Practice: Karthikeyan leads the way

Karthikeyan, who also topped the times at the end of Friday's practice sessions, set a time of 1m25.143s on fresh rubber in the final half-hour practice session on Saturday morning, some 0.928s faster than Frenchman Franck Montagny.

Minardi F1 hopeful Justin Wilson ended up 11th fastest, but was happy with the setup work and remains confident of a strong qualifying performance despite a brief spin in the third session.

"We're getting there, but we'll have to see what happens in qualifying," said Wilson. "Our times have been good and we're continuing to improve."

Ricardo Zonta was fastest in the first one hour session on Friday, ending up fourth overall, and will be determined to add to his impressive tally of nine wins during Sunday's two races.

Former German F3 champion Bas Leinders, who is level on points with Montagny in the battle for the championship runner-up spot, ended up eighth fastest and has been in the top ten in every session.

Ricardo Sperafico, who is making his series debut as a last-minute stand-in for the injured Angel Burgueno at Team Repsol Meycom was an impressive sixth fastest, ahead of reigning European F3000 champion Jaime Melo Jr.

Another recent addition to the series, American Red Bull driver search award winner Paul Edwards was 18th fastest, ahead of fellow newcomer for the two Brazilian meetings, Milka Duno.

The grids for Sunday's races will be determined by two half-hour qualifying sessions, the first of which is due to start at 1315 (GMT).


Narain Karthikeyan (RC Motorsport), 1m25.143s
Franck Montagny (Racing Engineering), 1m26.071s
Antonio Garcia (Campos Motorsport), 1m26.083s
Ricardo Zonta (Gabord Copetition), 1m26.071s
Jean-Christophe Ravier (Epilon by Graff), 1m26.301s
Ricardo Sperafico (Repsol Meycom), 1m26.307ss
Jaime Melo Jr (Zele Motorsport), 1m26.457s
Bas Leinders (KTR), 1m26.495s
Polo Villaamil (Campos Motorsport), 1m26.639s
Ander Vilarino (Epsilon by Graff), 1m26.654s