Perez quickest in first Valencia practice
Sergio Perez laid down a marker ahead of this afternoon's GP2 Series qualifying session at Valencia by going quickest in free practice this morning
The Barwa Addax driver managed a best time of 1m46.670s, enough to put him 0.245s clear of second-placed Pastor Maldonado, although the gap would likely have been smaller if Davide Valsecchi hadn't encountered yellow flags in the final sector during his last flying lap.
The Italian had been 0.1s off Perez at the end of sector two, but was forced to back off for the last couple of corners.
It was a tough start to the weekend for Racing Engineering's Dani Clos, who suffered a hydraulic failure at the pit exit at the start of the session and failed to complete a lap.
ART's Sam Bird must go into qualifying with just three laps under his belt after clouting a barrier and ripping off his rear wing.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps 1. Sergio Perez Barwa Addax 1m46.670s 12 2. Pastor Maldonado Rapax 1m46.915s +0.245 12 3. Davide Valsecchi iSport 1m47.219s +0.549 11 4. Christian Vietoris Racing Engineering 1m47.319s +0.649 12 5. Jules Bianchi ART 1m47.447s +0.777 12 6. Charles Pic Arden 1m47.524s +0.854 12 7. Jerome D'Ambrosio DAMS 1m47.542s +0.872 12 8. Luiz Razia Rapax 1m47.649s +0.979 13 9. Giacomo Ricci DPR 1m47.664s +0.994 13 10. Giedo van der Garde Barwa Addax 1m47.677s +1.007 11 11. Alberto Valerio Coloni 1m47.771s +1.101 12 12. Oliver Turvey iSport 1m47.833s +1.163 13 13. Ho-Pin Tung DAMS 1m47.834s +1.164 11 14. Adrian Zaugg Trident 1m47.859s +1.189 13 15. Michael Herck DPR 1m48.230s +1.560 12 16. Marcus Ericsson Super Nova 1m48.463s +1.793 11 17. Johnny Cecotto Jr Trident 1m48.607s +1.937 13 18. Josef Kral Super Nova 1m48.677s +2.007 11 19. Max Chilton Ocean 1m48.752s +2.082 13 20. Rodolfo Gonzalez Arden 1m48.805s +2.135 13 21. Vlado Arabadjiev Coloni 1m49.048s +2.378 12 22. Fabio Leimer Ocean 1m49.073s +2.403 13 23. Sam Bird ART 1m56.475s +9.805 3 24. Daniel Clos Racing Engineering no time
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