Glock eyes top ten in qualifying

"Both practice sessions went pretty well and the car felt good throughout the day," said the Toyota driver, who posted the 12th fastest time of the day.

"I also had a strong long run with competitive laptimes. Graining and understeer were challenges today.

"On a late run I went off the track and couldn't stop the car from hitting the kerb and damaging the front wing. It was my mistake and I missed the last five minutes but it was nevertheless a good first day."

Glock reckons it will be important to qualify well tomorrow, as overtaking at the Istanbul circuit will be hard during the race.

"I've had some successful races here in GP2 but it's difficult to overtake so qualifying is important this weekend. Our target has to be to get into the top ten tomorrow, as I did in the first two races this year," he said.

Jarno Trulli also had a good start to the weekend, finishing as seventh quickest.

"We have come to Turkey at a different time of year so temperatures are unlike what we have faced in the past," said Trulli. "But that was a good day despite the mixed track conditions - dusty in the morning then rain in the afternoon.

"We made it through our programme of tyre and set-up work and we didn't have any problems. The car seems okay so far but there is still work to do in order to improve the handling. Now we have to work hard over the next two days to maintain our strong start to the season with a successful race."