SEAT on top in first practise
During this mornings first practise session at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, the Spanish manufacturer SEAT took the top three positions. Reigning world champion Yvan Muller was fastest, lapping the track in 1:44.811.
He was ahead of his team mates Rickard Rydell and Gabriele Tarquini, who where 2 and 5 tenths slower respectively.
Fourth position was a SEAT as well, but the independents Léon of Tom Coronel. He was six tenths down on the time of Muller.
Top Chevrolet driver was Nicola Larini. He was fifth fastest and over six tenths slower than Muller. His teammate Rob Huff, who had a great weekend in Pau, was in eighth position, while Alain Menu only managed 15th fastest.
Best of the BMW drivers was Alessandro Zanardi in sixth. He set a time of 1:45.493. Zanardi doesn’t suffer from the maximum ballast like the rest of the factory BMW’s. He’s 60 kilo lighter than the other BMW 320si’s.
The heavy BMW’s were in nineth (Farfus), tenth (Priaulx), eleventh (Müller) and twelfth (Hernandez).
A good result for Lada driver Jaap van Lagen. He was 16th fastest and with that he was faster than almost all of the privateer drivers. Only Coronel (4th) and Colak (14th) were faster.
