Zolder - FP1: Huff sets the pace

Current championship leader Rob Huff posted the fastest lap in this morning’s practice session. The Briton drove his Chevrolet Cruze around the Belgian track in 1:38.531, leaving his team-mate and reigning world champion Yvan Muller two tenths behind (1:38.796).

None of the other drivers was able to break the 1:39. wall, with Michel Nykjær’s and Gabriele Tarquini’s SEAT TDi cars posting the third and fourth fastest lap (1:39.321 and 1:39.482 respectively), which relegated Chevrolet’s third man Alain Menu (1:39.486) to the fifth place.

Nykjær was also the fastest of the Yokohama Trophy competitors but Darryl O’Young was equally impressive in sixth overall (1:39.511) just ahead of Tiago Monteiro (1:39.524) and Tom Coronel (1:39.551). Robert Dahlgren clocked the 12th fastest lap in his normally aspirated Volvo C30 at 1:40.046.

A few drivers provided creepy moments during the session: Kristian Poulsen spun onto the gravel bed at Sterrenwacht, Fabio Fabiani completed a perfect 360 degrees at the Lucien Bianchi bend and Coronel flew over the kerbs at the Villeneuve chicane.