Esteban Gutiérrez continued his top form today claiming the number one spot in an eventful free practice session at Silverstone Circuit denying James Jakes at his home track. The Mexican set his best time of 1:53.547 in the dying minutes of the session, which up until that point had been an all-British affair.
Four of the top five positions were filled by British drivers with Adrian Quaife-Hobbs the early pace setter in warm conditions in Northamptonshire. The Manor driver topped the times for two thirds of the session before teammate Jakes put in a flyer.
Carlin’s Dean Smith eventually knocked Quaife-Hobbs down one more spot into fourth ahead of Atech CRS GP’s Oliver Oakes in fifth before the chequered flag dropped.
The session was one of the most eventful this season as the thirty young drivers got to grips with the new Silverstone Circuit layout – at one stage almost a third of the grid followed each other off the track at turn one. The drivers eventually found their rhythm in the second half of the session but no-one was able to challenge for the top spot.
Mucke Motorsport’s Nigel Nigel Melker followed Gutiérrez and the British drivers across the line taking sixth spot ahead of teammate Renger van der Zande. Valencia race winner Nico Müller posted the eighth quickest time. Rounding out the top ten was Atech CRS GP’s Roberto Merhi and Status GP’s Daniel Morad.
he action continues today at 08:45 local time with qualifying for Race 1.
Full practice results:
1 2 E. GUTIERREZ ART Grand Prix 1:53.547 14
2 7 J. JAKES Manor Racing 1:53.555 15 0.008
3 15 D. SMITH Carlin 1:53.607 14 0.060
4 9 A. QUAIFE-HOBBS Manor Racing 1:53.610 14 0.063
5 30 O. OAKES Atech CRS GP 1:53.823 15 0.276
6 10 N. MELKER RSC Muecke Motorsport 1:53.834 16 0.287
7 11 R. VAN DER ZANDE RSC Muecke Motorsport 1:53.948 17 0.401
8 25 N. MULLER Jenzer Motorsport 1:53.981 15 0.434
9 29 R. MERHI Atech CRS GP 1:54.073 15 0.526
10 6 D. MORAD Status Grand Prix 1:54.170 15 0.623
11 14 J. NEWGARDEN Carlin 1:54.253 14 0.706
12 20 M. CHRISTENSEN MW Arden 1:54.388 14 0.841
13 1 A. ROSSI ART Grand Prix 1:54.435 12 0.888
14 17 F. GUIMARAES Addax Team 1:54.557 13 1.010
15 18 P. SANCHEZ LOPEZ Addax Team 1:54.676 14 1.12
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