Jos Verstappen fastest in first free practice in Sepang

Published on 18 November 2005 by Thorsten Hendriks

A1GP team Netherlands have showed at the Malaysian Sepang International Circuit that they are a team to be reckoned with. Jos set the fastest time in the first practice session; 1.56.342. Nelson Piquet Jr (Brazil) and Ralph Firman (Ireland) were respectively second and third.

According to Jos this doesn't mean a lot. "But a small success is a good motivator for the whole team. I had to run in my new brake pads, when that was okay I focused on my laptime and setup. I know this circuit and that might give me some advantage, but it won't be easy. There are enough teams who are very competitive. We have to do our best to beat them."

Results of the first free practice:

   TEAM           DRIVER               TIME     LAPS 
1  NETHERLANDS    Jos VERSTAPPEN       1'56.342  17  
2  BRAZIL         Nelson Angelo PIQUET 1'56.351  12  
3  IRELAND        Ralph FIRMAN         1'56.737  10  
4  FRANCE         Alexandre PREMAT     1'56.917  16  
5  PORTUGAL       Alvaro PARENTE       1'57.272  16  
6  NEW ZEALAND    Matt HALLIDAY        1'57.282  19  
7  PAKISTAN       Adam KHAN            1'57.393  18  
8  MALAYSIA       Fairuz FAUZY         1'57.494   9  
9  SWITZERLAND    Neel JANI            1'57.564  19  
10 CANADA         Sean McINTOSH        1'57.818  12  
11 CZECH REPUBLIC Jaroslav JANIS       1'57.899  18  
12 GREAT BRITAIN  Robbie KERR          1'58.002  19  
13 SOUTH AFRICA   Stephen SIMPSON      1'58.246  16  
14 USA            Bryan HERTA          1'58.251  16  
15 JAPAN          Hayanari SHIMODA     1'58.324  20  
16 INDONESIA      Ananda MIKOLA        1'58.379   9  
17 AUSTRIA        Mathias LAUDA        1'58.414  18  
18 ITALY          Enrico TOCCACELO     1'58.507  18  
19 AUSTRALIA      Christian JONES      1'58.968  19 
20 LEBANON        Khalil BESCHIR       1'59.139  19  
21 MEXICO         Luis DIAZ            1'59.562  18  
22 INDIA          Armaan EBRAHIM       1'59.791  21  
23 CHINA          Tengyi JIANG         2'00.019   8  

Thorsten Hendriks