Czech driver Josef Kral set the pace in the GP2 practice session at the Hungaroring after taking advantage of a quiet period in the middle of the session.
James Calado topped the times at the midway point of the 30 minute session, as most of the field returned to the pit lane.
Kral however stayed out on track and that allowed him to move ahead with a 1m29.573s that would go unbeaten for the remainder of the session. It is the second time this season that Kral has finished the Friday practice session in first place, but he is yet to score a point in the races.
Fabio Leimer came closest the matching Kral's time during the rest of the session, but his best lap was 0.159s slower.
Calado's effort remained good enough for third, ahead of fellow Englishman Jolyon Palmer. However, there was bad news after the session for Calado when he was handed a two-place grid penalty for the feature race after stewards found that he had blocked fellow rookie Felipe Nasr.
Giedo van der Garde was fifth fastest, just ahead of Marcus Ericsson. Title contender Davide Valsecchi was seventh, narrowly ahead of an impressive Victor Guerin in eighth. Esteban Gutierrez was ninth ahead of Hockenheim podium finisher Stephane Richelmi.
Hockenheim feature race winner Johnny Cecotto was 11th, ahead of points leader Luiz Razia who spun his car at one point. Nasr was 13th, ahead of Max Chilton, Nigel Melker and Nathanael Berthon, who in 16th place was still within a second of Kral's time.
Fabio Onidi was 17th, with Rio Haryanto 18th and Rodolfo Gonzalez in 19th. Stefano Coletti was 20th, ahead of Sergio Canamasas, Simon Trummer, the returning Daniel De Jong, Julian Leal and the usual backmarker pairing of Ricardo Teixeira and Giancarlo Serenelli.
Qualifying takes place at 15:00 BST.
