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. Canadian Jacques Villeneuve (photo) set the 9th fastest time. "The most important thing is that the car runs better! It is well balanced with good power. We just had one problem with the steering, which has a tendency to jam. This makes the car a handful to turn into the corners. But that should be solved for tomorrow," he said to Auto123.com 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 2:06.77810. M. Lee HPR 16 2:06.88211. C. Zoechling Durango 25 2:07.13312. D. Passini JMB 7 2:07.62213. N. Al Attiyah Team Barwa 23 2:09.47814. A. Al Kuwari QMMF Team 16 2:15.22515. F. Al Thani QMMF Team 10 2:22.627 photo: Speedcar Series
Speedcar: Liuzzi fastest in practice - Villeneuve is 9th