Pizzonia fastest at soaking Oulton

The session was red-flagged nearly 20 times due to the number of crashes and incidents in the treacherous conditions. Pizzonia also found the going tough:

'It has been difficult today because the weather has been so bad and the track was very greasy,' he said. 'Also the wind was a problem at the end of the day. It caused the car to lose downforce at some points on the circuit.'

Nevertheless, the Manor Motorsport driver was still nearly a second faster than his nearest rival, RC Motorsport's Nicolas Kiesa.

The reigning Formula Ford champion survived a spin at the Shell hairpin and was pleased with progress given that his team had never been to the Cheshire track before.

Pizzonia's team-mate Juan Manuel Lopez was third, ahead of Fortec's Gianmaria Bruni. This also was the first time that either driver had visited Oulton.

Rowan Racing's Martin O'Connell was among the pacesetters when conditions were at their worst but didn't get a clear run when the weather eased and was only sixth overall.

Promatecme pairing Matt Davies and Andy Priaulx had similar problems, ending the day only fifth and fifteenth fastest respectively.

Gary Paffett was again the fastest man in the Scholarship Class by a significant margin, ahead of Rowan's Christian Columbo and Diamond Racing driver Mark Mayall.

Leading times from Oulton Park: