Aleshin and Baguette top practice day

Russian Aleshin was fastest in the morning, his time of 1:34.893 less than two tenths of a second quicker than Prema's Alvaro Barba with both still hunting for their first victory of the year. Baguette and Alvaro's younger brother Marco were third and fourth for Draco Racing.

In the second 45-minute session, Baguette broke into the 1:33s. The Belgian's 1:33.949 shaded 2007 Barcelona pole winner Salvador Duran by a tenth. Duran displayed no ill effects from his barrel-roll at Estoril.

"This result is good for morale," said Duran. "The guys worked really hard to rebuild the car after Estoril and I hope I can build on this tomorrow, first in qualifying and then in the race."

With champion Giedo van der Garde absent, having moved on to GP2 Asia, the focus is on the fight for second in the standings. Fabio Carbone holds a two-point lead over Julien Jousse, but his hopes have not been helped by a dose of food poisoning.

Jousse finished the afternoon 13th, ten places higher than Carbone, although the Brazilian expects to recover before qualifying tomorrow.