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Auto GP Silverstone: Ex-F1 racer Narain Karthikeyan sets pace

Former Jordan and HRT Formula 1 driver Narain Karthikeyan set the pace in Auto GP practice at Silverstone on Friday for his new team Super Nova

Karthikeyan, who quit rival squad Zele Racing following last month's Hungaroring round, only announced his team switch early on Friday morning, but edged out his team-mate Vittorio Ghirelli by 0.025s during the first half-hour session.

There was an unfamiliar look to the top of the timesheets in FP2, where series newcomer Kevin Giovesi was Karthikeyan's closest challenger.

The GP2 driver was within two tenths of a second of Karthikeyan's benchmark 1m46.837s, which stood as the best practice time of the day.

Championship leader Kimiya Sato was third in FP1, but slipped to fifth later on behind Ghirelli and Manor MP's ever-improving Meindert van Buuren put in faster times; the Dutchman third in the afternoon session.

Tamas Pal Kiss, who has replaced Karthikeyan at Zele, was sixth in FP1 and 10th later on; his team-mate Luciano Bacheta stopping on track during the latter session.

Fabrizio Crestani, who is substituting for his Ibiza Racing team-boss Giuseppe Cipriani - who has a back injury - was 13th overall. His title-contending team-mate Sergio Campana did not take part in FP2 due to an engine problem.

Practice one:

Pos  Driver               Team         Time       Gap
 1.  Narain Karthikeyan   Super Nova   1m47.183s
 2.  Vittorio Ghirelli    Super Nova   1m47.208s  + 0.025s
 3.  Kimiya Sato          Euronova     1m47.732s  + 0.549s
 4.  Kevin Giovesi        Ghinzani     1m47.779s  + 0.596s
 5.  Meindert van Buuren  Manor MP     1m48.033s  + 0.850s
 6.  Tamas Pal Kiss       Zele         1m48.221s  + 1.038s
 7.  Robert Visoiu        Ghinzani     1m48.268s  + 1.085s
 8.  Sergio Campana       Ibiza        1m48.293s  + 1.110s
 9.  Riccardo Agostini    Manor MP     1m48.428s  + 1.245s
10.  Daniel de Jong       Manor MP     1m48.574s  + 1.391s
11.  Maxim Snegirev       Virtuosi UK  1m48.654s  + 1.471s
12.  Luciano Bacheta      Zele         1m48.876s  + 1.693s
13.  Fabrizio Crestani    Ibiza        1m48.955s  + 1.772s
14.  Andrea Roda          Virtuosi UK  1m49.159s  + 1.976s
15.  Francesco Dracone    Super Nova   1m50.207s  + 3.024s
16.  Yoshitaka Kuroda     Euronova     1m50.389s  + 3.206s
17.  Michele La Rosa      MLR 71       1m53.824s  + 6.641s

Practice two:

Pos  Driver               Team         Time       Gap
 1.  Narain Karthikeyan   Super Nova   1m46.837s
 2.  Kevin Giovesi        Ghinzani     1m47.005s  + 0.168s
 3.  Meindert van Buuren  Manor MP     1m47.319s  + 0.482s
 4.  Vittorio Ghirelli    Super Nova   1m47.368s  + 0.531s
 5.  Kimiya Sato          Euronova     1m47.416s  + 0.579s
 6.  Maxim Snegirev       Virtuosi UK  1m47.638s  + 0.801s
 7.  Andrea Roda          Virtuosi UK  1m47.877s  + 1.040s
 8.  Robert Visoiu        Ghinzani     1m47.952s  + 1.115s
 9.  Riccardo Agostini    Manor MP     1m48.100s  + 1.263s
10.  Tamas Pal Kiss       Zele         1m48.110s  + 1.273s
11.  Daniel de Jong       Manor MP     1m48.976s  + 2.139s
12.  Yoshitaka Kuroda     Euronova     1m49.118s  + 2.281s
13.  Fabrizio Crestani    Ibiza        1m49.172s  + 2.335s
14.  Francesco Dracone    Super Nova   1m49.557s  + 2.720s
15.  Luciano Bacheta      Zele         1m49.851s  + 3.014s
16.  Michele La Rosa      MLR 71       1m52.438s  + 5.601s

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