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Thursday, 24 May 2012 07:54 |
 GP2 Series report and result from Monaco - Venezuelan Johnny Cecotto set the pace in this morning's free practice session in Monte Carlo.
The son of former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Formula One driver, Alberto 'Johnny' Cecotto, stole the top spot as the chequered flag dropped to lead home series leader Davide Valsecchi and Fabio Leimer as the teams get ready for this afternoon's qualifying session in the fabled principality.
The Venezuelan was at the sharp end of the time sheets for much of the session, but his best lap right at the close of play at 1'22.075 put the cat among the pigeons by running 0.6 ahead of his rivals, who had been split by less than a tenth before Cecotto's flyer.
The session opened under glorious blue skies, and the action on track was soon heating up as Josef Kral, Luiz Razia, Leimer, Max Chilton, Giedo van der Garde and Cecotto swapped the top spot of the timesheets between them in the opening minutes.
Esteban Gutierrez was unable to take the fight to his rivals, however, after losing the rear and finding the wall just out of St. Devote, bringing his session to an early close.
With 2 sets of each tyre, and a shortened qualifying session for everyone when the grid will be split into 2 groups, many of the drivers changed tyres to look for an advantage, and the second half of the session saw more action as they explored the limits of the circuit.
Cecotto was on a fast lap until he found Simon Trummer at the pool, tapping the Swiss driver but going faster next time round, while van der Garde went quicker still but spun at Rascasse to bring out the yellows once again.
With 3 minutes remaining Leimer put himself on top with a well judged lap, and when Kral spun off the kerbs at the exit to the swimming pool it looked as though the action was over, but as the flag dropped Valsecchi and then Cecotto sliced into their rivals' times to give themselves a last gasp advantage.
Behind the top three Giedo van der Garde, Jolyon Palmer, Luiz Razia, Stefano Coletti, Max Chilton, Nathanael Berthon and Josef Kral will all fancy a shot at pole in the afternoon following the second Formula 1 practice session.
2012 GP2 Monaco free practice results:
| Pos. |
Driver |
Team |
Time |
Laps |
| 1 |
Johnny Cecotto |
Barwa Addax Team |
1'22.075 |
16 |
| 2 |
Davide Valsecchi |
DAMS |
1'22.745 |
18 |
| 3 |
Fabio Leimer |
Racing Engineering |
1'22.750 |
14 |
| 4 |
Giedo van der Garde |
Caterham Racing |
1'22.757 |
12 |
| 5 |
Jolyon Palmer |
iSport International |
1'22.842 |
17 |
| 6 |
Luiz Razia |
Arden International |
1'23.104 |
17 |
| 7 |
Stefano Coletti |
Scuderia Coloni |
1'23.343 |
15 |
| 8 |
Max Chilton |
Carlin |
1'23.429 |
15 |
| 9 |
Nathanael Berthon |
Racing Engineering |
1'23.445 |
18 |
| 10 |
Josef Kral |
Barwa Addax Team |
1'23.463 |
14 |
| 11 |
Tom Dillmann |
Rapax |
1'23.626 |
16 |
| 12 |
Marcus Ericsson |
iSport International |
1'24.009 |
14 |
| 13 |
James Calado |
Lotus GP |
1'24.062 |
21 |
| 14 |
Nigel Melker |
Ocean Racing Technology |
1'24.125 |
20 |
| 15 |
Felipe Nasr |
DAMS |
1'24.154 |
19 |
| 16 |
Fabio Onidi |
Scuderia Coloni |
1'24.160 |
18 |
| 17 |
Stephane Richelmi |
Trident Racing |
1'24.268 |
16 |
| 18 |
Julian Leal |
Trident Racing |
1'24.315 |
17 |
| 19 |
Rodolfo Gonzalez |
Caterham Racing |
1'24.400 |
17 |
| 20 |
Simon Trummer |
Arden International |
1'24.629 |
20 |
| 21 |
Victor Guerin |
Ocean Racing Technology |
1'24.868 |
18 |
| 22 |
Rio Haryanto |
Carlin |
1'25.748 |
19 |
| 23 |
Fabrizio Crestani |
Venezuela GP Lazarus |
1'25.827 |
20 |
| 24 |
Ricardo Teixeira |
Rapax |
1'26.680 |
19 |
| 25 |
Giancarlo Serenelli |
Venezuela GP Lazarus |
1'29.407 |
7 |
| 26 |
Esteban Gutierrez |
Lotus GP |
1'36.944 |
3 |
F1SA.com
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