Coletti quickest on return to Spa

The Monegasque former Formula 3 Euro Series race winner eclipsed Fortec driver Sten Pentus by 0.054 seconds at the top the timesheets, just eight months after sustaining compressed vertebrae and heavy bruising when his Durango car failed to negotiate Spa's Eau Rouge corner.

"I am happy, even though I could still see the tyre marks from my GP2 crash every time I went through Eau Rouge," said Coletti.

"The car is quick, and the team took pole here in 2008 with Marco Bonanomi. I don't think doing the GP2 race last year has provided any useful information for this weekend, but it has made me really determined to take my revenge on Spa."

Motorland winner Pentus led the session for 50 minutes, before being demoted by Coletti a quarter of an hour before the chequered flag.

Championship leader Daniel Ricciardo finished third, ahead of a strong showing for Keisuke Kunimoto. Ricciardo's Tech 1 Racing team-mate Brendon Hartley finished fifth, leading this morning's pace-setter Mikhail Aleshin. Rain is forecast for the races on Saturday and Sunday.

Pos  Driver             Team             Time       Gap
 1.  Stefano Coletti    Comtec           2m02.633s
 2.  Sten Pentus        Fortec           2m02.687s  + 0.054s
 3.  Daniel Ricciardo   Tech 1           2m02.928s  + 0.295s
 4.  Keisuke Kunimoto   Epsilon Euskadi  2m03.237s  + 0.604s
 5.  Brendon Hartley    Tech 1           2m03.408s  + 0.775s
 6.  Mikhail Aleshin    Carlin           2m03.501s  + 0.868s
 7.  Esteban Guerrieri  ISR              2m03.518s  + 0.885s
 8.  Filip Salaquarda   ISR              2m03.536s  + 0.903s
 9.  Albert Costa       Epsilon Euskadi  2m03.591s  + 0.958s
10.  Greg Mansell       Comtec           2m03.654s  + 1.021s
11.  Jan Charouz        P1               2m03.679s  + 1.046s
12.  Jon Lancaster      Fortec           2m03.753s  + 1.120s
13.  Daniil Move        Junior Lotus     2m03.828s  + 1.195s
14.  Walter Grubmuller  P1               2m03.842s  + 1.209s
15.  Daniel Zampieri    Pons             2m03.954s  + 1.321s
16.  Anton Nebylitskiy  KMP              2m04.112s  + 1.479s
17.  Federico Leo       Pons             2m04.251s  + 1.618s
18.  Victor Garcia      KMP              2m04.318s  + 1.685s
19.  Nelson Panciatici  Junior Lotus     2m04.319s  + 1.686s
20.  Nathanael Berthon  Draco            2m04.400s  + 1.767s
21.  Jake Rosenzweig    Carlin           2m04.745s  + 2.112s
22.  Sergio Canamasas   Interwetten      2m04.909s  + 2.276s
23.  Bruno Mendez       Interwetten      2m05.401s  + 2.768s
24.  Julian Leal        Draco            2m05.472s  + 2.839s