12/02/2009
NEWS STORY
Barwa International Campos Team's Vitaly Petrov (right) set the pace today during free practice for the fourth round of 08-09 GP2 Asia Series at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar.
A windy and extremely dirty track tonight, after twenty-four hours of sandstorms, added to a challenging first taste of driving at night-time, as the Russian set the fastest lap time with a 1:38.812. His teammate and Bahrain sprint race winner Sergio Perez also posted a good lap time finished 6th.
Also on good form was Marco Bonanomi (Meritus.Mahara) who was second quickest ahead of Durango's Davide Valsecchi. The young Italian is aiming for a strong performance in Qatar in order to reduce the gap between him and Kobayashi in the drivers' championship.
The surprise of the session came from DPR's Michael Herck who topped the timesheets for most of the time until Petrov went quicker with only seven minutes remaining. The Romanian eventually finished fourth ahead of iSport's Giedo van der Garde.
Championship leaders Dams seemed to have a tougher time on the track as their men, Kamui Kobayashi and Jérôme d'Ambrosio, finished fifteenth and nineteenth, two clear seconds off Petrov's pace.