third.
Both the SEAT León cars of Maurizio Ceresoli and Michel
Nykjær occupied the third place at one point during
the session, Ceresoli ended the session 6th with Nykjær
8th. After 15 minutes Horeliks was ahead of Mörth by
over half a second, Geipel and Engström continued to
swap places lap after lap for third on the time sheet.
There was a red flag issued just before the middle of the
session to recover Alexander Lvov Jr’s Audi A4 that
was stranded in the gravel trap at turn 14. When the cars
returned to the track Mörth jumped ahead of Horeliks
after posting a time of 1:36:652 with Engström third.
But eventually the second Chevrolet of Henrik Lundgaard posted
the second fastest lap of 1:37.064.
Aimol Racing drivers Dmitry Dobrovolsky and Arkadiy Pavlovskiy
were first and second respectively in the Super Production
class (1:43.589 and 1:44.381). 29 drivers took part in the
session, with German Jens Löhnig the only competitor
in the S1600 to join at the wheel of his Citroën C2.
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