Romain Grosjean tops Spa GP2 practice
Romain Grosjean made the perfect start to the weekend where he can seal the GP2 championship by topping free practice at Spa on Friday
The DAMS driver moved to the top of the times 12 minutes into the session, when the track was predominantly dry. Rain started to fall four minutes later, preventing anyone else from being able to beat his time.
Grosjean's lap could have been even quicker, as he lost time at the Bus Stop chicane while putting a surprisingly bold pass on Luca Filippi under braking. The Italian did not appear too happy with the late lunge, and he went wheel-to-wheel with the championship leader down the start/finish straight in retaliation.
Filippi's Coloni team-mate Michael Herck jumped up to second just before the rain hit, while iSport's Marcus Ericsson set the third quickest time ahead of Grosjean's closest title rival Giedo van der Garde.
The Addax driver had a spin on the entry to Fagnes while the track was at its best, as he caught a damp kerb while turning in. Later in the session he was one of the first to venture out on wet weather tyres, meaning he looked at ease with the conditions as others tentatively joined him a few minutes later.
At around the same time, ART's Jules Bianchi headed out of the pits on slick tyres. He returned at the end of his out-lap, but it was an experiment worth taking given that Spa has already been hit by three heavy showers this morning.
While a few other drivers had spins as the rain intensified, the only casualty of the session was Jolyon Palmer. The Arden driver spun shortly after the pit exit, pitching him into the wall on the right hand side.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Romain Grosjean DAMS 2m00.634s 2. Michael Herck Coloni 2m01.413s + 0.779s 3. Marcus Ericsson iSport 2m01.414s + 0.780s 4. Giedo van der Garde Addax 2m01.438s + 0.804s 5. Charles Pic Addax 2m01.467s + 0.833s 6. Luiz Razia AirAsia 2m01.523s + 0.889s 7. Max Chilton Carlin 2m01.650s + 1.016s 8. Christian Vietoris Racing Engineering 2m01.741s + 1.107s 9. Jules Bianchi ART 2m01.852s + 1.218s 10. Dani Clos Racing Engineering 2m01.950s + 1.316s 11. Mikhail Aleshin Carlin 2m02.049s + 1.415s 12. Sam Bird iSport 2m02.160s + 1.526s 13. Stefano Coletti Trident 2m02.169s + 1.535s 14. Julian Leal Rapax 2m02.180s + 1.546s 15. Rodolfo Gonzalez Trident 2m02.702s + 2.068s 16. Johnny Cecotto Ocean 2m02.885s + 2.251s 17. Josef Kral Arden 2m03.135s + 2.501s 18. Davide Valsecchi AirAsia 2m03.403s + 2.769s 19. Fairuz Fauzy Super Nova 2m03.640s + 3.006s 20. Luca Filippi Coloni 2m03.686s + 3.052s 21. Esteban Gutierrez ART 2m03.934s + 3.300s 22. Fabio Leimer Rapax 2m04.892s + 4.258s 23. Pal Varhaug DAMS 2m05.827s + 5.193s 24. Brendon Hartley Ocean 2m05.875s + 5.241s 25. Adam Carroll Super Nova 2m09.175s + 8.541s 26. Jolyon Palmer Arden
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