Canada tops practice 1 at Zandvoort
Sister teams Canada and Great Britain fired a warning shot at their rivals on the first day of the second A1 GP season at Zandvoort
Series debutant James Hinchcliffe put Canada at the top of the timesheets, just a fraction ahead of Britain's Darren Manning.
Hinchcliffe had the Canadian entry in the top five throughout Friday's first practice before topping the times with a 1:28.994 lap in the fastest session late in the afternoon.
"It's an amazing result for the team," said the Champ Car Atlantic star. "They just gave me a good car."
British F3 front-runner Oliver Jarvis put forward his bid for the Great Britain drive with third fastest time in the morning before Manning took over in the main session.
Star of the 'Rookie Sessions' (held in two parts early in the afternoon), however, was Loic Duval.
Having only driven the car briefly last year, Duval set the pace for France on the Rookie timesheets, finishing 0.6 seconds ahead of the Netherlands' Jeroen Bleekemolen, who stepped in to replace Jos Verstappen.
The French entry fell to eighth in the final session in the hands of Nicolas Lapierre, but Duval was still confident the car would be a contender.
"The set-up was already good this morning," he said. "I'm happy to hand the car to Nicolas because I don't know this championship and I am confident for him."
DAMS's continued presence at the front of A1 GP was also emphasised by the pace of the South African team. Now with DAMS support, Adrian Zaugg took the car to third with a time of 1:29.267, over half a second clear of Germany's Niko Hulkenberg.
Switzerland's chances appear healthy, despite the loss of DAMS and the absence of Neel Jani from Zandvoort.
Sebastien Buemi was fifth fastest in the early session and was able to maintain that pace later on, ahead of Mexico's Salvador Duran.
Bleekemolen ended the day in seventh and could not hold back his enthusiasm for the Dutch fans, who turned out in their thousands despite the absence of Jos Verstappen.
"It's incredible to see how many people have turned up," Bleekemolen said. "You can hear them when you're in the car and I could see all the flags."
Official practice results:
Pos Team Driver Time Laps 1. Canada James Hinchcliffe 1:28.994 23 2. Great Britain Darren Manning 1:29.040 + 0.046 3 3. South Africa Adrian Zaugg 1:29.267 + 0.273 20 4. Germany Niko Hulkenberg 1:29.873 + 0.879 25 5. Switzerland Sebastien Buemi 1:30.059 + 1.065 24 6. Mexico Salvador Duran 1:30.339 + 1.345 21 7. Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen 1:30.382 + 1.388 19 8. France Nicolas Lapierre 1:30.844 + 1.850 16 9. New Zealand Matt Halliday 1:31.123 + 2.129 22 10. Brazil Tuka Rocha 1:31.462 + 2.468 19 11. China Congfu Cheng 1:31.568 + 2.574 23 12. Ireland Michael Devaney 1:31.602 + 2.608 20 13. USA Philip Giebler 1:31.898 + 2.904 24 14. Malaysia Alex Yoong 1:32.172 + 3.178 22 15. Australia Ryan Briscoe 1:32.271 + 3.277 19 16. Czech Republic Tomas Kostka 1:32.483 + 3.489 26 17. Italy P. G. Alessandro 1:32.737 + 3.743 21 18. India Armaan Ebrahim 1:33.865 + 4.871 13 19. Indonesia Ananda Mikola 1:33.922 + 4.928 17 20. Lebanon Basil Shaaban 1:34.448 + 5.454 4 21. Singapore Denis Lian 1:37.508 + 8.514 13 22. Pakistan Nur Ali 1:45.461 + 16.467 16 23. Greece Stelios Nousias No time 1
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