Michael Schumacher in the new Ferrari and Mark Webber in a Williams-BMW split the lead times in the final practice sessions yesterday for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Schumacher clocked 1 minute 30.552 in the first practice session and looks set to better his best qualifying result this year -- 13th at the Malaysian GP.
In the second session, Webber had the fastest time of the day with 1:29.527, leading eight drivers under 1:30.
PHOTO: AP
Michael Schumacher was ninth in the second practice session at 1:30.080. Last year he earned pole position at Bahrain in 1:30.139.
The first of two qualifying sessions were to be held later yesterday, with the second session scheduled before the race today -- the times from each run are combined to determine starting positions for the GP.
Today's race is 57 laps on the 5.417km Bahrain International Circuit, about 30km outside of the capital, Manama.
PHOTO: AFP
Michael Schumacher's Ferrari teammate, Rubens Barrichello, was kept out of practice yesterday after his new race car had a gearbox problem Friday. No parts could be interchanged from the old car.
Ferrari rushed its new car into the Bahrain GP after mediocre performances in the first two races using a modified version of last year's model.
Ralf Schumacher recorded the second fastest practice time of the second session with 1:29.711 in a Toyota.
Giancarlo Fisichella of Renault, who won the first race of the season in Australia, was third in the second session with 1:29,738, while teammate Fernando Alonso, who took the Malaysian GP and came third in Australia, was sixth fastest in 1:29.8235.
New rules dictate that each car can use one engine for two race weekends, unless a driver fails to finish the first of a selected pair of races.
Nearly all the cars are using new engines as this is the third race of the season.
Dario Franchitti was grinning nearly ear-to-ear after making his first laps on the temporary street circuit at the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
"It's great to be back in the streets," Franchitti said.
After nine years of making only left hand turns, the Indy Racing League's drivers finally have a reason to turn right.
More than half the 14 turns on the 2.9km downtown course are rights, and that brought smiles to the faces of most of the IndyCar Series drivers, several of whom spent their early careers in the rival Champ Car World Series -- formerly CART.
"It's an interesting course to drive," said Franchitti, second only to Helio Castroneves in speed on the opening day of practice for Sunday's race.
"It's a technical course," the Scotsman added. "There are a couple of quick corners you can't just barrel into. You have to be balanced. But, at the same time, there are some really fun parts of the course."
Defending series champion Tony Kanaan was third on Friday's speed chart.
"It's good to turn right again," Kanaan said. "But it's not an easy track. When we first went out, we were on [grooved] rain tries and with new brakes on a dirty track. That's the worst case in road racing and I didn't want to get too excited and hit the wall."
All of the drivers started on rain tires, only switching to slick dry weather tires after the track surface took on a layer of rubber and was swept clean of most of the accumulated dirt.
Castroneves led the way with a lap of 1 minute, 3.08 seconds.
He echoed his fellow Brazilian, saying, "When I went out there, I said, `Whoa, hold on cowboy. Just get through the first lap and bring it home.' But it really is a lot of fun."
Franchitti was close behind Castroneves at 1:03.15, followed by Kanaan at 1:03.85 and Darren Manning at 1:03.96 (101.321).
Sam Hornish Jr. and Dan Wheldon, winners of the first two races and 1-2 in the season points, struggled on Friday. Wheldon was 11th and Hornish, who last raced on a road course in the Toyota Atlantic series in 1999, was 13th.
The IRL will try a new qualifying procedure on Saturday. All 21 drivers will do a single qualifying lap and the six fastest will then have 10 minutes on track to determine the starting order up front.
Among the drivers at St. Petersburg, only Manning and Patrick Carpentier drove on the same course when the other series -- which specializes in road racing -- opened its season in 2001 in the only previous race here.
"It's just a beautiful racetrack," Carpentier said. "It was a nice track when we were here a couple of years ago, but they've made some improvements -- making some of the turns wider -- that has just opened it up and made it even better."
The IRL, was founded by Tony George, president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as an all-oval series, honoring the grass roots of the open-wheel sport. But George insists he never said he was opposed to including road circuits on the schedule once the series became established.
"There was always a thought that someday we would be on road courses and an event like this just adds to the whole series in every way," George said.
This year's schedule also includes races on the road courses at Infinion Speedway in Sonoma, California, and Watkins Glen International in New York.
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