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Jarama

30/09/2001

Friday

Report

32 cars assembled for free practice today, but the weather on offer was not exactly as planned. It began raining before the start of the first session, dried out by lunchtime, but then provided only a narrow window for quick times at the start of the afternoon session, before the rain returned. That created a varied class mix throughout the afternoon timesheet.

Significant absentees were Stephane Ortelli and Philipp Peter, both racing at Indianapolis in the Porsche Supercup (an odd sense of priorities, or not?), so Cyrille Sauvage joins Robin Liddell in Freisinger’s #57, Chiesa and Camathias in #69.

No Wieth or Rafanelli Ferraris, but some or all of them could be back for Estoril.

Only the Hezemans / Jeroen Bleekemolen Viper carries the 100 kg maximum, Belloc and Bouchut finally having got rid of some of their 100 kg (down to 80), while the Prodrive Ferrari is up to 60 kg already. The lead JMB Ferrari and Freisinger’s Liddell / Sauvage carry 35 kg, but Riccitelli / Quester have only 5 kg. That’s a useful benefit to the Championship leader.

Riccitelli showed his intent to carry on aiming for victories, fastest in N-GT in the wet morning session, sixth overall. Then fastest overall in the afternoon, the Italian setting a 1:40 in the opening minutes, before the rain returned. The track began to dry by the end of the session, but no one could match Riccitelli.

So with track time at a premium on Saturday, Friday was somewhat inconsequential. At least everyone experienced wet and dry conditions, although a longer dry period would have been of more benefit to all.

"I'm glad to be back, but I wish it had been dry for my first experience with the modern Storm," remarked Bobby Verdon-Roe. He and JC-W were down in twelfth in the faster afternoon session, but the position is not significant.

Sebastiaan Bleekemolen commented on the number of times he was using second gear at Jarama, while Alain Menu found "no grip at all, and we're not sure why," in the Prodrive Ferrari - eighteenth fastest in the afternoon. "The car has quite a lot more downforce than when I last drove it (Hungary)," said the Swiss. But that didn't seem to help here. Rydell left the track in the afternoon, and returned behind a tow truck.

Tim Sugden was happy: "I've been competitive in practice, and handed the car over to Steve O'Rourke in second place in the last two races." With "more and more teams having two professional drivers, it's hard for us to compete in the race. But I can't complain!" He was third fastest in N-GT this morning.

The Liddell / Sauvage pair haven't really featured yet, although they were fourth in N-GT this afternoon, thirteenth overall.

The #62 Ferrari drivers were happier than of late, the car reacting well to changes and within two seconds of Riccitelli in the wet, morning session, despite not finding a clear lap.

Riccitelli would like to "claim the Drivers Championship at this round, which we can do if we win and JMB is third or lower." He's going the right way about it.