Jarvis on top for GB

Team GB driver tops the practice times in Mexico.

Last updated: 15th March 2008

Oliver Jarvis A1 GP Feb 24

Jarvis: Top time

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Oliver Jarvis driving for Team Great Britain clocked the fastest time after the second free practice session at the Mexico A1GP.

Jarvis went round in a best time of one minute 21.431 seconds in the afternoon at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

It was a tight session and just over a second covered the top 14 drivers in the standings for the practice session ahead of Sunday's A1GP.

Jarvis first set the pace early on in the hour-long session before he improved on his lap time with 15 minutes remaining to move top.

Championship leader Neel Jani of Switzerland was just behind Jarvis, while Ireland's Adam Carroll finished third and Dutchman Jeroen Bleekemolen took fourth ahead of South Africa's Adrian Zaugg.

"I'm delighted to be at the top of the times," Jarvis said on the A1GP official website.

"We're very close to Switzerland but that's to be expected, Neel Jani's having a great time at the moment - his confidence is very high and they've got the car sorted.

"It's going to be very close come qualifying tomorrow.

"The surface will get better as the weekend goes on and more rubber gets laid down giving us more grip."

Jonny Reid threatened to dislodge Team GB late on but the New Zealand driver's time was deleted after he cut a chicane just prior to the Peraltada corner. Consequently, Reid dropped to sixth.

In the morning's free practice, Team Italy's Davide Rigon became the first driver this season to top the session in his maiden meeting.

The last time the feat was achieved was in 2007 when USA's Jonathan Summerton topped the rookie session in Australia.

Rigon was three tenths quicker than any other driver and has targeted more rookie sessions after his impressive performance.

"I felt great being in the Italian team and it went very, very well,' Rigon said.

"The course was bumpy. I have never driven outside of Europe and it was a very different experience.

"I'd love to do Shanghai and Brands and maybe some races next year too. Everybody was pushing very hard and I've shown I can be quick in the car now."

Friday's session was the first time the A1GP drivers had experienced the Autodromo Hermanos Rodrigues' revised, shorter layout, which proved about five seconds quicker than last season's layout.