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China - A1 Team Ireland
took charge in the second of today's two free practice
sessions at Zhuhai International Circuit as all 22 drivers
experienced the Chinese circuit for the first time in an A1GP
car, kicking off round four of the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of
Motorsport season.
Twenty-five-year-old Irish rookie Adam Carroll, who
finished fifth fastest in the morning session when the top 12
nations were separated by less than one second, clocked a best
lap of 1m23.279s around the 4.3km circuit this afternoon in
warm and sunny weather conditions.
Carroll, who is feeling a lot more comfortable in the
emerald green car after extensive work on his seat, was
encouraged by his team's start to the weekend and is aiming
for a strong qualifying performance tomorrow afternoon:
'Obviously it was only practice but it was a good way to
start the weekend. We got a pretty good lap on new rubber but
I'm sure everyone's going to catch up tomorrow. I'm hoping we
can carry the pace all the way through the weekend and get up
the front and stay there. I've had some major issues with my
seat and we've had to make seven so far. I find it quite hard
to get comfortable in the car but now I can really concentrate
on driving the car rather than being in pain so it should make
a lot of difference.'
Canada's Robert Wickens, who secured the team's first
podium finish of the season last time out in Malaysia,
finished the day second fastest, half a second off the Irish
car.
Having topped the time sheets in this morning's rookie
session, defending champion Germany's Michael Ammermuller set
the third fastest time of the day, closely followed by the
Netherlands's Jeroen Bleekemolen in fourth position
overall.
When asked what the secret is to achieve a quick lap around
the Zhuhai circuit, Ammermuller said:
'It's quite difficult to make a lot of time up at the high
speed corners, you just need to focus on late braking and
getting on the power as early as possible on the exit to make
sure you get a perfect lap. There are no big secrets at any of
the corners. The track was getting quite dusty and dirty in
the afternoon as some of the drivers spun off so the
conditions were getting worse and that's why nobody was able
to improve on the earlier times.'
Home nation A1 Team China's CongFu Cheng, who last drove at
Zhuhai in 2002 in a Chinese Formula Renault race, is not
eligible to take part in the rookie session and finished the
day a strong fifth fastest.
The 23-year-old from Beijing said:
'We were obviously at a bit of a disadvantage not being
able to do any running in the rookie session this morning, but
we worked through the programme this afternoon and it worked
out ok. There is quite a lot of pressure as it's my home event
and I haven't raced here for seven years so I'm pleased to be
on the pace today, but I'm sure everybody will catch up by
tomorrow.'
A1 Team France driver Loic Duval finished the day in sixth
place, despite not taking part in the rookie session this
morning and limited track time this afternoon due to spinning
off half way through the hour.
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