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Webber dominates in first qualifying

Super Nova's Mark Webber was fastest in the first qualifying session at San Marino, the Australian setting the fastest lap of the session ahead of British duo Darren Manning and Justin Wilson

The Benetton F1 test driver had dominated most of the session, but his lap of 1m38.635s right at the end of first qualifying was more than any of his rivals could match.

Behind it was a close fought battle, with less than a second separating the second and tenth-placed drivers. But Arden's Darren Manning took that second spot, just nicking in front of fellow countryman and winner of the Brazilian race two weeks' ago, Nordic's Justin Wilson.

Wilson's team mate Tomas Enge finished fourth quickest, with Antonio Pizzonia, driving for Petrobras, in fifth. The Brazilian took the top rookie spot from Red Bull's Patrick Friesacher in the final moments of the session.

Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais was seventh quickest, but the DAMS driver will be kicking himself for putting his car heavily into the barriers at Piratella. The 22-year-old will struggle to get his car fixed for second qualifying, which will get underway shortly.


1 Mark Webber, Super Nova, 1m38.635s
2 Darren Manning, Arden, 1m39.010s
3 Justin Wilson, Nordic, 1m39.079s
4 Tomas Enge, Nordic, 1m39.210s
5 Antonio Pizzonia, Petrobras, 1m39.219s
6 Patrick Friesacher, Red Bull, 1m39.317s
7 Sebastien Bourdais, DAMS, 1m39.323s
8 Ricardo Sperafico, Petrobras, 1m39.563s
9 Jaime Melo, Durango, 1m39.675s
10 Giorgio Pantano, Astromega, 1m39.715s

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