Monza GP2: Max Chilton fastest in practice as James Calado crashes

Chilton topped the times for much of the session in his Carlin machine, eventually working his times down to a 1m31.850s.

The Briton was 0.413s clear of DAMS driver Felipe Nasr, with series returnee Luca Filippi a strong third for Coloni.

Filippi, who hasn't raced at all since winning at the corresponding event last year, was half a second off the pace, having impressively topped the times on his first lap back in the car early on.

Joint points leader Davide Valsecchi was fourth fastest for DAMS, with title rival Luiz Razia down in 10th for Arden. Razia benefited from a front flap setting change halfway through the session, having languished in 16th for much of it.

Spa feature race winner Marcus Ericsson was fifth fastest, ahead of Giedo van der Garde and Esteban Gutierrez. Stefano Coletti was eighth fastest on his debut for Addax, following his switch from Coloni.

The main casualty of the session was championship contender James Calado, who lost control of the rear end of his Lotus GP machine on the exit of the Ascari chicane and thudded backwards into the tyrewall.

His car sustained some damage, but it should be fixable for qualifying in three and a half hours time. He was only 15th fastest, however.

Regular tail-ender Rodolfo Gonzalez also crashed out, spinning into the gravel at the Parabolica.

Pos  Driver               Team                Time       Gap
 1.  Max Chilton          Carlin              1m31.850s
 2.  Felipe Nasr          DAMS                1m32.263s  + 0.413s
 3.  Luca Filippi         Coloni              1m32.391s  + 0.541s
 4.  Davide Valsecchi     DAMS                1m32.401s  + 0.551s
 5.  Marcus Ericsson      iSport              1m32.410s  + 0.560s
 6.  Giedo van der Garde  Caterham            1m32.463s  + 0.613s
 7.  Esteban Gutierrez    Lotus               1m32.571s  + 0.721s
 8.  Stefano Coletti      Rapax               1m32.692s  + 0.842s
 9.  Nathanael Berthon    Racing Engineering  1m32.830s  + 0.980s
10.  Luiz Razia           Arden               1m32.834s  + 0.984s
11.  Rio Haryanto         Carlin              1m32.950s  + 1.100s
12.  Julian Leal          Trident             1m32.954s  + 1.104s
13.  Johnny Cecotto Jr    Addax               1m32.961s  + 1.111s
14.  Fabio Onidi          Coloni              1m32.982s  + 1.132s
15.  James Calado         Lotus               1m33.058s  + 1.208s
16.  Simon Trummer        Arden               1m33.084s  + 1.234s
17.  Stephane Richelmi    Trident             1m33.147s  + 1.297s
18.  Fabio Leimer         Racing Engineering  1m33.149s  + 1.299s
19.  Sergio Canamasas     Lazarus             1m33.352s  + 1.502s
20.  Jolyon Palmer        iSport              1m33.471s  + 1.621s
21.  Rodolfo Gonzalez     Caterham            1m33.677s  + 1.827s
22.  Ricardo Teixeira     Rapax               1m33.696s  + 1.846s
23.  Nigel Melker         Ocean               1m33.780s  + 1.930s
24.  Victor Guerin        Ocean               1m33.940s  + 2.090s
25.  Rene Binder          Lazarus             1m33.977s  + 2.127s
26.  Jake Rosenzweig      Addax               1m34.518s  + 2.668s