Garcia sets the pace in Italy

With the opening two sessions starting with a wet track, but conditions improving later on, a handful of drivers had a chance to switch to slick tyres for a couple of laps at the end of the third, and final session.

And ex-GP2 driver Garcia made the most of the change of rubber, lapping in 1:29.933 on the twisty circuit to beat the Liverpool car of fellow Spaniard Adrian Valles by 1.123 seconds.

Tuka Rocha was third quickest for Flamengo with Davide Rigon - of championship leaders Beijing Guoan - fourth, Roma's Franck Perera fifth and Corinthians' Antonio Pizzonia, who was quickest in the first session, sixth.

AC Milan's Robert Doornbos set the pace in the second wet session, but did not set a lap time in the final, drying minutes. He ended up 13th on the timesheets.

Tottenham's Duncan Tappy beached his car in the gravel at the Semaforo hairpin in the second session. His accident, plus another for Al Ain's Paul Meijer at the very next corner, brought out the red flags and delayed the session by around 10 minutes.

Tappy was not the only Briton to run into problems. Craig Dolby spun his Anderlecht car at the Campagnaro hairpin in the third and final session and stalled, causing yet another red flag. Ryan Dalziel, meanwhile, was forced to miss the first session as his Rangers car underwent an engine change.

Pos  Team             Driver                 Time
 1.  Sevilla          Borja Garcia           1:29.933
 2.  Liverpool        Adrian Valles          1:31.056
 3.  Flamengo         Tuka Rocha             1:31.571
 4.  Beijing Guoan    Davide Rigon           1:32.077
 5.  Roma             Franck Perera          1:32.179
 6.  Corinthians      Antonio Pizzonia       1:32.271
 7.  PSV Eindhoven    Yelmer Buurman         1:32.800
 8.  Galatasaray      Alessandro Pier Guidi  1:33.163
 9.  Atletico Madrid  Andy Soucek            1:33.236
10.  Basel            Max Wissel             1:33.301
11.  Rangers          Ryan Dalziel           1:34.248
12.  Tottenham        Duncan Tappy           1:34.263
13.  AC Milan         Robert Doornbos        1:34.359
14.  Porto            Tristan Gommendy       1:34.497
15.  Anderlecht       Craig Dolby            1:34.614
16.  Dortmund         Enrico Toccacelo       1:34.937
17.  Al Ain           Paul Meijer            1:35.167
18.  Olympiakos       Stamatis Katsimis      1:38.009