Italy top first practice in Mexico

Rigon, last year's European Formula 3000 champion, stopped the clock at 1:23.521 on his first taste of A1GP machinery, almost three-tenths clear of Ireland's Niall Quinn. South Africa's Wesley Orr was third fastest, after topping the first 25-minute session, but failed to improve his time in the second period.

The dusty Mexico track caught out a number of drivers, with numerous spins and lock-ups. The wildest moment befell Australia's John Martin, who spun in the middle of the infamous Peraltada and slid sideways into the pitlane, amazingly without hitting anything.

The track has also been modified since last year, with three corners on the north-eastern tip of the circuit bypassed by a cut-through hairpin just after the Ese del Lago corner, which has a wickedly bumpy braking area. A right-left chicane has also been installed before Peraltada. Laptimes are around three seconds quicker as a result of the changes.

Team France was fourth fastest, with Nicolas Prost behind the wheel, and he was well clear of local hero David Martinez for Team Mexico. Canada's spectacular rookie Daniel Morad was next up, ahead of Brazil (Felipe Guimaraes), Pakistan (Adam Khan), Indonesia (Satrio Hermanto) and Australia (Martin).

On his A1GP debut, Team Great Britain's Duncan Tappy ended the sessions 13th fastest, but had been in the top six in the first period.

Pos Driver                Team             Time
 1. Davide Rigon          Italy            1:22.810
 2. Niall Quinn           Ireland          1:23.103 + 0.293
 3. Wesleigh Orr          South Africa     1:23.106 + 0.296
 4. Nicolas Prost         France           1:23.168 + 0.358
 5. David Martinez        Mexico           1:23.486 + 0.676
 6. Daniel Morad          Canada           1:23.716 + 0.906
 7. Felipe Guimaraes      Brazil           1:23.773 + 0.963
 8. Adam Khan             Pakistan         1:24.004 + 1.194
 9. Satrio Hermanto       Indonesia        1:24.061 + 1.251
10. John Martin           Australia        1:24.104 + 1.294
11. Filip Salaquarda      Czech Republic   1:24.196 + 1.386
12. Rahel Frey            Switzerland      1:24.200 + 1.390
13. Duncan Tappy          Great Britain    1:24.253 + 1.443
14. Arie Luyendyk Jr      Netherlands      1:24.329 + 1.519
15. Bruno Serra           Portugal         1:24.529 + 1.719
16. Parthiva Sureshwaren  India            1:25.414 + 2.604
17. Aaron Lim             Malaysia         1:25.787 + 2.977
18. Jimmy Auby            Lebanon          1:25.942 + 3.132