Clos leads practice in Germany
Racing Engineering's Dani Clos has topped the times in today's GP2 Series practice session at Hockenheim
On a track still drying out from heavy rains earlier in the morning, the Spaniard was one of several drivers to find improvements in the final minute of the session, finishing up with a 1m36.351s effort that left him 0.119s clear of ART's Jules Bianchi.
Clos's team-mate Christian Vietoris made it up to third at the final moment to put him ahead of Sam Bird, while series returnee Romain Grosjean marked the start of his cameo appearance with DAMS by going fifth quickest.
The former Renault F1 driver, who is standing in for Jerome d'Ambrosio this weekend, was second for much of the session before losing places in the late scramble, although he did post a purple first sector on his final lap. Points leader Pastor Maldonado wound up just behind Grosjean in sixth.
The tricky conditions caught several drivers out, with a sheet of standing water at the hairpin proving a particular trouble spot.
Most of the off-track excursions were harmless, although Ocean's Fabio Leimer, Trident's Adrian Zaugg, Coloni's Vladimir Arabadzhiev and DPR's Michael Herck all dropped out of the session early by spinning and being unable to restart.
Arden, meanwhile, survived a close shave when its two drivers Rodolfo Gonzalez and Charles Pic hit each other at the hairpin, but both cars were able to continue and finished 14th and 17th quickest respectively.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Daniel Clos Racing Engineering 1:36.351 15 2. Jules Bianchi ART Grand Prix 1:36.470 + 0.119 18 3. C.Vietoris Racing Engineering 1:36.579 + 0.228 16 4. Sam Bird ART Grand Prix 1:36.976 + 0.625 15 5. Romain Grosjean DAMS 1:36.996 + 0.645 16 6. Pastor Maldonado Rapax 1:37.016 + 0.665 17 7. Luca Filippi Super Nova Racing 1:37.318 + 0.967 16 8. G.van der Garde Barwa Addax Team 1:37.329 + 0.978 15 9. Sergio Pérez Barwa Addax Team 1:37.388 + 1.037 16 10. Ho-Pin Tung DAMS 1:37.521 + 1.170 17 11. Max Chilton Ocean Racing Technology 1:37.601 + 1.250 16 12. Alberto Valério Scuderia Coloni 1:37.621 + 1.270 14 13. Oliver Turvey iSport International 1:37.767 + 1.416 14 14. Davide Valsecchi iSport International 1:38.016 + 1.665 16 15. Rodolfo Gonzalez Arden International 1:38.233 + 1.882 14 16. Giacomo Ricci DPR 1:38.294 + 1.943 16 17. Marcus Ericsson Super Nova Racing 1:38.431 + 2.080 15 18. Charles Pic Arden International 1:38.436 + 2.085 15 19. Luiz Razia Rapax 1:38.753 + 2.402 16 20. J.Cecotto Jr. Trident Racing 1:38.826 + 2.475 16 21. Fabio Leimer Ocean Racing Technology 1:39.571 + 3.220 6 22. Adrian Zaugg Trident Racing 1:40.058 + 3.707 7 23. Vlado Arabadjiev Scuderia Coloni 1:42.136 + 5.785 10 24. Michael Herck DPR 1:43.958 + 7.607 3
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