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Sochi GP2: McLaren junior Stoffel Vandoorne dominates practice

McLaren protege Stoffel Vandoorne began what could be a title winning weekend by setting the pace in GP2 practice at Sochi, more than half a second clear of Arthur Pic

Remnants of a diesel spillage on track at Turns 8 and 9, which delayed Formula 1 free practice by 30 minutes as it was cleaned up, were still apparent at the start of GP2 practice as drivers struggled with the slippery surface.

This didn't faze Vandoorne, though. ART's Belgian set the initial pace on his opening run and continued to improve.

He finished the session as the only driver to make it into the 1m45s, 0.699 seconds clear of Campos driver Pic.

Pic's team-mate Rio Haryanto, who hasn't scored a point since Hungary in late July, had a clean session to finish third.

Monza sprint race winner Mitch Evans ran consistently in the top five and edged out Williams F1 development driver Alex Lynn in fourth. Lynn's DAMS team-mate Gasly was a close sixth.

Sergey Sirotkin endured a mistake-ridden session at home. The Russian had several off-track excursions but was able to pull it together late on to finish practice in seventh.

Fresh off the back of two F1 races with Manor, Alexander Rossi also struggled with the slippery track conditions.

The American finished eighth but, like Sirotkin, he ran wide a number of times before spinning halfway through the session.

Ferrari junior Raffaele Marciello and Honda protege Nobuharu Matsushita rounded out the top 10.

Last year's GP3 runner-up Dean Stoneman finished 19th on his GP2 debut with Carlin, well clear of his team-mate Sean Gelael, who was 24th.

PRACTICE TIMES:

Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 1m45.326s - 17
2 Arthur Pic Campos Racing 1m46.025s 0.699s 18
3 Rio Haryanto Campos Racing 1m46.099s 0.773s 19
4 Mitch Evans RUSSIAN TIME 1m46.188s 0.862s 15
5 Alex Lynn DAMS 1m46.216s 0.890s 18
6 Pierre Gasly DAMS 1m46.232s 0.906s 20
7 Sergey Sirotkin Rapax 1m46.290s 0.964s 21
8 Alexander Rossi Racing Engineering 1m46.448s 1.122s 18
9 Raffaele Marciello Trident 1m46.500s 1.174s 20
10 Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 1m46.673s 1.347s 20
11 Andre Negrao Arden International 1m46.746s 1.420s 20
12 Johnny Cecotto Jr. Trident 1m46.902s 1.576s 19
13 Norman Nato Arden International 1m46.934s 1.608s 19
14 Artem Markelov RUSSIAN TIME 1m47.018s 1.692s 17
15 Rene Binder MP Motorsport 1m47.132s 1.806s 18
16 Nicholas Latifi MP Motorsport 1m47.173s 1.847s 19
17 Jordan King Racing Engineering 1m47.176s 1.850s 17
18 Sergio Canamasas Daiko Team Lazarus 1m47.300s 1.974s 17
19 Dean Stoneman Carlin 1m47.358s 2.032s 18
20 Richie Stanaway Status Grand Prix 1m47.411s 2.085s 14
21 Nathanael Berthon Daiko Team Lazarus 1m47.431s 2.105s 17
22 Marlon Stockinger Status Grand Prix 1m47.707s 2.381s 20
23 Robert Visoiu Rapax 1m48.445s 3.119s 20
24 Sean Gelael Carlin 1m48.959s 3.633s 19

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