Free Practice : Sam Bird leads the way in Budapest

RUSSIAN TIME ace quickest in free practice at Hungaroring

By Franck Drui

26 July 2013 - 13:10
Free Practice : Sam Bird leads the (…)

Title contender Sam Bird had the perfect start to his GP2 race weekend setting the fastest laptime of this morning’s Free Practice session at the Hungaroring with a laptime of 1:29.408. The Brit’ finished three tenths ahead of Sergio Canamasas in P2 whilst Bird’s teammate Tom Dillmann completed the top three.

The seventh round of the 2013 season opened this morning in scorching temperatures. All twenty-six drivers opted for Prime Medium Pirelli tyres for the thirty minute long practice session. It was Alexander Rossi who set the early pace right before a yellow flag came out when Felipe Nasr stopped at Turn 14 following a small mistake. The Brazilian was not able to re-join and had to sit out the rest of the session.

When the track was clear, James Calado found some extra pace to improve on Rossi’s laptime and take the top spot on the timesheet, but Bird set both sectors 1 and 2 ablaze to claim P1 with a time eight tenths of a second quicker than his countryman.

Dillmann improved on his personal best as well and moved up to P2 just before Calado lost control of his car at Turn 11, span off track and stopped, putting a premature end to his session as well. Canamasas was then on a mission and took P2.

At the chequered flag, Bird sat pretty at the top of the timings ahead of Canamasas and Dillmann. Calado ended the session fourth ahead of Marcus Ericsson, Johnny Cecotto, Fabio Leimer, Daniel De Jong, Stéphane Richelmi and Jon Lancaster.

With the temperatures rising and the option to use Soft Pirelli tyres, the qualifying session which will take place at 15.55 today promises to be another GP2 classic.

PosDriverTeamTimeLaps
1. Sam Bird RUSSIAN TIME 1:29.408 12
2. Sergio Canamasas EQ8 Caterham Racing 1:29.760 14
3. Tom Dillmann RUSSIAN TIME 1:29.902 14
4. James Calado ART Grand Prix 1:30.003 7
5. Marcus Ericsson DAMS 1:30.084 15
6. Johnny Cecotto Arden International 1:30.239 15
7. Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering 1:30.241 12
8. Daniel De Jong MP Motorsport 1:30.329 13
9. Stéphane Richelmi DAMS 1:30.349 14
10. Jon Lancaster Hilmer Motorsport 1:30.413 14
11. Nathanaël Berthon Trident Racing 1:30.428 15
12. Mitch Evans Arden International 1:30.504 14
13. Jolyon Palmer Carlin 1:30.552 13
14. Julian Leal Racing Engineering 1:30.558 13
15. Stefano Coletti Raoax 1:30.590 15
16. Alexander Rossi EQ8 Caterham Racing 1:30.742 15
17. Vittorio Ghirelli Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:30.807 15
18. Rio Hayranto Barwa Addax Team 1:30.869 13
19. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Hilmer Motorsport 1:31.045 13
20. Daniel Abt ART Grand Prix 1:31.063 15
21. Simon Trummer Rapax 1:31.524 15
22. Dani Clos MP Motorsport 1:31.770 13
23. Jake Rosenzweig Barwa Addax Team 1:31.797 14
24. Rene Binder Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:31.845 15
25. Ricardo Teixeira Trident Racing 1:33.848 15
26. Felipe Nasr Carlin 1:49.063 2

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