Piscopo fastest in final practice

The 22-year-old Italian used up a set of new tyres to go three tenths of a second faster than his best time in the morning session, in which he finished seventh.

"It felt great, I didn't expect to be that fast," said Piscopo. "I thought maybe I would be in the top ten, but I didn't think I would be fastest."

None of the other front runners matched their times from the earlier session, despite a flurry of improvements in the closing minutes of the session. Philipp Eng went second fastest at the end, with Carlos Iaconelli third.

Morning pace-setter Andy Soucek was quickest for most of the session but was pushed down to fifth at the end, just behind Mikhail Aleshin.

There were offs during the half-hour session for Formula Palmer Audi graduates Jack Clarke and Jolyon Palmer.

Pos Driver                Time          Gap
 1. Edoardo Piscopo       1m28.599s
 2. Philipp Eng           1m28.875s  +0.276
 3. Carlos Iaconelli      1m29.171s  +0.572
 4. Mikhail Aleshin       1m29.172s  +0.573
 5. Andy Soucek           1m29.208s  +0.609
 6. Sebastian Hohenthal   1m29.467s  +0.868
 7. Tobias Hegewald       1m29.532s  +0.933
 8. Mirko Bortolotti      1m29.838s  +1.239
 9. Julien Jousse         1m29.840s  +1.241
10. Milos Pavlovic        1m29.917s  +1.318
11. Kazim Vasiliauskas    1m29.984s  +1.385
12. Henry Surtees         1m30.115s  +1.516
13. Nicola de Marco       1m30.205s  +1.606
14. Armaan Ebrahim        1m30.245s  +1.646
15. Robert Wickens        1m30.506s  +1.907
16. Natacha Gachnang      1m30.507s  +1.908
17. Henri Karjalainen     1m30.542s  +1.943
18. Jack Clarke           1m30.621s  +2.022
19. German Sanchez        1m30.644s  +2.045
20. Alex Brundle          1m30.711s  +2.112
21. Jens Hoing            1m30.849s  +2.250
22. Jason Moore           1m30.922s  +2.323
23. Tom Gladdis           1m31.719s  +3.120
24. Jolyon Palmer         1m31.984s  +3.385
25. Pietro Gandolfi       1m32.837s  +4.238