FIA Sportscars, Brno: Free practice 1

The Dutchman, still riding the crest of a wave after his giant-killing qualifying performance at Le Mans two weeks ago, made full use of his Dome-Judd's Avon tyres as track temperatures reached the 38-degree mark.

Close behind were the Ferrari-Judd of Giovanni Lavaggi and the championship leader Marco Zadra, who is once again partnered with Jean Marc Gounon for this race. Just six tenths of a second covered the top three at the end of the 80-minute session.

There were problems for the R&M Riley & Scott of Mauro Baldi when a rear upright gave way and pitched him off the track. The car was otherwise undamaged, but the team faces a race against time to get out for the second session at lunchtime.

Kremer Racing's Lola-Roush also missed a chunk of running time when its clutch exploded, forcing Sam Hancock to tour in to the pits.

The SR2 runners gave notice that a battle royal will commence all weekend when the top three were covered by just three hundreths of a second. It was Spa winner Massimo Monti in his BM Autosport Tampolli who just pipped the Lucchini Alfa of last year's winner Filippo Francioni.

The SRTS Lola and the Rowan Pilbeam were next up with both driver line-ups still learning the circuit.





Lammers/Hillebrand, Racing For Holland Dome-Judd, 1m51.339s
Lavaggi/Vann, GLV Brums Ferrari-Judd, 1m51.878s
M.Zadra/Gounon, BMS Scuderia Italia, 1m51.901s
Lupberger/Collins, Team Ascari-Judd, 1m52.948s
A. Zadra/Calderari/Bryner, BMS Scuderia Italia, 1m53.479s
Caffi/Baldi, R&M Riley & Scott-Judd, 1m53.963s
Nielsen/Katoh, Den Bla Avis Goh Dome-Judd, 1m55.044s
Hancock/Formato, Kremer Lola Roush, 1m55.318s

Nobili/Monti, BM Autosport Tampolli, 1m57.640s
Francioni/Raimondi, Luccchini Engineering, 1m57.688s
Oberto/Bjork, SRTS Lola-Nissan, 1m58.617s
O'Connell/Carway, Rowan Pilbeam-Nissan, 1m59.326s