Maldonado quickest in Spa practice
Pastor Maldonado made the best of the fast-changing conditions at Spa to post the fastest time in this morning's GP2 Series practice session
The track started damp from rain earlier in the day but dried as the session went on, prompting questions over the right time to switch to slicks.
That was answered when Diego Nunes shot to the top of the timing screens with six minutes remaining, and the lap times went into freefall from there on.
At one point Nico Hulkenberg was quickest by nearly six seconds, the German benefiting from being the only front-runner with a clear track, but both Maldonado and Alvaro Parente managed to clear the traffic to topple the German on their last flying lap.
Hulkenberg, however, left a final indicator of what might have been by setting the fastest times of the session over the first two sectors of his in-lap.
Despite the tricky conditions, the field was relatively well-behaved, although Sergio Perez, Stefano Coletti, Alberto Valerio and Nelson Panciatici all had cause to lean on the run-off area at various stages.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Pastor Maldonado ART Grand Prix 2:04.889 12 2. Alvaro Parente Ocean Racing Technology 2:05.858 11 3. Giedo van der Garde iSport International 2:07.119 10 4. Nico Hulkenberg ART Grand Prix 2:07.961 12 5. Jerome d'Ambrosio DAMS 2:09.453 12 6. Alberto Valerio Piquet GP 2:11.910 12 7. Vitaly Petrov Barwa Addax Team 2:11.929 10 8. Sergio Perez Telmex Arden International 2:12.406 13 9. Javier Villa Super Nova Racing 2:12.760 13 10. Davide Valsecchi Barwa Addax Team 2:12.991 12 11. Roldan Rodriguez Piquet GP 2:13.407 13 12. Dani Clos Fat Burner Racing Eng. 2:13.469 11 13. Edoardo Mortara Telmex Arden International 2:13.488 11 14. Davide Rigon Trident Racing 2:14.008 13 15. Lucas di Grassi Fat Burner Racing Eng. 2:14.231 11 16. Kamui Kobayashi DAMS 2:14.377 11 17. Luca Filippi Super Nova Racing 2:14.770 12 18. Nelson Panciatici Durango 2:15.019 12 19. Karun Chandhok Ocean Racing Technology 2:15.410 12 20. Diego Nunes iSport International 2:15.638 12 21. Ricardo Teixeira Trident Racing 2:17.542 11 22. Franck Perera DPR 2:17.592 7 23. Stefano Coletti Durango 2:17.605 11 24. Michael Herck DPR 2:18.071 8
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