KEY POINTS:
Kiwi A1GP rookie Brendon Hartley wasn't happy with the performance that saw him set the fourth fastest lap times in early practice.
Team Canada's Robert Wickens has set the fastest time after the two 25-minute practice sessions, lapping the tough Taupo circuit in 1:17.070.
The number two driver Brendon Hartley was consistently stopping the clock in the 1:18 range before putting in a sizzling 1:17.452 with just two minutes of the session remaining, leaving Black Beauty in fourth place overall.
Hartley, who is contesting the British Formula 3 championship this season, says that the Kiwi A1 entry is performing superbly, and should put number one driver Jonny Reid in good stead for the weekend.
"I'm just a little bit disappointed with myself," Hartley admitted, "I made a few crucial mistakes on my fastest lap."
"It feels pretty good," said Hartley, "and from looking at the data I made a huge mistake and actually put half the car off on my fastest lap, so we could have been right there, even P1.
"It's a good sign for Jonny that the car's good so go."
Hartley's confidence in the car, not to mention his lap times, shows that New Zealand is close to having the set-up to be highly competitive at Taupo's A1GP World Cup of Motorsport weekend.
A1GP seat holder for New Zealand, Colin Giltrap, was thoroughly impressed with Hartley's performance.
"Brendon was terrific for his first run in the car," said Giltrap after the session.
"Two or three other drivers have actually raced the cars because they're still in the rookie class. As a genuine rookie, he was very, very good."
The results from the session look promising for the New Zealand team's weekend, he said.
"The car's pretty good, that's the main thing," said Giltrap, "he'll be up there, for sure."
