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Kral sets pace in GP2 practice

Arden's Josef Kral was the pacesetter in free practice for the opening GP2 Asia round in Abu Dhabi

In the first official session for the new-generation GP2 cars, Kral set an early 1m37.788s to lead the way, and although iSport's Sam Bird briefly deposed him, the Czech driver responded with a 1m37.020s to cement his place at the head of the order.

The new AirAsia squad continued its strong form from testing to take second with Davide Valsecchi, 0.3 seconds slower than Kral.

ART's Jules Bianchi and DAMS' Romain Grosjean were next up, pushing Bird back to fifth. Top rookie was ART's Esteban Gutierrez in sixth.

The half-hour session passed without incident or accident. Qualifying takes place late this afternoon local time, ahead of the first round of the championship on Friday.

Pos  Driver               Team                Time       Gap
 1.  Josef Kral           Arden               1m37.020s
 2.  Davide Valsecchi     AirAsia             1m37.319s  + 0.299s
 3.  Jules Bianchi        ART                 1m37.408s  + 0.388s
 4.  Romain Grosjean      DAMS                1m37.578s  + 0.558s
 5.  Sam Bird             iSport              1m37.601s  + 0.581s
 6.  Esteban Gutierrez    ART                 1m37.602s  + 0.582s
 7.  Michael Herck        Coloni              1m37.711s  + 0.691s
 8.  Stefano Coletti      Trident             1m37.742s  + 0.722s
 9.  Charles Pic          Addax               1m37.789s  + 0.769s
10.  Max Chilton          Carlin              1m37.798s  + 0.778s
11.  Fabio Leimer         Rapax               1m37.860s  + 0.840s
12.  Luiz Razia           AirAsia             1m37.864s  + 0.844s
13.  Johnny Cecotto       Super Nova          1m37.949s  + 0.929s
14.  Jolyon Palmer        Arden               1m37.972s  + 0.952s
15.  Marcus Ericsson      iSport              1m38.010s  + 0.990s
16.  Dani Clos            Racing Engineering  1m38.016s  + 0.996s
17.  Giedo van der Garde  Addax               1m38.060s  + 1.040s
18.  Mikhail Aleshin      Carlin              1m38.134s  + 1.114s
19.  Oliver Turvey        Ocean               1m38.160s  + 1.140s
20.  Rodolfo Gonzalez     Trident             1m38.200s  + 1.180s
21.  Nathanael Berthon    Racing Engineering  1m38.251s  + 1.231s
22.  Fairuz Fauzy         Super Nova          1m38.446s  + 1.426s
23.  Pal Varhaug          DAMS                1m38.571s  + 1.551s
24.  Julian Leal          Rapax               1m38.574s  + 1.554s
25.  James Jakes          Coloni              1m38.580s  + 1.560s
26.  Andrea Caldarelli    Ocean               1m39.042s  + 2.022s

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