If sitting out the GP2 Asia Series was supposed to put drivers at a disadvantage when the summer series kicked off in Barcelona, no-one bothered to tell the three drivers that topped the morning practice session.
Neither Andreas Zuber or Pastor Maldonado contested the 'winter series' for Piquet Sports, but they still managed to set the pace as GP2 wheeled out its new Dallara for the first time in competition. Likewise, third-placed Alvaro Parente played no part in Super Nova's off-season programme, but provided the closest opposition to the Piquet Sport pair on day one in Spain.
Zuber clocked his best time - a 1min 28.130secs effort - early on in the half-hour session, but managed to stay at the top of the timesheets despite the best efforts of his new team-mate. Maldonado ended the session 0.288secs adrift of the Austrian, with Parente and Luca Filippi 0.5 and 0.6secs off the pace respectively. The Venezuelan chipped away at the time throughout, but was unable to dislodge Zuber and replicate the absolute front-running pace he showed in pre-season testing.
Nine drivers finished within a second of the fastest lap, with Giorgio Pantano, Bruno Senna, Mike Conway and Romain Grosjean joining Zuber and co in the 1min 28s. Neither Pantano or Conway had taken part in the Asia Series but were quickly on top of the new Dallara, which has so far only been active in testing. Davide Valsecchi rounded out the top ten times, joining double Asia racewinner Kamui Kobayashi and seven others - including Grosjean - in the 1min 29s.
The session was largely uneventful as constant sun made for good track conditions, and only Karun Chandhok and Alberto Valerio left the road. Unfortunately, both also found the wall, leaving their mechanics with work to do ahead of this afternoon's qualifying session.
FMSI's late replacement for Andy Soucek, Roldan Rodriguez, got off to a quiet start in 25th spot, while Giacomo Ricci debuted one spot further up for DPR. Jerome d'Ambrosio, who ended the Asia Series on the podium for DAMS, failed to clock a time in three laps.
