Perez quickest in first Valencia practice

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