Jules Bianchi got his weekend off to the best possible start by topping GP2 free practice in Valencia.
The Frenchman, who has suffered a torrid start to the season despite entering it as a title favourite, claimed top spot in a last minute shootout created by a late red flag.
Bianchi's ART teammate Esteban Gutierrez was the early pacesetter, before joint championship leader Romain Grosjean went quickest.
Josef Kral then spun and stalled his Arden car at Turn 14, bringing out the red flags and forcing everyone to return to the pits.
Grosjean was still on top spot when his DAMS teammate Pal Varhaug stopped at Turn 14 late in the session, signalling another red flag. The track was cleared with three minutes remaining, and Bianchi went quickest of all on the drivers' final attempts.
He shaded Giedo van der Garde by five hundredths of a second, with Luca Filippi third, four tenths away from Bianchi.
Grosjean was pushed down to fourth, two hundredths ahead of countryman Charles Pic. Dani Clos was sixth for Racing Engineering, ahead of Sam Bird, Gutierrez, Davide Valsecchi and Christian Vietoris.
Pos | Drivers | Teams | Time | Gap | Laps |
1 | Jules Bianchi | Lotus ART | 1:47.681 | 12 | |
2 | Giedo Van Der Garde | Barwa Addax Team | 1:47.736 | 0.055 | 11 |
3 | Luca Filippi | Super Nova Racing | 1:48.114 | 0.433 | 9 |
4 | Romain Grosjean | DAMS | 1:48.189 | 0.508 | 10 |
5 | Charles Pic | Barwa Addax Team | 1:48.206 | 0.525 | 10 |
6 | Dani Clos | Racing Engineering | 1:48.308 | 0.627 | 11 |
7 | Sam Bird | iSport International | 1:48.456 | 0.775 | 9 |
8 | Esteban Gutiérrez | Lotus ART | 1:48.484 | 0.803 | 12 |
9 | Davide Valsecchi | Caterham Team AirAsia | 1:48.520 | 0.839 | 11 |
10 | Christian Vietoris | Racing Engineering | 1:48.707 | 1.026 | 10 |
11 | Max Chilton | Carlin | 1:48.800 | 1.119 | 11 |
12 | Ãlvaro Parente | Carlin | 1:48.881 | 1.200 | 11 |
13 | Michael Herck | Scuderia Coloni | 1:48.931 | 1.250 | 11 |
14 | Marcus Ericsson | iSport International | 1:48.960 | 1.279 | 9 |
15 | Luiz Razia | Caterham Team AirAsia | 1:49.146 | 1.465 | 10 |
16 | Fairuz Fauzy | Super Nova Racing | 1:49.650 | 1.969 | 11 |
17 | Fabio Leimer | Rapax | 1:49.759 | 2.078 | 10 |
18 | Johnny Cecotto | Ocean Racing Technology | 1:49.805 | 2.124 | 11 |
19 | Jolyon Palmer | Arden International | 1:50.056 | 2.375 | 9 |
20 | Rodolfo González | Trident Racing | 1:50.229 | 2.548 | 10 |
21 | Pal Varhaug | DAMS | 1:50.412 | 2.731 | 7 |
22 | Kevin Ceccon | Scuderia Coloni | 1:50.997 | 3.316 | 11 |
23 | Julian Leal | Rapax | 1:51.238 | 3.557 | 10 |
24 | Kevin Mirocha | Ocean Racing Technology | 1:51.567 | 3.886 | 11 |
25 | Josef Král | Arden International | 1:59.074 | 11.393 | 3 |
26 | Stefano Coletti | Trident Racing | 1:59.640 | 11.959 | 9 |