Frentzen fastest on day one

Heinz Harald Frentzen topped the hour long Speedcar Series practice session on Thursday 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. The qualifying session will be held today at 10:40 followed by race 1 at 15:30 local time.

The practice session classification is as follows:

Pos Driver Teams Laps Time
1. Frentzen Team Lavaggi 16 2:07.082
2. Morbidelli Palm Beach 20 2:07.260
3. J. Alesi HPR 18 2:07.334
4. V. Liuzzi UP Team 12 2:07.413
5. J. Herbert JMB 21 2:07.518
6. H. Al Maktoum UP Team 21 2:08.312
7. M. Lee HPR 16 2:08.521
8. J. Villeneuve Durango 16 2:08.715
9. T. Biagi Palm Beach 21 2:09.104
10. D. Pasini JMB 8 2:09.606
11. C. Zoechling Durango 17 2:09.820
12. G. Lavaggi Giovanni Lavaggi 22 2:10.224
13. E. Panacci Continental Circus 21 2:13.066
14. E. Charles Continental Circus 8 2:13.992