The GP3 Series was officially underway in Barcelona this afternoon with the first 30 minute practice session of the 2010 inaugural season.  

Dutch driver Renger van der Zande put his early stamp on the Series by dominating almost from beginning to end The RSC driver posted a time of 1:38.664 and finished just ahead of team mate Nigel Melker, an impressive showing from the Ralf Schumacher led race team.  

With minutes remaining, van der Zande was shown a black and orange flag for a broken mirror he picked up earlier in the session. But, despite a last-gasp effort from Gutierrez, the Mexican was unable to match the flying Dutchman and had to settle for third.   

With fresh rubber on his Status GP car Robert Wickens moved towards the top of the time sheets and finished the session in fourth spot posting a time of 1:38.974. Four tenths of a second behind Wickens was Manor Racing driver James Jakes, followed by his teammate and GP3 newcomer Adrian Quaife-Hobbs. Despite ending his session prematurely deep in the gravel after just five laps, Addax session out on track and ninth in the final timings. Rounding out the top ten was Dean Smith for Carlin.   .  

Pos Car # Name Team Best   Laps

1 11 Renger Van der Zande RSC Mucke Motorsport 1:38.664 14 2 10 Nigel Melker RSC Mucke Motorsport 1:38.867 15 3 2 Esteban Gutierrez ART Grand Prix 1:38.918 14 4 4 Robert Wickens Status Grand Prix 1:38.974 13 5 7 James Jakes Manor Racing 1:39.044 11 6 9 Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Manor Racing 1:39.106 15 7 19 Mirko Bortolloti   Addax Team 1:39.181 5 8 18 Pedro Sanchez Lopez Addax Team 1:39.195 14 9 1 Alexander Rossi ART Grand Prix 1:39.274 13 10 15 Dean Smith Carlin 1:39.297 15 11 20 Michael Christensen MW Arden 1:39.412 12 12 17 Felipe Guimaraes Addax Team 1:39.431 15