Mansell tops Qatar test session

Despite occasional spins, Mansell posted the fastest of his 23 laps in the two-hour test session right at the end of the day, as the group of ex-Formula One drivers got to grips with the extremely hot, windy and dusty conditions of the 5.43-km Losail circuit.

Mansell's lap of 1:49.315 was just 0.033 seconds quicker than Stefan Johansson in what proved to be an extremely close session. Only two seconds covered the top ten runners.

Former F3000 champion Christian Danner was third quickest ahead of a strong performance from GP Masters new boy Andrea de Cesaris in fourth. Derek Warwick edged Hans Stuck to the fifth fastest time.

Another new driver, Eric Van de Poele, had thought he had surprised with the second quickest time. However, there was a timing glitch, and his best lap was ultimately only good enough for 15th.

Alex Caffi completed three laps in Rene Arnoux's machine. Because of his age, Caffi is not eligible to race in the series yet and just completed shakedown work in the Frenchman's car before Arnoux arrives at the track tomorrow.

Like Qatar's MotoGP round, the main GP Masters race will take place on Saturday lunchtime. There are two free practice sessions tomorrow, before qualifying on Friday.

Pos  Driver               Time
 1.  Nigel Mansell        1:49.315
 2.  Stefan Johansson     1:49.348
 3.  Christian Danner     1:49.501
 4.  Andrea de Cesaris    1:49.973
 5.  Derek Warwick        1:50.336
 6.  Hans Stuck           1:50.586
 7.  Pierluigi Martini    1:50.770
 8.  Ricardo Patrese      1:51.047
 9.  Eliseo Salazar       1:51.047
10.  Emerson Fittipaldi   1:51.064
11.  Jan Lammers          1:51.425
12.  Eddie Cheever        1:52.775
13.  Patrick Tambay       1:53.094
14.  Eric Van de Poele    1:54.672
15.  Alex Caffi           1:55.709