Superleague Formula 2010 kicked off at Silverstone on Friday with a day of free practice that was affected badly by the poor weather.
Dodging the rain showers best was Roma's Julien Jousse, who managed to find the best of the conditions in the second of the three 30-minute sessions to lap in 1:36.819sec, a quarter of a second faster than Sevilla's Superleague rookie Marcos Martinez. Another newcomer, ex-F1 racer Franck Montagny, was third quickest for Bordeaux.
Although he set the fastest time of the day, Jousse ended it in the gravel along with Corinthians' Robert Doornbos in the third session, which proved to be a total washout.
The first session of the day, also run in wet conditions, was topped by Tottenham's Craig Dolby, tipped by paddock insiders as the title favorite after finishing runner-up last year. Alvaro Parente was second fastest for Porto, ahead of FC Basel's Max Wissel.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Julien Jousse AS Roma 1m36.819 9
2. Marcos Martinez Sevilla FC 1m37.073 + 0.254 8
3. Franck Montagny Girondins de Bordeaux 1m38.784 + 1.965 7
4. M.Wissel FC Basel 1m38.986 + 2.167 9
5. S.Bourdais Olympique Lyonnais 1m40.098 + 3.279 7
6. Craig Dolby Tottenham Hotspur 1m41.033 + 4.214 4
7. N.Karthikeyan PSV Eindhoven 1m41.280 + 4.461 8
8. Alvaro Parente FC Porto 1m41.450 + 4.631 6
9. C.van der Drift Olympiacos 1m43.104 + 6.285 11
10. Tristan Gommendy Galatasaray 1m43.421 + 6.602 5
11. James Walker Liverpool FC 1m43.838 + 7.019 5
12. Yelmer Buurman AC Milan 1m44.648 + 7.829 10
13. Borja Garcia Sporting Clube de Portugal 1m47.590 + 10.771 12
14. Robert Doornbos Corinthians 1m49.599 + 12.780 6
15. Davide Rigon RSC Anderlecht 1m50.767 + 13.948 10