Esteban Gutierrez dominant in Abu Dhabi GP2 practice

The ART driver went to the top of the times with 20 minutes left of the session, with a lap that then put him 1.5 seconds clear of the field. This displaced GP2 rookie Tom Dillmann, driving for iSport, from the top of the leaderboard after the Frenchman set the pace during the early running.

Fabio Leimer, who has switched from Rapax to Racing Engineering for this weekend, ended up second fastest, half a second off Gutierrez, and 42 thousandths clear of the impressive Dillmann.

Max Chilton, like Gutierrez among just six drivers continuing with their main series teams this weekend, was fourth fastest ahead of GP2 race-winner Dani Clos, who has moved to Rapax this weekend from Racing Engineering.

Luiz Razia (AirAsia) was sixth fastest ahead of Nathanael Berthon (Racing Engineering), the latter being the best-placed of the category returnees after competing in GP2 Asia earlier this year before spending the summer in Formula Renault 3.5.

Marcus Ericsson ended up eighth fastest for iSport after an early-session spin, just over a second off the pace, ahead of Coloni's Stefano Coletti and Giacomo Ricci, who returned to GP2 for the first time since 2010 with Super Nova. However, it is not clear if Ricci will keep his time as stewards are looking into a possible yellow flag infringement, an offence that Ocean's rookie Nicolas Marroc, who ended the session 23rd, is also under investigation for.

DAMS' Nigel Melker, third in GP3 this year, ended the session 13th ahead of GP2 returnee Alex Rossi (AirAsia). James Calado, second in GP3, was 19th fastest on his category debut with ART ahead of fellow newcomer Antonio Felix da Costa in Ocean's other car.

Ex-Rapax racer Julian Leal, returning to Trident Racing, who he drove for in Auto GP, ended up bottom of the timesheets after not setting a serious lap time. He spun into the barriers at Turn 19 on his fourth lap of the morning, bringing his practice session to an end.

Pos  Driver                  Team                Time       Gap
 1.  Esteban Gutierrez       ART                 1m50.442s
 2.  Fabio Leimer            Racing Engineering  1m50.957s  + 0.515s
 3.  Tom Dillmann            iSport              1m50.999s  + 0.557s
 4.  Max Chilton             Carlin              1m51.018s  + 0.576s
 5.  Dani Clos               Rapax               1m51.093s  + 0.651s
 6.  Luiz Razia              AirAsia             1m51.288s  + 0.846s
 7.  Nathanael Berthon       Racing Engineering  1m51.411s  + 0.969s
 8.  Marcus Ericsson         iSport              1m51.527s  + 1.085s
 9.  Stefano Coletti         Coloni              1m51.746s  + 1.304s
10.  Giacomo Ricci           Super Nova          1m51.847s  + 1.405s
11.  Kevin Ceccon            Coloni              1m51.917s  + 1.475s
12.  Jolyon Palmer           Addax               1m51.932s  + 1.490s
13.  Nigel Melker            DAMS                1m52.137s  + 1.695s
14.  Alexander Rossi         AirAsia             1m52.258s  + 1.816s
15.  Simon Trummer           Arden               1m52.287s  + 1.845s
16.  Rio Haryanto            DAMS                1m52.350s  + 1.908s
17.  Josef Kral              Arden               1m52.585s  + 2.143s
18.  Stephane Richelmi       Trident             1m52.646s  + 2.204s
19.  James Calado            ART                 1m52.665s  + 2.223s
20.  Antonio Felix da Costa  Ocean               1m52.674s  + 2.232s
21.  Jake Rosenzweig         Addax               1m52.779s  + 2.337s
22.  Jan Charouz             Carlin              1m52.856s  + 2.414s
23.  Nicolas Marroc          Ocean               1m53.042s  + 2.600s
24.  Fabio Onidi             Super Nova          1m53.130s  + 2.688s
25.  Mihai Marinescu         Rapax               1m53.446s  + 3.004s
26.  Julian Leal             Trident             2m02.583s  + 12.141s