Pantano tops free practice in Turkey

In the week his major backer has been linked to buying a stake in Formula One team Super Aguri, former Minardi racer Adrian Campos was given more reason to cheer when Pantano lapped in 1:35.598, just pipping fellow Italian Luca Filippi of Super Nova by 0.043 seconds.

It was a wild session, epitomised by Filippi spinning twice and needing a push-start from marshals after one of those. His recovery was superb, however, and he came closest to toppling Pantano from the top.

Adam Carroll was third fastest for FMS International in Turkey, where title sponsor Petrol Ofisi has a heavy presence this weekend. Carroll was two tenths clear of title protagonists Glock (iSport) and di Grassi (ART).

Glock won this battle - by just 0.001 - and they go into qualifying this afternoon separated by one point.

Borja Garcia was sixth fastest, heading a tightly-bunched pack of cars comprising Andi Zuber (iSport), Xandi Negrao (Minardi/Piquet) and Mike Conway (Super Nova).

Many suffered off-track excursions in the 30-minute session, most notably Bahrain winner Nicolas Lapierre (DAMS), who went off twice - terminally on the second occasion.

Of the newcomers, Marcos Martinez (Racing Engineering) looks likely to make his race debut this weekend after failing to make the cut in Hungary. He was 23rd fastest, ahead of the gutted Lapierre, Ricardo Risatti (replacing Pastor Maldonado at Trident) and Henri Karjalainen (BCN).

Formula Renault regular Karjalainen was over five seconds off the leading pace, and perilously close to the 107 per cent time considering the front-runners will only set the bar higher when it comes to qualifying.

Pos  Driver       Team                        Time               Laps
 1.  Pantano      Campos Grand Prix           1:35.598            12
 2.  Filippi      Super Nova International    1:35.641  + 0.043   11
 3.  Carroll      FMS International           1:35.787  + 0.189   13
 4.  Glock        iSport International        1:36.022  + 0.424   16
 5.  Di Grassi    ART Grand Prix              1:36.023  + 0.425   14
 6.  Garcia       Durango                     1:36.406  + 0.808   15
 7.  Zuber        iSport International        1:36.459  + 0.861   14
 8.  Zaugg        Arden International         1:36.471  + 0.873   15
 9.  Negrao       Minardi Piquet Sports       1:36.491  + 0.893   15
10.  Conway       Super Nova International    1:36.573  + 0.975   15
11.  Rodriguez    Minardi Piquet Sports       1:36.574  + 0.976   16
12.  Nakajima     DAMS                        1:36.842  + 1.244   16
13.  Buemi        ART Grand Prix              1:36.855  + 1.257   16
14.  Chandhok     Durango                     1:36.856  + 1.258   14
15.  Soucek       DPR                         1:36.889  + 1.291   14
16.  Tung         BCN Competicion             1:36.967  + 1.369   16
17.  Petrov       Campos Grand Prix           1:37.022  + 1.424    8 
18.  Senna        Arden International         1:37.259  + 1.661   15
19.  Tahinci      FMS International           1:37.447  + 1.849   11
20.  Villa        Racing Engineering          1:37.716  + 2.118    7 
21.  Bakkerud     DPR                         1:37.890  + 2.292   16
22.  Hirate       Trident Racing              1:37.892  + 2.294    9 
23.  Martinez     Racing Engineering          1:38.103  + 2.505   14
24.  Lapierre     DAMS                        1:38.274  + 2.676    6 
25.  Risatti      Trident Racing              1:38.309  + 2.711   16
26.  Karjalainen  BCN Competicion             1:41.308  + 5.710   15