Samuele Buttarelli tops first practice in Mugello

Buttarelli (TP Formula) was at the sharp end throughout, and sealed top spot when he posted a 1m33.403s on his final tour of the circuit.

Supernova's Filippi finished just over 0.2s down in second, but significantly was ahead of his title rivals Sergei Afanasiev (DAMS) and Kevin Ceccon (Ombra), who were fifth and sixth respectively.

Ceccon currently leads on 116 points, with Afanasiev seven points in arrears and Filippi eight further back heading into the final two races this weekend, where a maximum of 43 points are on offer.

Unlike Afanasiev, Filippi and Ceccon set their fastest times on old rubber.

Campos Racing duo Adrien Tambay and Adam Carroll were separated by just over one tenth in third and fourth respectively.

Seventh went to Lazarus' Fabio Onidi, who edged team-mate Fabrizio Crestani by less than six hundredths of a second.

Rio Haryanto (DAMS) and Pasquale di Sabatino (TP Formula) completed out the top ten, while debutant Michele La Rosa (Ombra) rounded out the field in 14th.

Pos  Driver                Team        Time       Gap
 1.  Samuele Buttarelli    TP          1m33.403s  
 2.  Luca Filippi          Super Nova  1m33.613s  + 0.210s
 3.  Adrien Tambay         Campos      1m33.926s  + 0.523s
 4.  Adam Carroll          Campos      1m34.054s  + 0.651s
 5.  Sergei Afanasiev      DAMS        1m34.552s  + 1.149s
 6.  Kevin Ceccon          Ombra       1m34.897s  + 1.494s
 7.  Fabio Onidi           Lazarus     1m34.970s  + 1.567s
 8.  Fabrizio Crestani     Lazarus     1m35.028s  + 1.625s
 9.  Rio Haryanto          DAMS        1m35.120s  + 1.717s
10.  Pasquale di Sabatino  TP          1m35.808s  + 2.405s
11.  Giovanni Venturini    Durango     1m36.598s  + 3.195s
12.  Francesco Dracone     Emmebi      1m37.165s  + 3.762s
13.  Giuseppe Cipriani     Durango     1m38.542s  + 5.139s
14.  Kevin Ceccon          Ombra       1m43.321s  + 9.918s