Singapore GP2: Jolyon Palmer fastest in free practice
Jolyon Palmer set the pace in the 30-minute free practice session for round 10 of the GP2 Series in Singapore on Friday afternoon
The daylight session, the conditions in which both of the Marina Bay races will also be held, was dominated by the Carlin driver.
Palmer's first effort was a 1m56.602s, which he lowered to a 1m55.912s after a cool-off lap.
Palmer's fastest time was 3.532s quicker than last year's pole time, set by Luca Filippi, thanks to the removal of the chicane at Turn 10. All cars ran on the soft prime compound, teams saving the supersoft options for qualifying.
Championship leader Fabio Leimer was second fastest for Racing Engineering, although many of his early attempts were thwarted by traffic. Marcus Ericsson was quick throughout the session and ended up third for DAMS, ahead of Alexander Rossi's Caterham machine.
Mitch Evans was one of the few drivers to improve in the second half of the session, rising to fifth in his Arden machine. British duo James Calado and Sam Bird were sixth and seventh respectively, with Felipe Nasr eighth ahead of Johnny Cecotto Jr.
Former series leader Stefano Coletti suffered another dreadful time, slumping to 24th and clearly struggling with poor handling as he overshot a corner and was forced into a three-point turn.
Elsewhere, Jake Rosenzweig clattered a wall, Dani Clos clipped one and even session dominator Palmer had a huge slide in the closing stages, which he collected up without hitting anything.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Jolyon Palmer Carlin 1m55.912s 2. Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering 1m56.165s +0.253s 3. Marcus Ericsson DAMS 1m56.509s +0.597s 4. Alexander Rossi Caterham 1m56.758s +0.846s 5. Mitch Evans Arden 1m56.885s +0.973s 6. James Calado ART 1m57.067s +1.155s 7. Sam Bird Russian Time 1m57.089s +1.177s 8. Felipe Nasr Carlin 1m57.089s +1.177s 9. Johnny Cecotto Jr Arden 1m57.297s +1.385s 10. Stephane Richelmi DAMS 1m57.755s +1.843s 11. Rio Haryanto Addax 1m57.822s +1.910s 12. Nathanel Berthon Trident 1m57.919s +2.007s 13. Tom Dillmann Russian Time 1m58.017s +2.105s 14. Rene Binder Lazarus 1m58.135s +2.223s 15. Sergio Canamasas Caterham 1m58.358s +2.446s 16. Jon Lancaster Hilmer 1m58.376s +2.464s 17. Julian Leal Racing Engineering 1m58.377s +2.465s 18. Dani Clos MP 1m58.495s +2.583s 19. Daniel Abt ART 1m58.518s +2.606s 20. Jake Rosenzweig Addax 1m58.916s +3.004s 21. Vittorio Ghirelli Lazarus 1m58.939s +3.027s 22. Daniel de Jong MP 1m59.063s +3.151s 23. Simon Trummer Rapax 1m59.213s +3.301s 24. Stefano Coletti Rapax 1m59.375s +3.463s 25. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Hilmer 1m59.559s +3.647s 26. Gianmarco Raimondo Trident 2m00.990s +5.078s
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