Practice is perfect as Jarvis finishes fastest

Rookie: Jarvis finished fastest in the Friday morning session
14 April 2012

Great Britain and France traded fastest times at the head of the pack in the opening practice sessions for Sunday's A1 Grand Prix at the Sentul circuit in Indonesia.

Britain's Oliver Jarvis recorded the fastest time in a morning session largely contested by the teams' 'rookie' drivers, finishing a tenth of a second quicker than French driver Loic Duval in a time of one minute 18.447 seconds.

When the number one drivers hit the track in the afternoon session the roles were reversed, this time Team France edging out Britain with Nicolas Lapierre's 1min 17.992secs.

Robbie Kerr, runner-up for Team GBR in the feature race in Malaysia a fortnight ago, had to settle for second behind the rapid Frenchman, less than two tenths off the pace.

Jarvis, who enjoyed a sterling run to second place in the feature race in Beijing earlier this season, said afterwards that he did not believe the prevailing humidity at the Sentul circuit would hamper the competitors come qualifying and the race.

"It's a very challenging circuit, especially the third and fourth corners and it pushes the drivers to the limits," the 22-year-old said.

"I think as a racing driver you adapt and don't notice the temperatures too much and when you are in the car it is fine, it is when you are back out of the car that you feel it more."

Reigning champions France, meanwhile, will be hoping to turn their pace into a first victory of the campaign on a track where they impressed last season.

"Last year I had a very exciting race," said Lapierre.

"We won the first one and we were second on the grid and I think the car is pretty good here.

"We just have to work again as it looks like it will be faster than last year.

"Every track we go to we have to work a little bit harder than last year because everybody is faster, so tomorrow morning we will work hard and see how qualifying goes."

With the top 15 separated by less than one second at the end of the second practice, both Britain and France can anticipate a stern challenge come tomorrow's qualifying runs.

Australia enjoyed a good afternoon session as Ryan Briscoe finished third ahead of South Africa, while debutant Jaroslav Janis looked impressive on his way to securing fifth place for Team Czech Republic, having earlier snatched third in the slower morning session.

Early title pace-setters Team Mexico registered the sixth fastest time, with last season's feature race winners at the Sentul circuit, Canada , up in seventh.

Current championship leaders Germany rounded out the top eight, with driver Nico Hulkenberg in confident mood following his impressive drive to feature race victory in Malaysia last time out.

"The car's balance is excellent as usual and we managed very good and constant times later on in the session," he said.

"So I am optimistic for tomorrow, when you need to squeeze every ounce out of the package."

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