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Bianchi tops Valencia GP2 practice

Jules Bianchi set the pace in GP2 free practice with his final lap of the session on the streets of Valencia

The ART driver came out on top of effectively a one-lap shootout, which was created when the session restarted after a red flag with only three minutes remaining.

Championship leader Romain Grosjean went into the final flurry at the top of the timesheets, where he had been since usurping series returnee Christian Vietoris (Racing Engineering) after nine minutes.

But the DAMS driver was baulked by iSport's Marcus Ericsson on his final hotlap, and he was powerless to stop Bianchi, Giedo van der Garde (Addax) and Luca Filippi (Super Nova) from moving him down to fourth place.

Behind him there were also late improvements from Addax's Charles Pic and Racing Engineering's Dani Clos, while Sam Bird (iSport) finished the session seventh having been second before the red flag.

Reigning GP3 champion Esteban Gutierrez (ART) featured towards the front of the timesheets throughout the session, but he had to settle for eighth after a minor off-track excursion on his final lap.

Monaco feature race winner Davide Valsecchi was ninth for AirAsia, while Vietoris - racing for the first time since the season opener in Turkey - completed the top 10.

Pos  Driver               Team                Time       Gap
 1.  Jules Bianchi        ART                 1m47.681s
 2.  Giedo van der Garde  Addax               1m47.736s  + 0.055s
 3.  Luca Filippi         Super Nova          1m48.114s  + 0.433s
 4.  Romain Grosjean      DAMS                1m48.189s  + 0.508s
 5.  Charles Pic          Addax               1m48.206s  + 0.525s
 6.  Dani Clos            Racing Engineering  1m48.308s  + 0.627s
 7.  Sam Bird             iSport              1m48.456s  + 0.775s
 8.  Esteban Gutierrez    ART                 1m48.484s  + 0.803s
 9.  Davide Valsecchi     AirAsia             1m48.520s  + 0.839s
10.  Christian Vietoris   Racing Engineering  1m48.707s  + 1.026s
11.  Max Chilton          Carlin              1m48.800s  + 1.119s
12.  Alvaro Parente       Carlin              1m48.881s  + 1.200s
13.  Michael Herck        Coloni              1m48.931s  + 1.250s
14.  Marcus Ericsson      iSport              1m48.960s  + 1.279s
15.  Luiz Razia           AirAsia             1m49.146s  + 1.465s
16.  Fairuz Fauzy         Super Nova          1m49.650s  + 1.969s
17.  Fabio Leimer         Rapax               1m49.759s  + 2.078s
18.  Johnny Cecotto       Ocean               1m49.805s  + 2.124s
19.  Jolyon Palmer        Arden               1m50.056s  + 2.375s
20.  Rodolfo Gonzalez     Trident             1m50.229s  + 2.548s
21.  Pal Varhaug          DAMS                1m50.412s  + 2.731s
22.  Kevin Ceccon         Coloni              1m50.997s  + 3.316s
23.  Julian Leal          Rapax               1m51.238s  + 3.557s
24.  Kevin Mirocha        Ocean               1m51.567s  + 3.886s
25.  Josef Kral           Arden               1m59,074s  + 11.393s
26.  Stefano Coletti      Trident             1m59.640s  + 11.959s

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