Piquet leads A1 charge

His best lap, in the quicker first session when the 24 competing cars were on new tyres, was 1m 19.266s, 1.16s better than Mexico's Salvador Duran and 1.36s ahead of France's Nicolas Lapierre.

South Africa?s "Vulindlela", with Stephen Simpson at the wheel, was 12th quickest with a best time of 1m 22.3s, 3,05s behind Brazil.

Simpson closed the gap to the front runners in the slower second session, finishing in 17th place and 1.74s behind France, who posted the best lap ahead of Brazil and Switzerland.