Walker fastest in afternoon practice
Formula Renault 3.5 title protagonist James Walker continued to ply pressure on to championship leader Bertrand Baguette by setting the fastest time of the afternoon in second practice at the Nurburgring
The P1 Motorsport driver trails Baguette by 31 points in the standings, and will be keen to make inroads into the deficit this weekend to prevent the Belgian from clinching the title prior to the Motorland Aragon final, although Baguette was second quickest in the session.
Four tenths of a second behind the closely matched leaders, Briton Jon Lancaster was third fastest for Comtec. His team-mate John Martin was unable to take to the track after sustaining a split gearbox casing in the first session.
"It looks like someone has taken a saw to it," said Comtec engineer Paul Heath. "The gearbox is completely cut in two and it was only the wishbones that were holding the car together.
"I have seen that kind of damage before, but only after a monster shunt. With John, he just spun and slightly nicked the tyre wall. When the car was brought back to our pits on a low loader, I was really struggling to see any damage. We think the casing might have been pre-cracked."
Oliver Turvey's Carlin mount was seen bellowing blue smoke after a hydraulic pipe worked loose. The Racing Steps driver still managed to set the fourth fastest time, despite being stuck in gear across the start/finish line on his best lap, before being sidelined.
Carlin team-mate, Toro Rosso Formula 1 driver, Jaime Alguersuari wound up 13th, having sacrificed any Friday glory by holding back running on new tyres.
Despite improving his morning time by three tenths of a second, Kiwi Chris van der Drift slipped two positions to fifth. It was nevertheless another strong showing from the new UK resident, who managed to edge out early season points leader Marcos Martinez.
This morning's pacesetter Brendon Hartley rounded out the top ten, ahead of returning former race winner Salvador Duran.
"The only wheel I have got behind this year has been my road car," said Duran. "Up until now I have had an interesting year working for my father's company. Interwetten are helping me to get back on the pace quickly, and after the two years we spent together we have a great relationship."
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. James Walker P1 1m46.660s 2. Bertrand Baguette Draco 1m46.784s + 0.124s 3. Jon Lancaster Comtec 1m47.126s + 0.466s 4. Oliver Turvey Carlin 1m47.192s + 0.532s 5. Chris van der Drift Epsilon Euskadi 1m47.234s + 0.574s 6. Marcos Martinez Pons 1m47.318s + 0.658s 7. Sten Pentus Fortec 1m47.361s + 0.701s 8. Fairuz Fauzy Fortec 1m47.386s + 0.726s 9. Charles Pic Tech 1 1m47.523s + 0.863s 10. Brendon Hartley Tech 1 1m47.524s + 0.864s 11. Salvador Duran Interwetten 1m47.607s + 0.947s 12. Daniil Move P1 1m47.615s + 0.955s 13. Jaime Alguersuari Carlin 1m47.713s + 1.053s 14. Pasquale di Sabatino RC 1m47.753s + 1.093s 15. Marco Barba Draco 1m48.251s + 1.591s 16. Filip Salaquarda Prema 1m48.296s + 1.636s 17. Federico Leo Pons 1m48.355s + 1.695s 18. Julian Leal Prema 1m48.387s + 1.727s 19. Keisuke Kunimoto Epsilon Euskadi 1m48.465s + 1.805s 20. Guillaume Moreau SG 1m48.995s + 2.335s 21. Mihai Marinescu Interwetten 1m49.078s + 2.418s 22. Anton Nebylitskiy SG 1m51.303s + 4.643s 23. John Martin Comtec
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments