Tarquini tops final Curitiba practice

Date published : 06 Mar 2010 - 16:23:53

Gabriele Tarquini set the fastest time of the final World Touring Car free practice session at Curitiba.The reigning world champion stopped home favourite Augusto Farfus's streak of topping every session so far this weekend by taking his SEAT round the Brazilian track in 1m24.664s.Farfus and BMW team-mate Andy Priaulx were close behind, both setting 1m24.7s, but neither could improve their time in the closing minutes to upstage Tarquini.Chevrolets lined up to fill fourth to sixth places with Yvan Muller, Rob Huff and Alain Menu covered by just 0.1s.The SEATs of Tom Coronel, Jordi Gene and Tiago Monteiro followed, with Franz Engstler rounding out the top 10 as the quickest independent in his BMW.Norbert Michelisz was the top rookie but was unable to repeat his form of the day's earlier session and ended 11th in his diesel SEAT, ahead of fellow rookies Mehdi Bennani (BMW) Michel Nykjaer (SEAT).Harry Vaulkard just made it out for five laps at the end of the session, following his heavy accident at the end of first practice.Pos Driver Car Time Gap 1. Gabriele Tarquini SEAT 1m24.664s 2. Augusto Farfus BMW 1m24.713s +0.049 3. Andy Priaulx BMW 1m24.798s +0.134 4. Yvan Muller Chevrolet 1m24.948s +0.284 5. Rob Huff Chevrolet 1m24.967s +0.303 6. Alain Menu Chevrolet 1m25.069s +0.405 7. Tom Coronel SEAT 1m25.198s +0.534 8. Jordi Gene SEAT 1m25.228s +0.564 9. Tiago Monteiro SEAT 1m25.383s +0.71910. Franz Engstler BMW 1m25.539s +0.87511. Norbert Michelisz SEAT 1m25.572s +0.90812. Mehdi Bennani BMW 1m25.859s +1.19513. Michel Nykjaer SEAT 1m25.918s +1.25414. Sergio Hernandez BMW 1m26.124s +1.46015. Darryl O'Young Chevrolet 1m26.234s +1.57016. Stefano D'Aste BMW 1m26.314s +1.65017. Fredy Barth SEAT 1m26.517s +1.85318. Harry Vaulkhard Chevrolet 1m28.202s +3.53819. Andrei Romanov BMW 1m28.886s +4.222