Williamson tops opening practice at the Nurburgring

The MW Arden driver, who won last time out on home soil at Silverstone, moved comfortably to the top of the times with five minutes remaining.

At the time he bumped long-time pace-setter Tom Dillmann down to second. The Frenchman then lost a further place in the final minute when Antonio Felix da Costa jumped from 10th to second. However, the Portuguese driver only beat Dillmann?s time by a fraction, leaving Williamson 0.355 seconds clear by the end.

Former championship leader Mitch Evans ran second to Dillmann for much of the session, but in the end he had to settle for fourth in the second MW Arden entry.

The next three places were taken by drivers who improved as the chequered flag came out, with Rio Haryanto, James Calado and championship leader Alexander Sims ending the session in fifth, sixth and seventh.

Pos  Driver                  Team       Time       Gap
 1.  Lewis Williamson        MW Arden   1m50.766s
 2.  Antonio Felix da Costa  Status     1m51.121s  + 0.355s
 3.  Tom Dillmann            Addax      1m51.235s  + 0.469s
 4.  Mitch Evans             MW Arden   1m51.275s  + 0.509s
 5.  Rio Haryanto            Manor      1m51.411s  + 0.645s
 6.  James Calado            ART        1m51.458s  + 0.692s
 7.  Alexander Sims          Status     1m51.543s  + 0.777s
 8.  Aaro Vainio             Tech 1     1m51.571s  + 0.805s
 9.  Michael Christensen     RSC Mucke  1m51.573s  + 0.807s
10.  Marlon Stockinger       Atech CRS  1m51.576s  + 0.810s
11.  Nico Muller             Jenzer     1m51.625s  + 0.859s
12.  Valtteri Bottas         ART        1m51.641s  + 0.875s
13.  Adrian Quaife-Hobbs     Manor      1m51.670s  + 0.904s
14.  Matias Laine            Manor      1m51.670s  + 0.904s
15.  Nigel Melker            RSC Mucke  1m51.750s  + 0.984s
16.  Dean Smith              Addax      1m51.801s  + 1.035s
17.  Gabby Chaves            Addax      1m51.945s  + 1.179s
18.  Tamas Pal Kiss          Tech 1     1m52.024s  + 1.258s
19.  Vittorio Ghirelli       Jenzer     1m52.094s  + 1.328s
20.  Nick Yelloly            Atech CRS  1m52.146s  + 1.380s
21.  Conor Daly              Carlin     1m52.193s  + 1.427s
22.  Pedro Nunes             ART        1m52.253s  + 1.487s
23.  Zoel Amberg             Atech CRS  1m52.258s  + 1.492s
24.  Simon Trummer           MW Arden   1m52.277s  + 1.511s
25.  Maxim Zimin             Jenzer     1m52.297s  + 1.531s
26.  Ivan Lukashevich        Status     1m52.346s  + 1.580s
27.  Luciano Bacheta         RSC Mucke  1m52.783s  + 2.017s
28.  Thomas Hylkema          Tech 1     1m52.971s  + 2.205s
29.  Callum MacLeod          Carlin     1m52.978s  + 2.212s
30.  Leonardo Cordeiro       Carlin     1m53.318s  + 2.552s