22/01/2009
NEWS STORY
Heinz Harald Frentzen topped the hour long Speedcar Series practice session this afternoon at the Bahrain International Circuit ahead of two races to follow this weekend on Friday and Saturday.
The German driver came in ahead of Gianni Morbidelli by less than a tenth of a second while Jean Alesi classified in third spot lagging by 0.252. Frentzen is currently in second in the driver championship standings after having finished second in the last race in Dubai. He commented on his practice timing, "This is a very good circuit and I enjoy the layout. It's not a simple track though and it is easy to make mistakes."
Vitantonio Liuzzi, winner of the last race in Dubai and currently leading the driver championship classified in 4th place. The new drivers to Speedcar Series Thomas Biagi, Giovanni Lavaggi and Enzo Panacci timed 9th, 12th and 13th respectively.
The race is expected to be a tight battle judging from today's practice where the first and the fifth car finished with less than half a second between them.
Times
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
| 1 | Frentzen | Team Lavagi | 2:07.082 | 95.265 mph |
| 2 | Morbidelli | Palm Beach | 2:07.260 | 0.178 |
| 3 | Alesi | HPR | 2:07.334 | 0.252 |
| 4 | Liuzzi | UP Team | 2:07.413 | 0.331 |
| 5 | Herbert | JMB | 2:07.518 | 0.436 |
| 6 | Al Maktoum | UP Team | 2:08.312 | 1.230 |
| 7 | Lee | HPR | 2:08.521 | 1.439 |
| 8 | Villeneuve | Durango | 2:08.715 | 1.633 |
| 9 | Biagi | Palm Beach | 2:09.104 | 2.022 |
| 10 | Pasini | JMB | 2:09.606 | 2.524 |
| 11 | Zoechling | Durango | 2:09.820 | 2.738 |
| 12 | Lavaggi | Team Siram | 2:10.224 | 3.142 |
| 13 | Panacci | Continental Circus | 2:13.066 | 5.984 |
| 14 | Charles | Continental Circus | 2:13.992 | 6.910 |