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HOME ADVANTAGE FOR PORTUGAL IN NATIONS CUP FREE TRAINING (13/10/2006)

By:: Laurant

Team Portugal put their local knowledge to good use today (Friday) in free training for the 2nd Serpent Nations Cup being hosted by the Monsanto track in Lisbon.

Joao Malveiro topped the time sheets and was the only driver to break below the 18 seconds with a lap time of 17.909.

Portugal's neighbour Spain was the closest challenger with newly crowned Spanish Champion Oscar Cabezas recording a time of 18.055.

Team Netherlands was next up with Rob Kuijpers heading the Dutch challenge with a time of 18.388 followed closely by Team Poland just 0.018 behind thanks to young talent Norbert Omelanczuk.

Team Poland have to be credited for their efforts to take part in the 2006 Serpent Nations Cup. Travelling by car the team will have driven a total of 6,800km by the time they return home.

Current Nations Cup title holders Great Britain managed to only post the fifth fastest time but are in confident mood ahead of tomorrow's opening leg.

All ten teams (39 drivers representing 7 Nations) have arrived here in Lisbon and have been made very welcoming by our hosts. All visited the track with Austria the only nation not to take part in today's marathon 11 hours of free training.

Tomorrow the serious racing gets underway with the first of the events 2 legs and the weather is set to be another beautiful day with a high of 25 degrees. Each team with take part in a total of 24 races with each team member set to drive for 1.5 hours per leg.

We will bring you news from Leg 1 along with pictures on Saturday evening.