Suzuka - Dahlgren behind Menu in sunny warm-up

The sun is shining in Suzuka for the race day, although some parts of the track were still damp during this morning’s warm up.

Pole sitter Alain Menu continued to rule and set the fastest lap of 53.828. However, Robert Dahlgren proved once again that he and his Volvo C30 have the pace to fight with the Chevrolet cars; the Swede clocked the second fastest time (54.005) less than two hundredths of a second behind Menu. Yvan Muller (54.229) ranked third, while Tom Coronel (54.264) placed himself in fourth ahead of Rob Huff (54.276).

Colin Turkington emerged as the best of the Yokohama Trophy, completing a lap in 54.458 that gave him the sixth position overall, with Gabriele Tarquini, Mehdi Bennani, Darryl O’Young and Toshihiro Arai rounding up the top ten.

A couple of drivers had moments skidding on damp stains: O’Young spun off at Turn 1, Charles Ng left part of his car’s splitter in a gravel trap.

The session was halted by the red flag with just a few seconds left on the clock, after Hiroki Yoshimoto beached his SUNRED car at Turn 8.

Only 23 drivers took part in the session, as the Stewards decided not to authorize Fabio Fabiani to race after he fell out of the 107% qualification maxima in yesterday’s qualifying.