Sergey Sirotkin finished free practice at the top of the timesheets ahead of qualifying for round four of the GP2 series at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.
The Rapax driver led the field with a time of 1m14.880s, three tenths clear of Russian Time’s Mitch Evans, who announced this week he would be concentrating on securing a full-time WEC drive in the future.
Championship leader Stoffel Vandoorne, Pierre Gasly and Evans all enjoyed their own spells at the top before Sirotkin set the fastest time at the midway point.
With just under 18 minutes left in the session tyre grip continued to fade and a red flag, caused by DAMS driver Gasly grinding to a halt at turn 7, hindered the majority of drivers‘ from improving.
Only Racing Engineering’s Alexander Rossi enjoyed a late surge. The American took fourth place away from Alex Lynn with only seconds to spare in the session.
Raffaele Marciello finished the session in sixth only a fraction ahead of Gasly. Rio Haryanto, Arthur Pic and Nick Yelloly rounded out the top 10.
Simon Trummer was slowest on his return to GP2 after taking Johnny Cecotto’s place at Hilmer Motorsport. Trummer, who was competing at Le Mans last weekend, was almost two seconds off the pace.