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Liuzzi fastest at practice while Melandri impresses, Villeneuve 9th

Posted on 12. Feb, 2009 by webmestre in Asia, Uncategorized

Liuzzi fastest at practice while Melandri impresses
Vitantonio Liuzzi set the quickest time at practice this evening at the Losail International Circuit for the first ever Speedcar Series night event this weekend. He was followed very closely by Jean Alesi and Gianni Morbidelli.  Alesi was ahead of the pack for the most part of the hour long practice session that began at 19:00 local time. Liuzzi however managed to clock 2:04.818 in the final minutes, bettering the Frenchman’s time by .049 and half a second faster than
fellow Italian Morbidelli.
The surprise outcome of the day was from MotoGP Champion Marco Melandri, who has ridden on the circuit in Qatar before but has only just driven on it in a Speedcar.  He fared impressively finishing in fifth place only 0.025 slower than Johnny Herbert.  The Italian rider said, “I had the advantage of knowing the track but the racing lines are different when comparing a Speedcar to a motorbike. The car understeers quite a lot but I had a great time on the track. It’s a difficult car to drive but not as hard as I expected. I had estimated to finish around 10th place so to finish
in 5th was a great result.” Melandri was quick from the start and stayed between 6th and 4th places.
The practice session classification is as follows:
Pos Driver            Teams               Laps   Time
1. V.Liuzzi         UP Team             19     2:04.818
2. J. Alesi         HPR                 12    2:04.867
3. G. Morbidelli     Palm Beach Racing    20     2:05.323
4. J. Herbert       JMB                  21     2:05.946
5. M. Melandri       Team Lavaggi        23     2:06.146
6. H. Frentzen      Team Lavaggi         18     2:06.171
7. T. Biagi         Palm Beach           22     2:06.397
8. H. Al Maktoum     UP Team             22     2:06.462
9. J. Villeneuve     Durango             19     2:06.778
10. M. Lee           HPR                  16     2:06.882
11. C. Zoechling      Durango             25     2:07.133
12. D. Passini        JMB                   7     2:07.622
13. N. Al Attiyah     Team Barwa           23     2:09.478
14. A. Al Kuwari      QMMF Team           16     2:15.225
15. F. Al Thani       QMMF Team            10     2:22.627
The 30 minute qualifying session will be held tomorrow at 17:45 local time followed
by Race 1 at 21:40. Fans can watch the races through race footage televised by 13
broadcasters across Asia, the Middle East and Europe
The list of provisional broadcasters for Speedcar Series Season 2 is as follows:
Channel                 Country/Region            Transmission
ESPN Star Sports        Pan Asia                 Delayed
Sport 5                  Czech Republic, Slovakia  Live
Sport TV                Slovenia                 Delayed
Viasat                  Scandinavia               Delayed
Telenova                Italy                    Delayed
Rai                     Italy                    Delayed
Dubai Sports            Middle East              Live
Abu Dhabi Sports        Middle East              Live
Showtime                Middle East              Live
Al Jazeera              Middle East              Live
Charlton TV             Middle East              Delayed
Al Dawri and Al Kass     Middle East               Delayed highlights
Source Speedcar Series

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Tags: Jacques Villeneuve, Speedcar Series 2009, Week-End Motorsports