Berlin, 9th May 2003
Those looking out of their windows in the early hours of Friday morning must
have thought that round 2 of the championship was to be a repeat of round 1 at
Estoril as huge sheets of lightening lit up the sky and threatened a deluge over
Eurospeedway Lausitz.
But when qualifying did get under way at 16.15 CET on Friday afternoon it
coincided with the best weather that had been seen all day; hot, dry, and under
blue skies.
In SR2 Gianni Collini set the early pace in the GP Racing Lucchini Alfa Romeo
with a lap of 1:43:383 and looked to be going exceptionally well around the wide
infield circuit at Eurospeedway.
The time stood unchallenged until 15 minutes into the 30 minute session when
the works Lucchini of Pierguiseppe Peroni stepped up to the plate with a
1:42:586 and although GP Racing managed to shave a further 10th from their
time with just 6 minutes left the Peroni time was not to be eclipsed.
Further back John Stack and Sam Hignett both took turns in the Team Jota
Nissan Pilbeam but their early best time of 1:44.673 left them 2 seconds off the
pace at the end of 30 minutes with a further second back to the Marc Rostan
piloted Pilbeam Peugeot of PiR Competition which was at least having a trouble
free run here in Germany.
In SR1 the Dome – Judd of defending champion Jan Lammers was first onto the
track setting an early benchmark of 1:41.609. Behind team mate Beppe
Gabbiani trailed by a second with Maddalena in the Durango Judd a further
second off the pace of the Dutchman.
Lammers ended with a time of 1:38.171, Gabbiani made it a one two for Racing
for Holland with a best time of 1:40.246 and an excellent late run by Leonardo
Maddalena in the Durango took him to within half a second of Gabbiani on a
1:40.883.
The GLV Racing Ferrari 333SP did not qualify during the session and will start
last on the SR1 grid after suffering a sheared hub in practise.
|
