Guerrieri sets pace at Hockenheim

It was the perfect comeback for his ISR team following a two-month summer break. Worn chassis had forced the outfit to withdraw its entry from the previous round in Hungary, and return both cars to constructor Dallara for repairs.

Guerrieri's time of 1m28.337s edged out Red Bull Formula 1 reserve driver Daniel Ricciardo by three tenths of a second.

"I had to pay Euro 7000 to Dallara for work on both cars," said a grinning team boss Igor Salaquarda. "But I think the chassis stiffness is the same as it was before. We are back in P1 again, so everyone can see that there was nothing else untoward going on."

Guerrieri was equally upbeat over the performance: "I had my only podium in Formula 3000 here back in '04, and this morning everything went well. The car felt really good and we were quick on the second lap. All of the problems we had in Hungary are in the past, if anything I think the car has come back from Dallara even faster."

Ricciardo led much of the session, only to be demoted by Guerrieri from top spot with less than five minutes of the hour and fifteen-minute session remaining. Ricciardo is joined at Tech 1 Racing this weekend by new team-mate, recently crowned British Formula 3 champion, Jean-Eric Vergne.

"I haven't really been out in any cars over the summer, although I did do a straight line aero test for Red Bull in Spain," said Ricciardo. "Most of the time I have been doing simulator work, not for Hockenheim, but for the F1 team for Spa and Monza. Both Jean-Eric and I seem to be feeling pretty much the same thing this morning, which is good."

Stefano Coletti finished third for Comtec, 0.06s faster than KMP Racing's Anton Nebylitskiy. Fortec's Jon Lancaster eneded the morning in fifth, ahead of series debutant Vergne.

"I think the balance was not quite where I wanted," said the Frenchman, "but we are just working through things and I think overall things are going quite well."

Championship leader Mikhail Aleshin completed the session in ninth, a late red flag interrupted the Russian Carlin driver's run on new tyres.

"It is amazing that I still remember how to drive," said Aleshin in reference to the long lay-off.

Pos  Driver             Team             Time       Gap
 1.  Esteban Guerrieri  ISR              1m28.337s
 2.  Daniel Ricciardo   Tech 1           1m28.677s  + 0.340s
 3.  Stefano Coletti    Comtec           1m28.810s  + 0.473s
 4.  Anton Nebylitskiy  KMP              1m28.816s  + 0.479s
 5.  Jon Lancaster      Fortec           1m28.859s  + 0.522s
 6.  Jean Eric Vergne   Tech 1           1m29.012s  + 0.675s
 7.  Filip Salaquarda   ISR              1m29.090s  + 0.753s
 8.  Albert Costa       Epsilon Euskadi  1m29.227s  + 0.890s
 9.  Mikhail Aleshin    Carlin           1m29.293s  + 0.956s
10.  Federico Leo       Pons             1m29.477s  + 1.140s
11.  Victor Garcia      KMP              1m29.574s  + 1.237s
12.  Julian Leal        Draco            1m29.747s  + 1.410s
13.  Walter Grubmuller  P1               1m29.781s  + 1.444s
14.  Nathanael Berthon  Draco            1m29.788s  + 1.451s
15.  Daniel Zampieri    Pons             1m29.812s  + 1.475s
16.  Greg Mansell       Comtec           1m29.871s  + 1.534s
17.  Keisuke Kunimoto   Epsilon Euskadi  1m29.933s  + 1.596s
18.  Jan Charouz        P1               1m30.022s  + 1.685s
19.  Sten Pentus        Fortec           1m30.060s  + 1.723s
20.  Nelson Panciatici  Junior Lotus     1m30.200s  + 1.863s
21.  Jake Rosenzweig    Carlin           1m30.492s  + 2.155s
22.  Daniil Move        Junior Lotus     1m30.593s  + 2.256s
23.  Sergio Canamasas   FHV Interwetten  1m30.798s  + 2.461s
24.  Bruno Mendez       FHV Interwetten  1m31.240s  + 2.903s