Oliver Turvey topped today’s trouble-free Free Practice at Bahrain International Circuit with a best laptime of 2:08.459, one tenth quicker than teammate and GP2 Asia Series Champion Davide Valsecchi. GP2 Asia returnee Luiz Razia rounded up the Top 3 with Rapax.
The session opened with Christian Vietoris, Alvaro Parente, Javier Villa and Charles Pic fighting for fastest laptimes while both iSport cars waited in the pitlane. When Turvey eventually joined the battle, he claimed the top spot after just three laps and after he recovered from almost losing his car in the second sector in his flying lap. But the British ace was soon bettered by Razia by 0.6s.
Parente and Villa also improved their personal best enough for second place, but were soon knocked off first by Luca Filippi who was also bettered later by young teammate Alexander Rossi. While most of the field rejoined the pitlane at mid-session, Valsecchi once again took advantage of a clear track to swoop in first, only 0.01s ahead of his Razia.
When the action resumed on track, Turvey reclaimed top spot. With both iSport cars quickest this morning, the British squad makes the firm statement that they are looking to finish this season on another high. The fight for second and third places of the championship has begun with Meritus and Arden placing both cars in the Top 10.
Qualifying session will start at 4:00pm local time.
Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
01. | Turvey | iSport | 2m08.459s | +0.000 |
02. | Valsecchi | iSport | 2m08.512s | +0.053 |
03. | Razia | Rapax | 2m08.522s | +0.063 |
04. | Rossi | Meritus | 2m08.530s | +0.071 |
05. | Filippi | Meritus | 2m08.664s | +0.205 |
06. | Villa | Arden International | 2m08.879s | +0.420 |
07. | Parente | Coloni | 2m08.938s | +0.479 |
08. | Bird | ART Grand Prix | 2m09.397s | +0.938 |
09. | Pic | Arden International | 2m09.410s | +0.951 |
10. | Bianchi | ART Grand Prix | 2m09.466s | +1.007 |
11. | Ricci | DPR | 2m09.726s | +1.267 |
12. | Vietoris | DAMS | 2m09.952s | +1.493 |
13. | Piscopo | DAMS | 2m09.974s | +1.515 |
14. | Leimer | Ocean Racing | 2m10.145s | +1.686 |
15. | Arabadzhiev | Rapax | 2m10.333s | +1.874 |
16. | Herck | DPR | 2m10.420s | +1.961 |
17. | Chilton | Barwa Addax | 2m10.481s | +2.022 |
18. | Buurman | Ocean Racing | 2m10.681s | +2.222 |
19. | Clos | Trident | 2m10.684s | +2.225 |
20. | Bratt | Coloni | 2m10.900s | +2.441 |
21. | Kral | Super Nova | 2m11.051s | +2.592 |
22. | Gonzalez | Barwa Addax | 2m12.058s | +3.599 |
23. | Rosenzweig | Super Nova | 2m12.586s | +4.127 |
24. | Kralev | Trident | 2m13.636s | +5.177 |