ROUNDS 5 & 6 - VALENCIA, SPAIN
TEST REPORT
ALAIN MENU REIGNS IN THE TEST
The FIA WTCC European season officially started this afternoon
with a 30-minute test session in Valencia's Circuit Ricardo
Tormo.
Alain Menu of Chevrolet topped the time sheet, completing
a lap in 1:44.440 with only one minute left. The Swiss, who
had already been the fastest in last month's official test
on the Spanish track, ousted BMW's Augusto Farfus who had
set a provisional fastest time of 1:44.610 only a few seconds
earlier.
Lap times remained considerably slower compared to the April
test, when Menu was clocked at 1:42.886.
Britons Robert Huff and Andy Priaulx posted the fourth and
fifth fastest laps, with gaps of 0.154 and 0.265 seconds respectively.
Chevrolet's third man Nicola Larini was classified sixth,
just ahead of the fastest of the SEAT drivers, Gabriele Tarquini.
On their first appearance in the championship, James Thompson
and his N.technology Honda Accord set the eighth fastest lap
in the session, six tenths off Menu's time.
Local boy Sergio Hernández emerged as the best of
the Independents, with a lap of 1:45.860, good enough for
the fifteenth position overall and only a couple of tenthts
faster than Pierre-Yves Corthals' best effort.
Jaap van Lagen came fourth in the Independents' class and
twentieth overall; with an impressive progression the Dutchman
completed his first official test in the brand new LADA 110.
However, his team-mate Viktor Shapovalov could not post a
time as his car was finished just minutes before the start
of the session and suffered from electric problems.
Three drivers have visited the gravel traps today: Ibrahim
Okyay went off at turn 4 in the early stages, while SEAT's
new boy José Manuel Pérez-Aicart and Olivier
Tielemans both ended the session prematurely off turn 1.
Competitors will hit the track again twice tomorrow morning
at 8.30 and 11.30 for free practice; qualifying will follow
at 15.00.
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