A1GP news

Doornbos tops Friday practice at Portimao

Vodafone A1GP Algarve, Portugal got underway this morning with New Zealand's Earl Bamber setting the early pace in the rookie session and the Netherlands' topping the timesheets in afternoon practice

Doornbos fast on first day

Round Six of the 2008/09 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport began today in Portugal as the A1GP Powered by Ferrari cars took to the new 4.69-kilometre Autódromo Internacional do Algarve for the first time with the drivers giving it great reviews. Robert Doornbos looked strong on his return to A1 Team Netherlands' posting a 1-minute 31.962 seconds early on in this afternoon's first official practice session.

"It's a great track here," said the Netherlands' Robert Doornbos. "For me, it's not easy to swap cars, especially as I arrived last night from Texas where I was testing on an oval there so this is a completely different car. Every time I have driven the car I have been strong and finished on the podium. This will be my last time in the car this season because I have IndyCar commitments, but I'm looking for a win to leave the team on a high note."

Filipe Albuquerque

New Zealand continued its consistent pace this afternoon with Earl Bamber back behind the wheel of Black Beauty to record the second quickest time of the day. Fresh from his podium success in South Africa, Monaco's Clivio Piccione put in a great last lap to move up to third as the chequered flag came out which pushed Italy's Vitantonio Liuzzi down to fourth on his A1GP debut. Home favourite, Filipe Albuquerque clocked the fifth fastest time, 1-minute 32.570-seconds, 0.608 seconds adrift of the Netherlands'.

Portugal's Albuquerque's session came to an early end this afternoon after getting stranded out on track: "I was struggling on braking with the rear and that time I was just too late to catch the clutch. I asked the marshals to push as I knew the car would start."

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