Carlin driver Julian Leal was fastest in the sole free practice session ahead of this weekend’s GP2 Series round at Spa-Francorchamps.
The Colombian driver, team-mate to championship contender Felipe Nasr, beat Venezuelan Johnny Cecotto Jr of Trident Racing by 0.153s.
The session was interrupted by a red flag late in the session when Racing Engineering’s Monegasque driver Stefano Coletti spun while trying to improve on his best time. He ended the session down in eighth.
Coletti’s Italian team-mate Raffaele Marciello ended the session third fastest, ahead of Venezuela GP Lazarus duo of Frenchman Nathanael Berthon and American Conor Daly.
Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne was sixth fastest for ART Grand Prix in front of his home fans, ahead of the second Trident Racing driver of Spaniard Sergio Canamasas. Behind Coletti were the leading DAMS machine of Stephane Richelmi, and the Russian Time machine of Mitch Evans.
Championship contenders Jolyon Palmer and Nasr were outshone by their team-mates in the session, with Palmer twelfth for DAMS and Nasr fourteenth for Carlin. The top sixteen were covered by less than a second, while everyone set a time within 1.7 seconds of the fastest time.
Spa-Francorchamps Free Practice Times
| POS | DRIVER | NAT | TEAM | TIME |
| 1 | Julian Leal | COL | Carlin | 1:57.877 |
| 2 | Johnny Cecotto Jr | VEN | Trident Racing | 1:58.030 |
| 3 | Raffaele Marciello | ITA | Racing Engineering | 1:58.265 |
| 4 | Nathanael Berthon | FRA | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 1:58.291 |
| 5 | Conor Daly | USA | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 1:58.302 |
| 6 | Stoffel Vandoorne | BEL | ART Grand Prix | 1:58.339 |
| 7 | Sergio Canamasas | ESP | Trident Racing | 1:58.370 |
| 8 | Stefano Coletti | MON | Racing Engineering | 1:58.374 |
| 9 | Stephane Richelmi | MON | DAMS | 1:58.399 |
| 10 | Mitch Evans | NZL | RT Russian Time | 1:58.439 |
| 11 | Adrian Quaife-Hobbs | GBR | Rapax | 1:58.454 |
| 12 | Jolyon Palmer | GBR | DAMS | 1:58.462 |
| 13 | Marco Sorensen | DEN | MP Motorsport | 1:58.487 |
| 14 | Felipe Nasr | BRZ | Carlin | 1:58.658 |
| 15 | Simon Trummer | SWI | Rapax | 1:58.787 |
| 16 | Rio Haryanto | INO | EQ8 Caterham Racing | 1:58.800 |
| 17 | Takuya Izawa | JAP | ART Grand Prix | 1:58.889 |
| 18 | Tom Dillmann | FRA | EQ8 Caterham Racing | 1:58.923 |
| 19 | Daniel Abt | GER | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:58.943 |
| 20 | Arthur Pic | FRA | Campos Racing | 1:59.020 |
| 21 | Rene Binder | AUT | Arden International | 1:59.167 |
| 22 | Jon Lancaster | GBR | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:59.179 |
| 23 | Daniel de Jong | NED | MP Motorsport | 1:59.311 |
| 24 | Andre Negrao | BRZ | Arden International | 1:59.463 |
| 25 | Artem Markelov | RUS | RT Russian Time | 1:59.531 |
| 26 | Kimiya Sato | JAP | Campos Racing | 1:59.564 |
