Walker fastest in afternoon practice

The P1 Motorsport driver trails Baguette by 31 points in the standings, and will be keen to make inroads into the deficit this weekend to prevent the Belgian from clinching the title prior to the Motorland Aragon final, although Baguette was second quickest in the session.

Four tenths of a second behind the closely matched leaders, Briton Jon Lancaster was third fastest for Comtec. His team-mate John Martin was unable to take to the track after sustaining a split gearbox casing in the first session.

"It looks like someone has taken a saw to it," said Comtec engineer Paul Heath. "The gearbox is completely cut in two and it was only the wishbones that were holding the car together.

"I have seen that kind of damage before, but only after a monster shunt. With John, he just spun and slightly nicked the tyre wall. When the car was brought back to our pits on a low loader, I was really struggling to see any damage. We think the casing might have been pre-cracked."

Oliver Turvey's Carlin mount was seen bellowing blue smoke after a hydraulic pipe worked loose. The Racing Steps driver still managed to set the fourth fastest time, despite being stuck in gear across the start/finish line on his best lap, before being sidelined.

Carlin team-mate, Toro Rosso Formula 1 driver, Jaime Alguersuari wound up 13th, having sacrificed any Friday glory by holding back running on new tyres.

Despite improving his morning time by three tenths of a second, Kiwi Chris van der Drift slipped two positions to fifth. It was nevertheless another strong showing from the new UK resident, who managed to edge out early season points leader Marcos Martinez.

This morning's pacesetter Brendon Hartley rounded out the top ten, ahead of returning former race winner Salvador Duran.

"The only wheel I have got behind this year has been my road car," said Duran. "Up until now I have had an interesting year working for my father's company. Interwetten are helping me to get back on the pace quickly, and after the two years we spent together we have a great relationship."

Pos  Driver                Team             Time       Gap
 1.  James Walker          P1               1m46.660s
 2.  Bertrand Baguette     Draco            1m46.784s  + 0.124s
 3.  Jon Lancaster         Comtec           1m47.126s  + 0.466s
 4.  Oliver Turvey         Carlin           1m47.192s  + 0.532s
 5.  Chris van der Drift   Epsilon Euskadi  1m47.234s  + 0.574s
 6.  Marcos Martinez       Pons             1m47.318s  + 0.658s
 7.  Sten Pentus           Fortec           1m47.361s  + 0.701s
 8.  Fairuz Fauzy          Fortec           1m47.386s  + 0.726s
 9.  Charles Pic           Tech 1           1m47.523s  + 0.863s
10.  Brendon Hartley       Tech 1           1m47.524s  + 0.864s
11.  Salvador Duran        Interwetten      1m47.607s  + 0.947s
12.  Daniil Move           P1               1m47.615s  + 0.955s
13.  Jaime Alguersuari     Carlin           1m47.713s  + 1.053s
14.  Pasquale di Sabatino  RC               1m47.753s  + 1.093s
15.  Marco Barba           Draco            1m48.251s  + 1.591s
16.  Filip Salaquarda      Prema            1m48.296s  + 1.636s
17.  Federico Leo          Pons             1m48.355s  + 1.695s
18.  Julian Leal           Prema            1m48.387s  + 1.727s
19.  Keisuke Kunimoto      Epsilon Euskadi  1m48.465s  + 1.805s
20.  Guillaume Moreau      SG               1m48.995s  + 2.335s
21.  Mihai Marinescu       Interwetten      1m49.078s  + 2.418s
22.  Anton Nebylitskiy     SG               1m51.303s  + 4.643s
23.  John Martin           Comtec