Marcus Ericsson fastest in GP2 practice at Valencia

Swedish driver Marcus Ericsson has ended practice for this weekends GP2 races fastest for iSport International, only a tenth ahead of Championship leader Davide Valsecchi. After his team-mate Jolyon Palmer won last time out at Monaco, the Norwich-based outfit look to be continuing their competitiveness at the Valencia Street Circuit.

Felipe Nasr led out a long train of cars as the session got underway, with a strong wind blowing across the street circuit. Daniël de Jong made his first appearance for the Rapax team, standing in for the ill Ricardo Teixeira. Davide Valsecchi set the initial pace, with a 01:53.246 which was quickly beaten by his Championship rival Luiz Razia who stormed to the top with a 01:49.769.

In traditional GP2 fashion, the times quickly got quicker as the session wore on. Stefano Coletti, Jolyon Palmer and Max Chilton all shared the top spot throughout the 30 minute practice session. However, it wasn’t long before the dominant Davide Valsecchi returned to the top with a 01:48.251.

The session was momentarily halted as the Caterham of Rodolfo Gonzalez lost the rear end of his car on the exit of turn 13. This resulted in the Venezuelan driver embedding his car in the wall, causing slight damage to the left-rear of his car. As the marshals set to retrieving the stricken car, the track fell silent as the GP2 field returned to the pits.

With the clock still ticking throughout the red flag delay, only several minutes remained once the session returned to green flag conditions. Fabio Onidi and Stefano Coletti were the first out to try and beat Valsecchi’s time. However, as the session came to a close only one driver was able to thwart the DAMS of Davide Valsecchi. Marcus Ericsson, who was victorious around the Valencia Street Circuit in 2008, flew to the top with a 01:48.088.

With the one and only practice session for the GP2 Series now over, all eyes now turn to qualifying later in the afternoon which will determine the starting order for tomorrow’s feature race. In traditional GP2 style, the grid for Sunday’s sprint race will be determined by a reversal of the top eight finishers of the feature race.

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