iSport racer quickest in Free Practice After  being  one  of  the  front-runners  in  last  week’s  test  session  at  Yas  Marina  circuit,  Davide Valsecchi confirmed his good form in today’s GP2 Asia Series third season opener in Abu Dhabi.

The  Italian  signed  the  quickest  laptime  in  Free  Practice  this  morning  in  a  1:53.689,  1.4  seconds clear from rookie Marcus Ericsson at ART Grand Prix. The  session  started  on a dirty and slippery track. Although Luca Filippi (Meritus) claimed the top spot in the early stages, Valsecchi soon after edged his countryman out of it only nine minutes into the session. He remained the quickest man on track until the chequered flag.

 Behind the flying Italian, the rest of the field kept fighting for the crumbs, except for Josef Kral at Super  Nova  who  stopped  at  turn  4  before  mid-session  following  what  looked  like  mechanical gremlins.

The rookies certainly made their presence felt with Sam Bird (ART), Fabio Leimer (Ocean Racing), Kral, Edoardo Piscopo (DAMS) and Alexander Rossi (Ocean Racing) all front-runners in the first fifteen minutes.

Amidst the young guns, Filippi and Roldan Rodriguez (Coloni) tried to keep up with Valsecchi, but never could come close. With  most  of  the  pack  in  the  pits,  DPR’s  Michael  Herck  who  decided  to  come  out  later  took advantage of better grip and a clear track to set his best laptime and slipped into second place. He was  edged  out  of  it  a  few  minutes  before  the  chequered  flag  by  the  best  rookie  of  the  morning, Ericsson. In his last lap, for good measure, Valsecchi found even more pace to improve all three sectors and fire in a lap seven tenths quicker than his previous best leaving Ericsson 1.4 seconds behind him although the Swedish also improved in his last attempt.

Qualifying for the opening race of the 2009-10 GP2 Asia series will take place at 2.55pm local time. Abu Dhabi –

Free Practice

Driver Team Time Laps

1. Davide Valsecchi iSport international 1:53.689 12 2. Marcus Ericsson ART Grand Prix 1:55.091 13 3. Michael Herck DPR 1:55.234 11 4. Luca Filippi MalaysiaQI-Meritus.com 1:55.269 11 5. Edoardo Piscopo DAMS 1:55.296 13 6. Sam Bird ART Grand Prix 1:55.354 12 7. Fabio Leimer Ocean Racing Technology 1:55.384 13 8. James Jakes Super Nova Racing 1:55.533 14 9. Josef Kral Super Nova Racing 1:55.560 6 10. Diego Nunes MalaysiQI-Meritus.com 1:55.573 12 11. Roldan Rodriguez Scuderia Coloni 1:55.715 12 12. Alexander Rossi Ocean Racing Technology 1:55.802 13 13. Giacomo Ricci DPR 1:55.833 14 14. Daniel Zampieri Piquet GP 1:55.845 13 15. Rodolfo Gonzalez Arden International 1:55.852 13 16. Johnny Cecotto Trident Racing 1:55.872 10 17. Max Chilton Barwa Addax Team 1:56.019 12 18. Oliver Turvey iSport International 1:56.091 13 19. Vladimir Arabadzhiev Piquet GP 1:56.101 13 20 Luiz Razia Barwa Addax Teal 1:56.188 13 21. Christian Vietoris DAMS 1:56.551 13 22. Charles Pic Arden International 1:56.673 13 23. William Bratt Scuderia Coloni 1:57.804 10 24. Plamen Kralev Trident Racing 2:10.548 13