Larini tops first Monza practice

Nicola Larini clocked the best lap of the first free practice session at Monza. The Italian driver completed his last lap in 2:01.224 which ousted independent driver Roberto Colciago from the top spot by 0.115 seconds.

The third best lap was set by Tiago Monteiro of SEAT Sport; he was 0.136 of a second off Larini’s time.

Augusto Farfus drove around the Monza track in 2:01.440 which was the quickest of the BMW drivers and fourth overall.

The young Brazilian had a hairy moment at the first chicane corner by braking late but utilised the run-off area to avoid damage.

Below Farfus on the timesheet was James Thompson. Despite only completing four laps due to braking problems the Briton posted a time of 2:01.463 at the wheel of his Alfa Romeo 156.

Alex Zanardi, Alain Menu and Tom Coronel completed the top eight lap times respectively. Olivier Tielemans had a good session and claimed the ninth fastest time overall.

Current championship leader, Andy Priaulx, managed the 12th best time with Jörg Müller 13th.

During the early stages of the session Sergio Hernández went off and onto the gravel trap at the Parabolica after a clash with Robert Huff.

Eighteen drivers’ times were covered by only nine tenths of a second.