Spyker surprised to be at the top

The German rookie flew up to P1 right at the end of a session held on a track that was drenched with light but constant rain.

"We thought the conditions would allow us to step up, although this was probably a bit more than we expected," Gascoyne said.

"But we know Adrian is quite good in the wet. Rain is a great leveller, and we thought it would give us a chance to go a bit better. Hopefully we can get through Q1, but we'll need the conditions to stay like this.

"I think progressing past Q1 will be a good target. Anything above that is probably too much to expect. But Adrian obviously did a great lap at the end, and he needs to do it again."

For team principal Colin Kolles, however, the result was not so much a surprise as a vindication of Sutil's ability.

"We know that we have strong drivers," Kolles said. "I'm not surprised, not in the rain. In F3 in the rain, we were always the quickest.

"Adrian is the strongest rain driver, for sure. We have to give him a strong aerodynamically strong car for the dry, and we'll be there. If the conditions stay the same, we should have a good afternoon - and a good weekend."

Sutil's teammate Christijan Albers ended the session back in 19th place despite running a similar program to Sutil, although Gascoyne said the Dutchman had suffered some mechanical problems.

"I think with Christian we had some control issues - he had a TC problem, which meant he had a few more problems than Adrian had," Gascoyne said.

The rain stopped shortly after the session was completed, although low dark clouds continue to hang over the Principality.