Addax one-two in GP2 practice

The Dutchman's 1m28.118s came in the middle of the session, and with the field failing to find any significant gains from their second set of tyres, the time stood. Perez fell short of van der Garde by just 0.053 seconds, with ART's Sam Bird going third-fastest.

Jerome d'Ambrosio was strong on his return with DAMS after sitting out last week's round in Germany, the Belgian setting the fourth-quickest time, with iSport's Davide Valsecchi and DPR's Michael Herck just behind him.

Series leader Pastor Maldonado had a relatively subdued start to the weekend, surviving a couple of off-track moments on his way to seventh.

The morning passed largely without incident, with the only minor drama coming when Arden's Rodolfo Gonzalez tore up a section of kerbing at the final corner, leaving a chunk of concrete on the track to be hit by van der Garde and Super Nova's Marcus Ericsson. Both appeared to escape damage, and the debris was quickly removed under yellows.

Pos  Driver               Team                Time       Gap
 1.  Giedo van der Garde  Barwa Addax         1m28.188s
 2.  Sergio Perez         Barwa Addax         1m28.241s  + 0.053s
 3.  Sam Bird             ART                 1m28.296s  + 0.108s
 4.  Jerome d'Ambrosio    DAMS                1m28.303s  + 0.115s
 5.  Davide Valsecchi     iSport              1m28.609s  + 0.421s
 6.  Michael Herck        DPR                 1m28.618s  + 0.430s
 7.  Pastor Maldonado     Rapax               1m28.750s  + 0.562s
 8.  Christian Vietoris   Racing Engineering  1m28.801s  + 0.613s
 9.  Marcus Ericsson      Super Nova          1m29.047s  + 0.859s
10.  Jules Bianchi        ART                 1m29.053s  + 0.865s
11.  Giacomo Ricci        DPR                 1m29.062s  + 0.874s
12.  Dani Clos            Racing Engineering  1m29.067s  + 0.879s
13.  Alberto Valerio      Coloni              1m29.106s  + 0.918s
14.  Oliver Turvey        iSport              1m29.175s  + 0.987s
15.  Luca Filippi         Super Nova          1m29.234s  + 1.046s
16.  Luiz Razia           Rapax               1m29.353s  + 1.165s
17.  Fabio Leimer         Ocean               1m29.434s  + 1.246s
18.  Charles Pic          Arden               1m29.436s  + 1.248s
19.  Adrian Zaugg         Trident             1m29.475s  + 1.287s
20.  Johnny Cecotto       Trident             1m29.593s  + 1.405s
21.  Ho-Pin Tung          DAMS                1m29.627s  + 1.439s
22.  Vlado Arabadjiev     Coloni              1m30.106s  + 1.918s
23.  Rodolfo Gonzalez     Arden               1m30.306s  + 2.118s
24.  Max Chilton          Ocean               1m30.551s  + 2.363s