26.02.2004 ALFA ROMEO'S TWO DAY ETCC TEST AT HOCKENHEIM IS CUT SHORT BY THE WEATHER

Yesterday the Alfa Romeo and SEAT works teams arrived at the Hockenheim circuit in Germany for a two day test session.

The opening day which was affected by poor weather conditions saw Autodelta new boy Augusto Farfus set the fastest lap in his Alfa Romeo 156 GTA, with a fastest lap of 1:49.77. However Frank Diefenbacher was only three hundredths of a second slower than him in his SEAT Toledo Cupra with  a best of 1:49.8.

Farfus’s Autodelta team-mates Fabrizio Giovanardi and Gabriele Tarquini were clocked at 1:49.9 and 1:50.1 respectively, while Jordi Gené set a time of 1:50.3 in the second SEAT. The parity between Alfa and SEAT was confirmed by times set on the short track: 1:07.5 for Tarquini and 1:07.7 for Diefenbacher.

With conditions deteriorating today's second day of testing was abandoned.