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GP2 Bahrain: Mitch Evans beats F1 juniors to set practice pace

Mitch Evans began the 2014 GP2 Series by setting the fastest time in Friday's practice for Russian Time, heading two Formula 1 proteges from McLaren and Ferrari in the process

Free practice has been extended by 15 minutes to 45 for 2014, with an extra set of the prime (hard) tyre available, although the additional track time was shunned by many in the early stages as one of the three-day pre-season tests was held in Bahrain.

When the serious running did get underway, rookie Arthur Pic set the initial pace on the return of the Campos Racing name to the series, before Evans topped the times for the iSport-run Russian Time squad with a 1m42.062s which would remain the fastest lap until the end of the session.

The Formula 1 juniors then came into the equation, with first McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne (ART) and then Ferrari's Raffaele Marciello (Racing Engineering) annexing P2.

Vandoorne made the position his own with a second flyer just 0.062s slower than Evans's best.

Daniel Abt was fourth fastest for Hilmer Motorsport, which is running in Force India colours this season, ahead of Stephane Richelmi (DAMS), Rio Haryanto (Caterham) and Andre Negrao (Arden).

Of the other pre-season title favourites, Jolyon Palmer was eighth for DAMS and Stefano Coletti was 12th for Racing Engineering, while Carlin's Felipe Nasr, who will make his Formula 1 debut running for Williams in FP1 after this session, could only manage the 16th fastest time.

Nasr's team-mate Julian Leal briefly understeered off at Turn 11 before spinning properly at Turn 13.

Rookie Facu Regalia had a moment at Turn 13 in his Hilmer machine, but escaped unscathed, while Caterham junior Alexander Rossi suffered a lock-up at Turn 11 and ran wide.

Daniel de Jong stopped on track with two minutes to go, causing a red flag and prematurely ending the session.

Pos Driver               Team                   Time       Gap      Laps
 1. Mitch Evans          Russian Time           1m42.062s            11
 2. Stoffel Vandoorne    ART                    1m42.124s  +0.062s   12
 3. Raffaele Marciello   Racing Engineering     1m42.269s  +0.207s   13
 4. Daniel Abt           Hilmer                 1m42.319s  +0.257s   10
 5. Stephane Richelmi    DAMS                   1m42.373s  +0.311s   12
 6. Rio Haryanto         Caterham               1m42.388s  +0.326s   12
 7. Andre Negrao         Arden                  1m42.507s  +0.445s   12
 8. Jolyon Palmer        DAMS                   1m42.533s  +0.471s   12
 9. Simon Trummer        Rapax                  1m42.553s  +0.491s   13
10. Conor Daly           Lazarus                1m42.574s  +0.512s   14
11. Takuya Izawa         ART                    1m42.606s  +0.544s   11
12. Stefano Coletti      Racing Engineering     1m42.607s  +0.545s   12
13. Arthur Pic           Campos                 1m42.629s  +0.567s   11
14. Daniiel De Jong      MP                     1m42.653s  +0.591s   14
15. Julian Leal          Carlin                 1m42.664s  +0.602s   12
16. Felipe Nasr          Carlin                 1m42.707s  +0.645s   11
17. Alexander Rossi      Caterham               1m42.959s  +0.897s   13
18. Johnny Cecotto       Trident                1m42.984s  +0.922s   12
19. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs  Rapax                  1m42.997s  +0.935s   11
20. Rene Binder          Arden                  1m43.071s  +1.009s   11
21. Jon Lancaster        MP                     1m43.076s  +1.014s   11
22. Nathanael Berthon    Lazarus                1m43.307s  +1.245s   12
23. Facu Regalia         Hilmer                 1m43.547s  +1.485s   13
24. Artem Markelov       Russian Time           1m43.815s  +1.753s   10
25. Axcil Jefferies      Trident                1m43.842s  +1.780s   16
26. Kimiya Sato          Campos                 1m44.243s  +2.181s   11

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