Lopez fastest in opening practice

Jose Maria Lopez has put his Super Nova International at the top of the timesheets in this morning's practice session. Jose Maria Lopez has set the pace in the opening session at the Nurburgring, claiming the top spot on the time sheets in free practice with a time of 1:41.885.

The Argentine set his fastest lap just ten minutes into the session and then held on despite strong lap times throughout the field, with just one tenth covering the top three positions of Lopez, Nicolas Lapierre and Adam Carroll.

Tricky conditions on a green track caught a number of drivers unawares, with most of the field struggling to find a perfect brake balance and running wide somewhere on the circuit over the thirty minute period, particularly into the notoriously tight Turn One.

Nonetheless the only drivers to spin off track were Ferdinando Monfardini, Jason Tahinci and Andreas Zuber, with the latter being the only driver not to find his way back on track after getting stuck in the gravel while trying to improve on fourth place.

Championship leader Nelson Piquet Jr didn’t have a dream start to the weekend – his car stopped on track just ten minutes into the session with a problem, and he was forced to get a lift back to the pits to watch the remainder of the session with his team.

The quickest sectors of the morning all belonged to Trident Racing, pointing towards what could be another fantastic weekend for the team. But with the top seventeen drivers covered by just one second and the top 24 by two seconds, a very exciting qualifying session is in store this afternoon.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Lopez Super Nova International 1:41.885 14
2. Lapierre Arden International Ltd 1:41.959 13
3. Carroll Racing Engineering 1:41.967 14
4. Zuber Trident Racing 1:42.015 11
5. Premat ART Grand Prix 1:42.100 14
6. Bruni Trident Racing 1:42.110 14
7. Glock BCN Competicion 1:42.156 12
8. Yoshimoto BCN Competicion 1:42.232 14
9. Hamilton ART Grand Prix 1:42.346 12
10. Viso iSport International 1:42.351 16
11. Valles Campos Racing 1:42.352 14
12. Piccione DPR 1:42.546 15
13. Perera DAMS 1:42.565 14
14. Negrao Piquet Sports 1:42.682 14
15. Ammermueller Arden International Ltd 1:42.702 14
16. Piquet Jr. Piquet Sports 1:42.741 5
17. Monfardini DAMS 1:42.772 15
18. Gommendy iSport International 1:42.945 17
19. Pla DPR 1:42.974 14
20. Fauzy Super Nova International 1:43.379 14
21. Di Grassi Durango 1:43.603 15
22. Porteiro Campos Racing 1:43.648 15
23. Hernandez Durango 1:43.702 14
24. Villa Racing Engineering 1:43.781 14
25. Filippi FMS International 1:44.321 14
26. Tahinci FMS International 1:45.193 14