Coletti tops Brno's post-race test

The Monegasque recorded a lap of 1m40.804s in the morning session, to finish 0.422s ahead of championship leader Mikhail Aleshin. Brno double winner Esteban Guerrieri was quickest in the afternoon, setting a time of 1m41.343s.

Coletti was one of the stars of Brno's opening race, but failed to realise his potential on Sunday after suffering a spin while challenging for second position.

"We were faster than the time set for pole, it proves that we had a good car this weekend," said Coletti. "We were unlucky, [but now] we've worked really hard to prepare for Magny-Cours. I think we should be quicker there. I had to leave mid-afternoon, so I put my fresh tyres on fairly early on, but it was still quite warm out there. It's very positive to have set the fastest time of the day, and it means that I can start the next meeting on the right foot."

Without a regular race drive this season, Virgin Formula 1 reserve driver Andy Soucek returned to his former team, FHV Interwetten.com. Despite a crash in the morning, the Spaniard ended the day tenth fastest on combined times.

"It is a good experience to get back behind the wheel," said Soucek. "I had previously done some development work on the car, but this is not so much helping with the set-up, as I don't think there's too much wrong with it, as helping the regular drivers exploit the car's potential."

The track was sufficiently damp to call for wet tyres as the session got under way. Fortec Motorsport's Sten Pentus and Soucek were locked in an early battle for top spot, but were made to wait nearly an hour before fitting slicks.

With track activity intensifying, Lotus Junior Racing's Nelson Panciatici, Charouz and Tech 1 Racing's Daniel Ricciardo were consistently to the fore on the timing screens. The order was given a shake-up when new tyres were brought out at the end of the morning.

P1 Motorsport's Walter Grubmuller and Brno pole-sitter Filip Salaquarda pushed themselves to the front, before both men were finally demoted by Coletti's benchmark lap.

Fortec's Jon Lancaster had been fastest for the majority of the afternoon, until a fresh-tyre shod Coletti asserted himself at the session's midway-point. On-form Guerrieri had the final say, setting a time just a tenth shy of his morning effort.

Coletti's team-mate Greg Mansell missed the test in order to sign on for the Le Mans 24 Hours, where he will be competing in a Beechdean Mansell Motorsport Ginetta. Commitments at La Sarthe also resulted in Jan Charouz leaving during the afternoon. The Czech is set to drive Oak Racing's LMP2 Pescarolo.

"We couldn't get dispensation from the ACO to sign on later in the week," said Mansell. "As is it is the biggest race of the year we didn't push them, but I think the weekend has been a good warm up for the 24 Hours."

With a high temperature, Epsilon Euskadi's Albert Costa decided to throw in the towel after just a few laps.