GreenBkk.com Jaime Alguersuari | A rain-hit Friday at Spa

A rain-hit Friday at Spa

August 26 2011

The unique weather of Spa-Francorchamps affected the first working day of the Belgian GP. After two practices heavily hit by intermittent showers, Alguersuari clocked a good 34 laps (nine on dry tires), finishing in P9 (2'06.583) and P14 (1'52 .911) in both sessions.

The rain was the surprise guest of the first free practice session. Although Jaime Alguersuari completed the installation lap on dry tarmac, while his mechanics were adjusting the setup of his STR6, it started raining really hard.

The heavy downpour kept the Ardennes atmosphere in silence for half an hour, and it was not until leaving the 45 minutes barrier behind that Alguersuari managed to complete his morning's first timed run. The Spaniard hit the track on wet rubber to set a first 2'11.314, which kept him on top of the drivers that had used grooved tires. Moments later, he tried the intermediate Pirellis, with which he set his best mark, 2'06.583. This time pushed him up to P9 in the standings.

The bad weather persisted in the afternoon, although the rain stopped for a while during the first part of the second session. Jaime began his work with a long 12-lap run on intermediates, during which he progressed as the circuit dried up, finishing with a best time of 2'03.741 which catapulted him to P3. With the track almost dry but the persistent threat of rain, the Toro Rosso team readjusted the STR6 number 19 quickly and sent his driver out again on his first set of white Pirellis. Nine laps later, Jaime lowered his benchmark to 1'52 .911, the 14th best time in the standings, just as the rain made its expected appearance. At five minutes to go, Jaime still did a last attempt on wet tyrest collect some useful data thinking about race day.

Alguersuari and Toro Rosso will continue their work on Saturday moring at 11 AM with the third free practice, the last chance to prepare the qualifying session.

Results

FP1

1. Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) 1'54 .355 (13 laps)

(...)

9. Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso) 2'06 .583 (16)

FP2

1. Mark Webber (Red Bull) 1'50 .321 (19 laps)

(...)

14. Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso) 1.52.911 (21)

Credit: Jaime Alguersuari (www.jalguersuari.com)