Free Practice 2 – Successful bet for Glock in front of the fans

Timo Glock satisfied the owners of the Fuji circuit by clocking the fastest time during the second free practice session of the Japanese Grand Prix.

In 1:18.383 and in completely dry conditions, Glock remained unbeaten for a good part of the afternoon despite numerous attempts by the big names in the sport.

The winner of Singapore, Fernando Alonso, is still in great form with a second place just 0.043 seconds behind Glock. Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren is in third position, 0.037 seconds behind the Spaniard’s Renault.

This session had a much livelier start than the morning one. McLaren was in the lead from the beginning before being caught up by Ferrari and Felipe Massa after 15 minutes of testing.

Alonso is the first driver to equip soft tires. He completes a good lap but somewhat misses the last corner.

Force India experienced its moment of glory by occupying the top spot on the timesheet thanks to Adrian Sutil. But it was only for a moment as the German was overtaken by Jarno Trulli in a Toyota and then by Sebastian Vettel driving an ever-competitive STR3.

But it is indeed Team Toyota that dominates the proceedings since halfway through the session, Glock is the author of the fastest lap of the day with a time of 1:18.383. This was achieved on soft tires. The German beats Vettel by nearly 0.4 seconds.

As was the case in the morning, most of the drivers set their best lap relatively early in the afternoon as the cars are then modified over the course of the minutes. Glock therefore remains the undisputed leader ahead of Alonso, Hamilton, and Massa. None of them managed to beat the Toyota driver.

Kimi Räikkönen takes an honorable fifth place with the second Ferrari while Mark Webber for Red Bull finishes in sixth place thanks to a more than decent final lap.

Kazuki Nakajima is once again well placed in seventh and delights Japanese fans. Although he is of this nationality, the interest is twofold since his Williams, the FW30, is powered by Toyota. He ranks ahead of Vettel, Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren), and Trulli.

While Toyota is in the spotlight, the other Japanese team is struggling. Rubens Barrichello is only 15th, and Jenson Button is the slowest of all during this second practice session.

Free Practice 2 Results – Japanese GP – Friday, October 10, 2008