Hulkenberg tops first Algarve session
Nico Hulkenberg has topped the times in the first of two practice sessions for this weekend's GP2 season finale at the Algarve circuit
The session began with light rain falling but times dropped quickly as the clouds eased off. Giedo van der Garde, Vitaly Petrov, Dani Clos and Luca Filippi all enjoyed stints at the top of the timesheets before newly crowned champion Hulkenberg (ART) produced a 1m50.343s effort that put him 0.351s clear of nearest rival Alberto Valerio (Piquet).
A collision between Addax's Vitaly Petrov and Johnny Cecotto Jr at the hairpin caused the session to be red-flagged three minutes before scheduled, although both cars were able to return to the pits under their own power once they had been disentangled.
The collision capped off a dramatic start to the day for Cecotto's DPR team, with Michael Herck's car having briefly caught fire after returning to the pits with an engine problem.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Nico Hulkenberg ART 1m50.343s 2. Alberto Valerio Piquet 1m50.694s + 0.351s 3. Luca Filippi Super Nova 1m50.966s + 0.623s 4. Lucas di Grassi Racing Engineering 1m51.005s + 0.662s 5. Jerome D'Ambrosio DAMS 1m51.403s + 1.060s 6. Roldan Rodriguez Piquet 1m52.328s + 1.985s 7. Sergio Perez Arden 1m52.452s + 2.109s 8. Dani Clos Racing Engineering 1m52.513s + 2.170s 9. Vitaly Petrov Addax 1m52.835s + 2.492s 10. Edoardo Mortara Arden 1m52.886s + 2.543s 11. Andreas Zuber Coloni 1m52.941s + 2.598s 12. Alvaro Parente Ocean 1m52.943s + 2.600s 13. Davide Valsecchi Addax 1m53.530s + 3.187s 14. Luiz Razia Coloni 1m53.588s + 3.245s 15. Pastor Maldonado ART 1m53.874s + 3.531s 16. Kamui Kobayashi DAMS 1m54.373s + 4.030s 17. Karun Chandhok Ocean 1m54.556s + 4.213s 18. Davide Rigon Trident 1m54.782s + 4.439s 19. Johnny Cecotto Jr DPR 1m54.793s + 4.450s 20. Diego Nunes iSport 1m54.958s + 4.615s 21. Giedo van der Garde iSport 1m55.411s + 5.068s 22. Javier Villa Super Nova 1m56.069s + 5.726s 23. Michael Herck DPR 1m59.114s + 8.771s 24. Ricardo Teixeira Trident 1m59.335s + 8.992s
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