The iSport Italian ace set the fastest laptime during this morning’s Free Practice at Sakhir in a 1:44.852, but with Jules Bianchi at ART and teammate Oliver Turvey in tow only two hundredths behind him.
The trouble-free Free Practice session opened on a dirty track and on the traditional layout. In the first stages, Alvaro Parente, Javier Villa, Michael Herck and Sergio Perez successively claim the top spot until ART duo Bianchi and Sam Bird join in the fight, closely followed by Giacomo Ricci, Christian Vietoris and Charles Pic.
A few seconds after Bianchi clocked in the best laptime, Davide Valsecchi showed his true colours ten minutes into the session and set camp at the top of the timing sheet and no man would dislodge him for the rest of the session. At mid-point, as most of the field returned to the pits, Turvey moved up to third, a spot later claimed by Luca Filippi, but the Brit fought back minutes later to better his time and recovered third place.
The twenty-four contestants will enjoy a short break with just enough time to find the perfect strategy this afternoon during qualifying to try and dethrone Valsecchi who up until now has dominated the Series.
Qualifying session will start at 3:50pm local time.
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01. | Valsecchi | iSport | 1:44.852 | + 0.000 |
| 02. | Bianchi | ART Grand Prix | 1:44.874 | + 0.022 |
| 03. | Turvey | iSport | 1:44.877 | + 0.025 |
| 04. | Filippi | Meritus | 1:45.046 | + 0.194 |
| 05. | Bird | ART Grand Prix | 1:45.229 | + 0.377 |
| 06. | Ricci | DPR | 1:45.249 | + 0.397 |
| 07. | Piscopo | DAMS | 1:45.324 | + 0.472 |
| 08. | Vietoris | DAMS | 1:45.402 | + 0.550 |
| 09. | Rossi | Meritus | 1:45.424 | + 0.572 |
| 10. | Parente | Coloni | 1:45.432 | + 0.580 |
| 11. | Villa | Arden International | 1:45.460 | + 0.608 |
| 12. | Pic | Arden International | 1:45.527 | + 0.675 |
| 13. | Perez | Barwa Addax | 1:45.547 | + 0.695 |
| 14. | Zampieri | Rapax | 1:45.725 | + 0.873 |
| 15. | Chilton | Barwa Addax | 1:45.785 | + 0.933 |
| 16. | Herck | DPR | 1:45.803 | + 0.951 |
| 17. | Bratt | Coloni | 1:45.852 | + 1.000 |
| 18. | Zaugg | Trident | 1:45.922 | + 1.070 |
| 19. | Kral | Super Nova | 1:46.146 | + 1.294 |
| 20. | Leimer | Ocean Racing | 1:46.271 | + 1.419 |
| 21. | Arabadzhiev | Rapax | 1:46.634 | + 1.782 |
| 22. | Buurman | Ocean Racing | 1:46.726 | + 1.874 |
| 23. | Rosenzweig | Super Nova | 1:47.499 | + 2.647 |
| 24. | Kralev | Trident | 1:55.803 | + 10.951 |