Hamilton takes early lead in Monaco
Lewis Hamilton led the way in the opening free practice session of the GP2 weekend around the streets of Monaco, the Briton setting the pace by over half a second in his ART car
That old Monaco problem of finding a clear lap was as evident as ever, and Hamilton cleverly found it by tailing his teammate Alexandre Premat two thirds of the way through the session. His best time of 1:23.116 was set despite a massive opposite lock slide coming out of the final corner.
Jose Maria Lopez gave Super Nova a good start to the weekend with the second fastest time, 0.52 seconds slower than Hamilton, with Premat third.
Franck Perera was fourth fastest for DAMS, while Olivier Pla (DPR Direxiv) made it a trio of Frenchmen in the top five.
Local racer Clivio Piccione was sixth quickest for DPR, ahead of Giorgio Pantano, who spun his FMS car at the chicane, Adrian Valles (Campos Racing), Hiroki Yoshimoto (BCN) and Gimmi Bruni (Trident).
Championship leader Nelson Piquet Jr (Piquet Sports) was only 14th fastest, 2.2 seconds off the pace, with last year's winner Adam Carroll (Racing Engineering) also languishing, down in 17th.
Piquet's teammate Alexandre Negrao lost valuable track time, spending most of the session in the pits after setting just three timed laps.
The only other incident of note was Felix Porteiro, who overshot his braking for Ste Devote and was forced to take to the run-off area.
GP2 is back in action tomorrow for a second half-hour session at 9:00am local time.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Hamilton ART Grand Prix 1:23.116 16 2. Lopez Super Nova International 1:23.636 + 0.520 18 3. Premat ART Grand Prix 1:23.647 + 0.531 19 4. Perera DAMS 1:23.988 + 0.872 18 5. Pla DPR Direxiv 1:24.058 + 0.942 19 6. Piccione DPR Direxiv 1:24.176 + 1.060 19 7. Pantano FMS International 1:24.267 + 1.151 10 8. Valles Campos Racing 1:24.494 + 1.378 18 9. Yoshimoto BCN Competicion 1:24.562 + 1.446 18 10. Bruni Trident Racing 1:24.826 + 1.710 15 11. Gommendy iSport International 1:25.081 + 1.965 18 12. Monfardini DAMS 1:25.239 + 2.123 16 13. Di Grassi Durango 1:25.280 + 2.164 19 14. Piquet Jr. Piquet Sports 1:25.321 + 2.205 17 15. Glock BCN Competicion 1:25.457 + 2.341 17 16. Porteiro Campos Racing 1:25.508 + 2.392 13 17. Carroll Racing Engineering 1:25.537 + 2.421 17 18. Viso iSport International 1:25.640 + 2.524 17 19. Ammermueller Arden International Ltd 1:25.787 + 2.671 15 20. Zuber Trident Racing 1:26.120 + 3.004 16 21. Fauzy Super Nova International 1:26.260 + 3.144 17 22. Lapierre Arden International Ltd 1:26.433 + 3.317 13 23. Hernandez Durango 1:26.455 + 3.339 16 24. Villa Racing Engineering 1:27.845 + 4.729 19 25. Tahinci FMS International 1:29.330 + 6.214 15 26. Negrao Piquet Sports No time 3
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