Wickens tops first Barcelona practice

The 20-year-old Canadian swapped the top spot on the timesheets on numerous occasions with new champion Andy Soucek during the session as the pair were the only two drivers to dip under the 1m40s mark.

Wickens' best time of 1m39.568 came nine minutes from the end and was enough to demote Spaniard Soucek to second for good, albeit by only 0.056s.

"The week started pretty well during the test on Monday and I have continued with that today," said Wickens. "I am still not completely comfortable with the car and I am sure there is more pace to find.

"It would be nice to win again and if I could score a pole position then I would have more than any other driver. It is nice to show everyone my pace and I am really looking forward to the weekend."

Nicola de Marco was third quickest, ahead of Julien Jousse, Philipp Eng and Kazim Vasiliauskas, who suffered a spin during the second half of the 30-minute session.

Earlier, there was one brief stoppage after Natacha Gachnang stopped out on the circuit.

One driver not on-track was Carlos Iaconelli. The Brazilian is suffering with the flu and has elected to skip the weekend.

Pos  Driver               Time               Laps
 1.  Robert Wickens       1:39.568            11
 2.  Andy Soucek          1:39.624  + 0.056   6
 3.  Nicola de Marco      1:40.244  + 0.676   14
 4.  Julien Jousse        1:40.317  + 0.749   11
 5.  Philipp Eng          1:40.379  + 0.811   12
 6.  K.Vasiliauskas       1:40.524  + 0.956   11
 7.  Mikhail Aleshin      1:40.736  + 1.168   13
 8.  Milos Pavlovic       1:40.771  + 1.203   13
 9.  Jason Moore          1:40.779  + 1.211   14
10.  Tristan Vautier      1:40.804  + 1.236   13
11.  Mirko Bortolotti     1:41.049  + 1.481   12
12.  S.Hohenthal          1:41.106  + 1.538   11
13.  Tobias Hegewald      1:41.151  + 1.583   12
14.  Jolyon Palmer        1:41.178  + 1.610   13
15.  Jack Clarke          1:41.197  + 1.629   14
16.  Armaan Ebrahim       1:41.205  + 1.637   13
17.  H.Karjalainen        1:41.343  + 1.775   14
18.  Germán Sánchez       1:41.543  + 1.975   14
19.  Jens Höing           1:41.584  + 2.016   11
20.  Ollie Hancock        1:41.754  + 2.186   12
21.  Tom Gladdis          1:41.799  + 2.231   15
22.  Alex Brundle         1:41.925  + 2.357   13
23.  Pietro Gandolfi      1:45.540  + 5.972   13
24.  Natacha Gachnang     no time              0