The fifth round of the 2013 GP2 Series season opened this morning in cool and wet conditions and saw Fabio Leimer top the session in a laptime of 1:57.996, four tenths ahead of rookie Robin Frijns and local hero James Calado.
The morning rain meant that the track was damp as the pitlane opened for the thirty minute free practice. The constant drizzle did not help the matter and the drivers opted for wet weather tyres which they kept until the chequered flag. Calado looked comfortable and in control: he topped the timing sheet on his third attempt, but Frijns found some extra pace to better the Brit’s laptime until Daniel De Jong moved up to P1. As the drivers came to grips with the tricky conditions, Marcus Ericsson went second quickest ahead of the trio of Leimer, Calado and Frijns.
Before the halfway mark, Leimer put his head down and dipped under 2 minutes to settle at the top of the timesheet ahead of Calado and Felipe Nasr who both broke the 2m00 barrier too. With ten minutes left in the session, Frijns improved further to edge Leimer out of the top spot with Marcus Ericsson moving up to third. The track conditions getting slightly better, Leimer put together a lap that saw him light both first sectors in purple and a third sector quick enough to set a laptime of 1:57.996, four tenths ahead of Frijns and Calado. On his final effort, Julian Leal moved up to fourth ahead of De Jong, Stéphane Richelmi, Ericsson, Nasr, Tom Dillmann and Mitch Evans.
The qualifying session will start at 15.55 local time.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Fabio Leimer | Racing Engineering | 1:57.996 | 9 |
| 2. | Robin Frijns | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:58.430 | 12 |
| 3. | James Calado | ART Grand Prix | 1:58.464 | 12 |
| 4. | Julian Leal | Racing Engineering | 1:58.766 | 11 |
| 5. | Daniel De Jong | MP Motorsport | 1:58.835 | 13 |
| 6. | Stéphane Richelmi | DAMS | 1:59.233 | 12 |
| 7. | Marcus Ericsson | DAMS | 1:59.290 | 13 |
| 8. | Felipe Nasr | Carlin | 1:59.606 | 11 |
| 9. | Tom Dillmann | RUSSIAN TIME | 1:59.617 | 11 |
| 10. | Mitch Evans | Arden International | 1:59.648 | 13 |
| 11. | Jolyon Palmer | Carlin | 1:59.685 | 11 |
| 12. | Adrian Quaife-Hobbs | MP Motorsport | 1:59.775 | 13 |
| 13. | Rio Haryanto | Barwa Addax Team | 1:59.966 | 11 |
| 14. | Sergio Canamasas | Caterham Racing | 1:59.977 | 11 |
| 15. | Kevin Ceccon | Trident Racing | 2:00.021 | 11 |
| 16. | Jake Rosenzweig | Barwa Addax Team | 2:00.133 | 12 |
| 17. | Sam Bird | RUSSIAN TIME | 2:00.236 | 11 |
| 18. | Nathanaël Berthon | Trident Racing | 2:00.271 | 12 |
| 19. | Rene Binder | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 2:00.352 | 13 |
| 20. | Alexander Rossi | Caterham Racing | 2:00.413 | 12 |
| 21. | Jon Lancaster | Hilmer Motorsport | 2:00.431 | 12 |
| 22. | Daniel Abt | ART Grand Prix | 2:00.554 | 10 |
| 23. | Simon Trummer | Rapax | 2:00.780 | 13 |
| 24. | Fabrizio Crestani | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 2:00.831 | 12 |
| 25. | Johnny Cecotto | Arden International | 2:00.971 | 9 |
| 26. | Stefano Coletti | Rapax | 2:01.322 | 10 |