Marrakech Auto GP: Karthikeyan tops delayed practice
Narain Karthikeyan topped Auto GP's delayed first session of track action at round two of the championship in Marrakech
Saturday morning's 45-minute free practice session replaced two scheduled half-hour sessions that were cancelled on Friday owing to heavy rain.
Conditions were much improved for the substitute session, and four drivers appeared at the top of the timing screens in a dynamic final two minutes of running.
Zele Racing's Karthikeyan recorded his 1m29.271s effort seconds before the chequered flag, displacing Monza's opening race winner Sergio Campana by 0.669s.
Karthikeyan's time is an improvement on Sergey Sirotkin's 2012 pole position lap time for Euronova Racing.
Formula Renault 2.0 graduate Meindert van Buuren took intra-team honours in Manor MP Motorsport's three-car line-up in third.
The Dutch team is at full strength as Daniel de Jong embarks on a parallel Auto GP campaign this weekend, having missed round one in Monza while competing in the Malaysian GP2 meeting.
Robert Visoiu enjoyed several spells as fastest driver throughout the session and ended the morning in fourth, 0.007s ahead of Monza polesitter Riccardo Agostini - who survived a late trip straight-on at Turn 14.
Formula 2 champion Luciano Bacheta was sixth, three places up on Euronova Racing's early season championship leader Kimiya Sato.
Incidents were relatively sparse; Monza podium finisher Vittorio Ghirelli suffered minor damage to his Super Nova car, but was able to return to the pits, while Yoshitaka Kuroda's machine was brought back to the paddock by recovery truck at the conclusion of the session.
In a revised timetable, qualifying is scheduled to take place at 13.00 local time, with today's first race at 16.50.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps 1. Narain Karthikeyan Zele 1m29.271s 23 2. Sergio Campana Ibiza 1m29.940s + 0.669s 17 3. Meindert van Buuren Manor MP 1m30.103s + 0.832s 25 4. Robert Visoiu Ghinzani 1m30.158s + 0.887s 24 5. Riccardo Agostini Manor MP 1m30.165s + 0.894s 19 6. Luciano Bacheta Zele 1m30.207s + 0.936s 21 7. Daniel de Jong Manor MP 1m30.308s + 1.037s 19 8. Maxim Snegirev Virtuosi UK 1m30.702s + 1.431s 22 9. Kimiya Sato Euronova 1m30.760s + 1.489s 16 10. G.Cipriani Ibiza 1m30.779s + 1.508s 22 11. Antonio Spavone Supernova 1m30.984s + 1.713s 21 12. Vittorio Ghirelli Supernova 1m31.134s + 1.863s 21 13. Andrea Roda Virtuosi UK 1m31.425s + 2.154s 22 14. Michele La Rosa MLR 71 1m33.115s + 3.844s 21 15. Yoshitaka Kuroda Euronova 1m33.241s + 3.970s 8
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