Mörth tops first ETC Cup 2007 practice

The first four practice sessions for the ETC Cup of 2007 are completed. Sweden’s Pontus Mörth, competing for the Danish Chevrolet team, topped three out of four sessions in his Chevrolet Lacetti. His closest rivals included Sweden’s Tomas Engström, Mörth’s team mate Henrik Lundgaard from Denmark, Emmet O’Brien of Ireland. The first two sessions were completely wet while the final two were run in drying, difficult, conditions. The ETC Cup 2007 takes place this weekend at Adria in Italy.

Session Four

Pontus Mörth was fastest in all but one of the practice sessions in Adria today. His fastest time in the fourth session was 1:36:473. The Swede driving the Chevrolet Lacetti had alrady posted his fastest time of the day in the previous session with a lap of 1:35:642.

Twenty nine drivers competed in the last session of the day which was run on a nearly dry track and began with Tomas Engström posting a provisional fastest time of 1:37:260 followed by Janis Horeliks in second and Emmet O’Brien third.

Both the SEAT León drivers Maurizio Ceresoli and Michel Nykjær occupied the third position at one point during the session, Ceresoli ended the session 6th with Nykjær 8th.
After 15 minutes Horeliks was ahead of Mörth by over half a second, Geipel and Engström continued to swap places lap after lap for third on the time sheet.

There was a red flag issued just before the mid of the session to recover Alexander Lvov Jr’s Audi A4 that was straned in the gravel trap at turn 14.
When the cars returned to the track Mörth jumped ahead of Horeliks after posting a time of 1:36:652 with Engström third. But eventually the second Chevrolet of Henrik Lundgaard posted the second fastest lap of 1:37.064.
Aimol Racing drivers Dmitry Dobrovolsky and Arkadiy Pavlovskiy were first and second respectively in the Super Production class (1:43.589 and 1:44.381).

29 drivers took part in the session, with German Jens Löhnig the only competitor in the S1600 to join at the wheel of his Citroën C2.

Session Three

Pontus Mörth and Henrik Lundgaard posted a one-two in the third test session for the Chevrolet Motorsport Danmark team. Mörth clocked his and the fastest time of the day so far with a 1:35:642 and edged his Danish team-mate by 1.8 seconds.

After 15 minutes Tomas Engström had posted in his Honda Accord a provisional fastest time in the session with Emmet O’Brien second.
Five minutes later Richard Kaye in the Engstler Motorsport BMW 320i set a time of 1:41:144 placing him third. Another BMW 320i driver Stefano Valli made into the top 7 with a time of 1:43:307.

With 20 minutes to go Mörth again took the top spot with a time of 1:37:220 nearly a second faster than his second session time; he eventually managed to improve further to 1:35.642. Lundgaard moved up to second with Engström third, separated by only 0.003 seconds. Team-mates O’Brien and Kristian Poulsen were classified 4th and 5th, with Ceresoli in 6th.

Session Two

The second session, again on a wet track, saw Pontus Mörth posting the fastest time in his Chevrolet Lacetti run by the Chevrolet Motorsport Danmark team with a time of 1:38:050, improving by over one and a half second from his first session time. The Swede also improved the fastest time of the day, set by Horeliks in the previous test, by three tenths of a second.

The Toyota Corolla of Philip Geipel was second fastest ahead of Emmet O’Brien in the BMW. The pair were separated by less than one tenth of a second, although Geipel’s gap from Mörth was eight tenths.
Mörth’s team-mate Henrik Lundgaard improved his first session time by over two seconds clocking the fourth fastest time of 1:39:097 just ahead of his fellow Danish countrymen Michel Nykjær (SEAT León) and Jens Reno Møller (Honda Accord). Tomas Engström (Honda Accord) and César Campaniço (BMW 320si) were classified 7th and 8th, with Andrey Smetsky (Honda Accord) and Kristian Poulsen (BMW 320si) rounding out the top ten.

Session One

Competitors to the third FIA European Touring Car Cup hit the track in the late morning for their first test session. Nineteen drivers took part on a wet track, and Latvian Janis Horeliks posted the fastest lap of 1:38.079 in the JH Motorsport Honda Civic.

Kristian Poulsen from Denmark had been fastest until the last twenty minutes in his BMW 320si but finished second half a second behind. Pontus Mörth (Chevrolet Lacetti) from Sweden was third with Irish driver Emmet O’Brien (BMW 320si) in fourth.

35 minutes into the session Alexander Lvov’s Golden Motors Honda Accord stopped on the track and was towed back to the pits with engine problems. Earlier Lvov had posted a lap time of 1:42.602 but eventually he slipped down to 8th behind the BMW of César Campaniço and the Honda of Jens Reno Møller.

Session Four results Top Ten