Dolby leads first practice in France

Ex-Anderlecht driver Dolby topped the opening 45-minute session, lapping the Spurs car in 1m25.966s in the cool of the morning. The second period was held in much warmer conditions, when the pace was set by Porto's local hero Tristan Gommendy on 1m27.005s - who had failed to appear in the quicker first session.

Dolby finished that session down in fifth, 0.719s off the pace and took a trip in the gravel at the 180 corner, so much will depend on which weather conditions teams and drivers will encounter in qualifying, which kicks off at 15.40 local time.

Dolby was 0.433s faster in the opening session than John Martin's Rangers machine. The Australian had one of the biggest moments of the day, a big spin at the ultra-quick right-left Imola sweeper in the second session.

Liverpool's Adrian Valles set the third quickest lap of the day for Liverpool, ahead of Corinthians' ex-Formula 1 racer Antonio Pizzonia.

Martin led the series rookies, ahead of Ho-Pin Tung (sixth-fastest for Atletico Madrid), GP2 champion Giorgio Pantano (seventh for AC Milan) and Enrique Bernoldi (eighth for Flamengo). In the one-hour 'rookie' session which followed, Pantano set the pace with a lap of 1m26.684s.

First practice:

Pos  Driver             Team                Time       Gap
 1.  Craig Dolby        Tottenham Hotspur   1m25.966s
 2.  John Martin        Rangers             1m26.399s  + 0.433s
 3.  Adrian Valles      Liverpool           1m26.504s  + 0.538s
 4.  Antonio Pizzonia   Corinthians         1m26.581s  + 0.615s
 5.  Yelmer Buurman     Anderlecht          1m27.108s  + 1.142s
 6.  Ho-Pin Tung        Atletico Madrid     1m27.162s  + 1.196s
 7.  Giorgio Pantano    AC Milan            1m27.350s  + 1.384s
 8.  Enrique Bernoldi   Flamengo            1m27.440s  + 1.474s
 9.  Miguel Molina      Al Ain              1m27.607s  + 1.641s
10.  Maximilian Wissel  FC Basel            1m27.673s  + 1.707s
11.  Pedro Petiz        Sporting            1m27.871s  + 1.905s
12.  Duncan Tappy       Galatasaray         1m28.436s  + 2.470s
13.  Davide Rigon       Olympiacos          1m28.460s  + 2.494s
14.  Dominick Muermans  PSV Eindhoven       1m30.471s  + 4.505s
15.  Nelson Panciatici  Olympique Lyonnais

Second practice:

Pos  Driver             Team               Time       Gap
 1.  Tristan Gommendy   FC Porto           1m27.005s
 2.  Adrian Valles      Liverpool          1m27.150s  + 0.145s
 3.  Kasper Andersen    FC Midtylland      1m27.371s  + 0.366s
 4.  Antonio Pizzonia   Corinthians        1m27.533s  + 0.528s
 5.  Craig Dolby        Tottenham Hotspur  1m27.724s  + 0.719s
 6.  Enrique Bernoldi   Flamengo           1m28.185s  + 1.180s
 7.  Ho-Pin Tung        Atletico Madrid    1m28.262s  + 1.257s
 8.  Davide Rigon       Olympiacos         1m28.404s  + 1.399s
 9.  Pedro Petiz        Sporting           1m28.557s  + 1.552s
10.  Yelmer Buurman     Anderlecht         1m28.611s  + 1.606s
11.  Miguel Molina      Al Ain             1m28.821s  + 1.816s
12.  Maximilian Wissel  FC Basel           1m28.896s  + 1.891s
13.  Jonathan Kennard   AS Roma            1m29.062s  + 2.057s
14.  Dominick Muermans  PSV Eindhoven      1m30.494s  + 3.489s
15.  Duncan Tappy       Galatasaray        1m30.712s  + 3.707s
16.  John Martin        Rangers            1m30.930s  + 3.925s