"We were on old tyres for most of the day but, at the end, we focused on qualifying, because the conditions will be the same tomorrow," he revealed, "The car is well balanced, and I managed to repeat my time consistently, which is ideal. The first day of the championship is always important. You wonder where you're going to finish, and it's important for your confidence to get off to a good start."
Julien Jousse, running with reigning champions Tech1 Racing, and the second Draco car, in the hands of Marco Barba, rounded out the top five and, for Jousse, the performance helped to alleviate some of the pressure of being billed as one of the potential championship favourites.
"It was a good afternoon's work, and we tried out lots of things," the Frenchman confirmed, "There are still things we need to find out about the car, particularly on this circuit, which requires a very specific aerodynamic set-up, but I like the track and, last year, clocked some good times here in my first race. This year, I have to build on that and start the season well, but we're pretty relaxed - we're not putting any pressure on ourselves."
Fabio Carbone took sixth spot for series newcomer Ultimate Signature, with Marco Bonanomi - fresh from his first GP2 Asia victory - Pasquale di Sabatino, Marcos Martinez and Mikhail Aleshin completing the top ten.
The Russian's Carlin team-mate, Robert Wickens, was down in 19th after setting the pace in the final pre-season test, while Molina was only four spots better off. Jousse's team-mate, teenager Charles Pic, was 22nd.
German driver Julian Theobald, who will race alongside eleventh-placed James Walker at Fortec Motorsport, took 25th spot after becoming the final addition to the driver line-up.
