Reigning champion Liverpool followed up its convincing Europa League result from Thursday night by setting the fastest time in practice ahead of the ninth round of Superleague Formula at Autodromo do Algarve in Portugal on Friday afternoon.
The Premier League club's recently installed driver Frederic Vervisch lapped the sweeping Algarve track in 1m33.683sec, almost a quarter of a second clear of the car of the club's fellow European giant AC Milan, piloted by Yelmer Buurman. Both left it until the very end of the second half-hour session to set their fastest times as the track rubbered-in despite the hot weather conditions.
Davide Rigon was third quickest for Anderlecht, but he failed to dip into the 1m33sec bracket. He had been fastest in the cooler conditions of the morning session, however.
Roma's Julien Jousse was fourth fastest, over half a second off the pace, ahead of PSV's Hywel Lloyd and Robert Doornbos of Corinthians. Series newcomer Neel Jani (Olympiacos) was only 12th fastest, having been eighth in the first session.
Points leader Craig Dolby of Tottenham Hotspur languished just behind Jani in 13th, and will be looking to find more speed in qualifying on Saturday as he defends a three-point lead over Buurman in the championship standings.
Practice one:
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Davide Rigon RSC Anderlecht 1m35.369s
2. Alvaro Parente FC Porto 1m35.741s + 0.372s
3. Yelmer Buurman AC Milan 1m35.892s + 0.523s
4. John Martin Beijing Guoan 1m36.037s + 0.668s
5. Frederic Vervisch Liverpool FC 1m36.150s + 0.781s
6. Robert Doornbos Corinthians 1m36.150s + 0.781s
7. Duncan Tappy Flamengo 1m36.288s + 0.919s
8. Neel Jani Olympiacos 1m36.495s + 1.126s
9. Hywel Lloyd PSV Eindhoven 1m36.679s + 1.310s
10. Craig Dolby Tottenham Hotspur 1m36.711s + 1.342s
11. Marcos Martinez Sevilla FC 1m37.058s + 1.689s
12. Maria de Villota Atletico de Madrid 1m37.794s + 2.425s
13. Julien Jousse AS Roma 1m38.575s + 3.206s
14. Max Wissel FC Basel 1m40.016s + 4.647s
15. Maximo Cortes Sporting 1m51.887s + 16.518s
16. Tristan Gommendy Olympique Lyonnais
Practice two:
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Frederic Vervisch Liverpool FC 1m33.683s
2. Yelmer Buurman AC Milan 1m33.915s + 0.232s
3. Davide Rigon RSC Anderlecht 1m34.105s + 0.422s
4. Julien Jousse AS Roma 1m34.255s + 0.572s
5. Hywel Lloyd PSV Eindhoven 1m34.351s + 0.668s
6. Robert Doornbos Corinthians 1m34.467s + 0.784s
7. Andy Soucek Galatasaray 1m34.694s + 1.011s
8. Alvaro Parente FC Porto 1m34.908s + 1.225s
9. Duncan Tappy Flamengo 1m35.037s + 1.354s
10. John Martin Beijing Guoan 1m35.151s + 1.468s
11. Marcos Martinez Sevilla FC 1m35.285s + 1.602s
12. Neel Jani Olympiacos 1m35.605s + 1.922s
13. Craig Dolby Tottenham Hotspur 1m35.719s + 2.036s
14. Maria de Villota Atletico de Madrid 1m36.159s + 2.476s
15. Max Wissel FC Basel 1m36.613s + 2.930s
16. Maximo Cortes Sporting 1m36.667s + 2.984s
17. Celso Miguez Girondins 1m37.034s + 3.351s
18. Tristan Gommendy Olympique Lyonnais 1m37.899s + 4.216s