A1GP news

France takes first blood

Driver Loic Duval speed round the wet 2.6-mile track in 1m 46.618s right at the death of the session, to snatch the top spot and unofficial position as early favourite for this weekend's two races.

The entire session was run in damp conditions, with Duval's fastest time of more than 16 seconds off last year's best, set by A1 Team South Africa's Adrian Zaugg in the dry.

Due to no practice sessions being scheduled for the Friday meeting because of Zandvoort's noise legislation, there were two sessions timetable for this morning, before this afternoon's qualifying session.

A1 Team Mexico was the surprise early leader for the bulk of the session, topping the timesheets until the last-gasp effort by France. He eventually classifed second.

Despite Salvador Duran not having sat in the Mexican car throughout pre-season testing, the 22-year-old was supreme round a damp Zandvoort track.

Infact, the last time Duran drove an A1GP car was at his home race in Mexico City last March, making his pace in the treacherous conditions all the more impressive.

Christian Vietoris was third quickest for Germany, with South Africa's Zaugg fourth quickest. A1 Team Ireland was a strong fifth quickest, only a second off Duval's best, on driver Ralph Firman's return to A1GP.

With the wet conditions, several drivers had incidents and spins. Joao Urbano was most affected in the Portugal car, crashing out after just 20 minutes into the session when he slid into the tyre barriers at a hairpin. He was running fast at the time, however he was unable to get going again after damage.

The damage was only minor however, and the team should be able to fix it before the next session.

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