Danny Watts tops the timesheets for A1 Team Great Britain in official practice as third round of A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in Sepang, Malaysia gets underway.
A1 Team Great Britain made a good start to its preparations for the third round of the 2008/09 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport today, with Danny Watts setting the quickest time in the first rookie practice session and then improving on that to take the fastest lap of the weekend so far in the afternoon’s one-hour practice at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia.
Danny hit the track this morning for the rookie practice session, which is split into two half hour segments. The British squad were on the pace straight away but Danny was still able to improve, setting his fastest lap of the session on the ninth of his 11 laps with a time of 1:51.096, putting him at the top of the timesheets. In the second rookie half hour, he set a lap two tenths slower than his segment one time, putting him third quickest of the session, with France and New Zealand ahead.
In the one hour practice this afternoon, Danny went out at the start and set a stunning time of 1:50.038 on his first flying lap, which was never bettered, despite the improvement of the track conditions bringing the times closer towards the end of the hour. GBR will have a further one hour testing session tomorrow morning with the rest of the grid ahead of the afternoon’s crucial qualifying.
Danny Watts: “It felt good today and we’re working hard for tomorrow now. In the rookie session I always knew I would be there or there abouts and this afternoon I expected the others to catch up. Looking at the times towards the end, the top ten are very, very close – there’s hardly anything in it. I think it will be the same story tomorrow and it’s going to be very tight at the top. Driving this car on this track is really amazing, with the aero, downforce and the braking – braking into the last corner is unbelievable. It’s now my second weekend in the car and last week I was racing Porsche and GT cars at Macau, so it’s a bit of a change. But I have learnt how to adapt quickly to new cars and I think that is showing in the results.”
Katie Clements, Team Principal: “It’s been another positive start to the weekend and, once again, the boys and Danny have quickly dialed into the track and worked hard to prepare in the best way possible for tomorrow. We have some more work to do in tomorrow morning’s practice and the times are close but, at this stage, are feeling very confident for qualifying.”
Rookie Practice 1aLaps: 11Position: 1st Fastest Lap: 1:51.096
Rookie Practice 1bLaps: 12Position: 3rd Fastest Lap: 1:51.319 (0.640)
Free Practice 2 Laps: 13Position: 1st Fastest Lap: 1:50.038
Saturday’s qualifying starts at 1415 local time (0615 GMT) with Sunday’s 25-minute Sprint race starting at 1100 local time (0300 GMT) and the 70-minute Feature race beginning at 1500 local time (0700 GMT).
Sky Sports will broadcast all the live action from Sepang, Malaysia, from 0600 on Saturday 22 November (Sky Sports 2) and from 0530 on Sunday 23 November (Sky Sports 1).
