Silverstone 2013

Fabio Leimer tops wet free practice in Silverstone…
 
The fifth round of the 2013 GP2 Series season opened this morning in cool and wet conditions and saw Fabio Leimer top the session in a laptime of 1:57.996, four tenths ahead of rookie Robin Frijns and local hero James Calado.
 
The morning rain meant that the track was damp as the pitlane opened for the thirty minute free practice. The constant drizzle did not help the matter and the drivers opted for wet weather tyres which they kept until the chequered flag. Calado looked comfortable and in control: he topped the timing sheet on his third attempt, but Frijns found some extra pace to better the Brit’s laptime until Daniel De Jong moved up to P1. As the drivers came to grips with the tricky conditions, Marcus Ericsson went second quickest ahead of the trio of Leimer, Calado and Frijns.
 
Before the halfway mark, Leimer put his head down and dipped under 2 minutes to settle at the top of the timesheet ahead of Calado and Felipe Nasr who both broke the 2m00 barrier too. With ten minutes left in the session, Frijns improved further to edge Leimer out of the top spot with Marcus Ericsson moving up to third. The track conditions getting slightly better, Leimer put together a lap that saw him light both first sectors in purple and a third sector quick enough to set a laptime of 1:57.996, four tenths ahead of Frijns and Calado. On his final effort, Julian Leal moved up to fourth ahead of De Jong, Stéphane Richelmi, Ericsson, Nasr, Tom Dillmann and Mitch Evans.
 
The qualifying session will start at 15.55 local time.
 
Silverstone – Free Practice
 
Driver
Team
Laptime
Laps
1.
Fabio Leimer
Racing Engineering
1:57.996
9
2.
Robin Frijns
Hilmer Motorsport
1:58.430
12
3.
James Calado
ART Grand Prix
1:58.464
12
4.
Julian Leal
Racing Engineering
1:58.766
11
5.
Daniel De Jong
MP Motorsport
1:58.835
13
6.
Stéphane Richelmi
DAMS
1:59.233
12
7.
Marcus Ericsson
DAMS
1:59.290
13
8.
Felipe Nasr
Carlin
1:59.606
11
9.
Tom Dillmann
RUSSIAN TIME
1:59.617
11
10.
Mitch Evans
Arden International
1:59,648
13
11.
Jolyon Palmer
Carlin
1:59.685
11
12.
Adrian Quaife-Hobbs
MP Motorsport
1:59.775
13
13.
Rio Haryanto
Barwa Addax Team
1:59.966
11
14.
Sergio Canamasas
EQ8 Caterham Racing
1:59.977
11
15.
Kevin Ceccon
Trident Racing
2:00.021
11
16.
Jake Rosenzweig
Barwa Addax Team
2:00.133
12
17.
Sam Bird
RUSSIAN TIME
2:00.236
11
18.
Nathanaël Berthon
Trident Racing
2:00.271
12
19
Rene Binder
Venezuela GP Lazarus
2:00.352
13
20.
Alexander Rossi
EQ8 Caterham Racing
2:00.413
12
21.
Jon Lancaster
Hilmer Motorsport
2:00.431
12
22.
Daniel Abt
ART Grand Prix
2:00554
10
23.
Simon Trummer
Rapax
2:00.780
13
24.
Fabrizio Crestani
Venezuela GP Lazarus
2:00.831
12
25.
Johnny Cecotto
Arden International
2:00.971
9
26.
Stefano Coletti
Rapax
2:01.322
10