Kubica fastest at ‘Ring

Mucke Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes driver Kubica admitted that perhaps his time was a little deceptive. "I managed the time, because I once drove straight at the chicane," said the 19-year-old, "but I think a place in the top five is realistic. Although we're not quite there yet, we did manage to close th gap a bit on the leading teams."

Hamilton was just 0.181s slower than Kubica, but reckoned he could have gone quicker still in his Mercedes-powered Manor Motorsport Dallara. "We worked rigorously on set-up and created a good base to work from in the next race," said Hamilton. "I'd put new tyres on at the end of the session for a quicker lap, but was thwarted when the red flags came out."

Eric Salignon, who set the pace on day one in the ASM Dallara-Mercedes, also missed out on his crack at a really quick time after Team Ghinzani's Marco Bonanomi ran into the back of him at the NGK Chicane.

Of the other Britons in the series, Jamie Green set sixth best time in his ASM car and Tom Kimber-Smith moved up from 25th best yesterday to 17th in the Kolles Dallara-Mercedes.

Nico Rosberg was the best of the Opel-powered runners with fourth best time for Team Rosberg.