France quickest in first practice
Nicolas Lapierre made sure Team France's dominance continued in the first one-hour practice session at the Dubai Autodrome
He lapped his DAMS-run car in 1:46.734, three-tenths clear of Tomas Enge's Czech Republic entry.
Italy continued to improve their form with Enrico Toccacelo setting the third fastest time, two-tenths further back, while Ralph Firman of Ireland was fourth fastest.
Neel Jani was a little off the pace in the second DAMS-run car, down in fifth, just ahead of Adrian Sutil, who is returning after suffering a broken thumb in an earlier round.
Team Brazil were down in seventh, with Nelson Piquet losing track time in the earlier extra session for new cars when he returned to the pits with a smashed front wing.
Team Great Britain's Robbie Kerr was down in 19th, while newcomer Phil Giebler eased himself in to the American entry with the 22nd fastest time.
The dusty track claimed a number of spinners, with Canada, India, South Africa and Malaysia all rotating in sight of the TV cameras.
Pos Team Driver Time Laps 1. France Nicolas Lapierre 1:46.734 4 2. Czech Republic Tomas Enge 1:47.072 + 0.338 10 3. Italy Enrico Toccacelo 1:47.271 + 0.537 16 4. Ireland Ralph Firman 1:47.348 + 0.614 11 5. Switzerland Neel Jani 1:47.377 + 0.643 10 6. Germany Adrian Sutil 1:47.546 + 0.812 14 7. Brazil Nelson Piquet 1:47.552 + 0.818 14 8. Netherlands Jos Verstappen 1:47.817 + 1.083 9 9. Portugal Alvaro Parente 1:47.884 + 1.150 18 10. Japan Hayanari Shimoda 1:47.988 + 1.254 14 11. Mexico Salvador Duran 1:48.005 + 1.271 17 12. New Zealand Matt Halliday 1:48.021 + 1.287 22 13. South Africa Stephen Simpson 1:48.032 + 1.298 12 14. Canada Sean Mcintosh 1:48.053 + 1.319 17 15. Pakistan Adam Khan 1:48.144 + 1.410 11 16. Indonesia Ananda Mikola 1:48.181 + 1.447 14 17. China Tengyi Jiang 1:48.205 + 1.471 6 18. Austria Mathias Lauda 1:48.208 + 1.474 15 19. Great Britain Robbie Kerr 1:48.234 + 1.500 12 20. Malaysia Alex Yoong 1:48.256 + 1.522 17 21. Australia Will Davison 1:48.666 + 1.932 20 22. USA Philip Giebler 1:48.736 + 2.002 19 23. India Armaan Ebrahim 1:49.201 + 2.467 25 24. Lebanon Khalil Beschir 1:49.783 + 3.049 21
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