Giorgio Pantano has pipped Luca Filippi to the top of free practice with Adam Carroll third and the championship rivals split by one thousandth of a second.

Giorgio Pantano put himself on the top of the timesheets with a blistering lap just at the close of free practice this morning, firing the opening salvo of the Istanbul weekend and squeezing past Luca Filippi and Adam Carroll.

Pantano set the fastest first sector time on his second last lap then slowed up to ensure a clear track in front of him before screaming round in 1:35.598 to set the best time. Filippi followed him across the line seconds later but missed the top spot by just 0.043, with Carroll's best time set a few minutes earlier, stopping the clock one tenth behind the Italian duo.

To the popular saying regarding mad dogs and Englishmen you can now add GP2 drivers into the mix, with 26 of them going out onto the scorchingly hot track under the midday sun. The hard compound tyres caught out quite a number of drivers in the first half of the session, which saw spins galore as the field searched for the limits on the tricky, rolling track.

Filippi took the top spot on the timesheets 7 minutes into the session before spinning in the final complex, stopping just in front of the pitlane entrance and causing a few problems for his pursuers. Luckily for the Italian the marshals pushed him into the pits and he was able to continue: Nicolas Lapierre spun at turn 4 and had no chance of continuing the session, while Sebastien Buemi was also lucky find his way back after a spin in the final complex a few minutes later.

The top spot then alternated between Timo Glock, Lucas di Grassi, Pantano and Carroll, who all managed to set good times between the local yellow flags. One driver who didn't have this problem was Javier Villa, who had to sit out most of the session with a gearbox problem before putting a few laps in towards the end.

The pace was clearly picking up as the session went on, with the best time dropping 3 seconds from start to finish as Pantano pushed the rest of the field in the closing stages. Behind the top three Glock and di Grassi were the next fastest, albeit four tenths off the top time: the championship rivals wereseparated by just one thousandth of a second as the chequered flag was shown.

As usual the times were tight all through the field, with the top 11 drivers covered by one second, and with most of the drivers now up to speed on the circuit/hard tyre combination this afternoon's qualifying session promises to make the pitlane even hotter.

Provided by the GP2 Series Media Service

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