Practice 1: Rickard Rydell fastest

The fastest man in the first free practice session was Rickard Rydell. The SEAT Sport Swede set the best lap of 2:34.315 in the 10th minute of the session with nobody able to top it.

Andy Priaulx was second quickest with a time 0.642 seconds shy of Rydell’s mark.

Fastest man from yesterday, Nicola Larini, posted the third best time today for the Chevrolet team, completing a trio of different cars at top of the time sheet.

BMW Team Germany drivers Jörg and Dirk Müller posted the 4th and 5th quickest laps respectively.

Dirk had his session cut short when he touched the wall at Paiol which caused his front right wheel to fly off at the Faraway turn. His car remained static on the track until the end of the session.

“I don’t know what happened,” he said. “I suddenly lost the car and hit the wall. I’m not sure the team will be able to make repairs in time for the next session.”

Current championship leader Augusto Farfus was the best of the Alfa Romeo drivers but only 17th overall. He was the worst placed of the drivers who are fighting for the world title.

Local man André Couto set the 10th fastest lap, while BMW newcomer Jan Magnussen the 14th.

Tom Coronel’s best lap was 13th fastest overall and 8 positions ahead of the next best independent driver, Luca Rangoni.

Diego Romanini closed the timesheet in 26th position, after the Wiechers-Sport team spent most of the night repairing his BMW 320i after yesterday’s crash.