Kobayashi fastest in Shanghai practice
Kamui Kobayashi continued his blistering pace ahead of the first round of the GP2 Asia series at Shanghai this weekend
The Toyota F1 test driver previously topped the pre-race testing in China and was nearly half a second clear of the rest of the field in this morning's practice session.
Kobayashi looks favourite to win the opening rounds with nobody able to get anywhere near his pace. Roldan Rodriguez was nearest to the DAMS driver and his Piquet Sports car was the only other below the 1:46 barrier.
Andi Zuber was third quickest for FMS, ahead of Javier Villa and the top rookie, Giedo van der Garde.
Experienced GP2 racers Vitaly Petrov, Davide Valsecchi and Sakon Yamamoto were next up, with two more GP2 first timers, Mika Maki and Hamad al Fardan, completing the top ten.
The session was red-flagged just a minute short of the half hour when Nelson Philippe stopped his ART car at Turn 13. The qualifying session for this weekend's races follows later this morning.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Kamui Kobayashi DAMS 1:45.527 11 2. Roldan Rodriguez Piquet Sports 1:45.995 11 3. Andi Zuber FMS 1:46.068 13 4. Javier Villa Super Nova 1:46.073 12 5. Giedo van der Garde iSport 1:46.085 11 6. Vitaly Petrov Campos 1:46.101 12 7. Davide Valsecchi Durango 1:46.145 12 8. Sakon Yamamoto ART 1:46.172 11 9. Mika Maki Arden 1:46.294 12 10. Hamad Al-Fardan iSport 1:46.335 12 11. James Jakes Super Nova 1:46.363 12 12. Jerome d'Ambrosio DAMS 1:46.397 11 13. Yuki Sekiguchi DPR 1:46.469 10 14. Diego Nunes Piquet Sports 1:46.535 12 15. Nelson Philippe ART 1:46.562 10 16. Sergio Perez Campos 1:46.569 11 17. Chris van der Drift Trident 1:46.708 11 18. Hiroki Yoshimoto BCN 1:46.968 12 19. Luiz Razia Arden 1:46.971 11 20 Luca Filippi BCN 1:47.025 13 21. Giacomo Ricci Trident 1:47.060 12 22. Michael Herck DPR 1:47.182 11 23. Alex Yoong Meritus 1:47.275 12 24. Earl Bamber Meritus 1:47.290 11 25 Carlos Iaconelli Durango 1:49.190 12 26 Kevin Nai Chia Chen FMS 1:49.313 14
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