Auto GP Monza: Robert Visiou leads first practice for Ghinzani

The Romanian rookie and Ghinzani Motorsport - with which he has graduated from Italian Formula 3 - is one of the few combinations to have tested Auto GP's heavily-revised car before arriving at Monza.

That experience paid off as his 1m37.439s lap put him at the head of the timesheets, 0.174s clear of another F3 graduate, Virtuosi UK's Andrea Roda.

Euronova's Japanese duo of Yoshitaka Kuroda and Kimiya Sato took third and fourth at the start of their first weekend in the category.

Remaining with Vincenzo Sospiri's team for a third season, Kuroda edged out Sato, a race winner in German F3 and the Euro Series, by 0.065s.

The late nature of reigning Formula 2 champion Luciano Bacheta's deal with Zele led to predictable cockpit- comfort issues during practice, but the Briton was optimistic of making progress from his respectable morning position of fifth.

Bacheta's high-profile team-mate Narain Karthikeyan was eighth, behind Super Nova racer Vittorio Ghirelli and last year's Italian F3 champion Riccardo Agostini - who only used old tyres in the session.

Karthikeyan, who raced in F1 with HRT last year, was guarded over whether he would add more Auto GP rounds to his season after this weekend.

Sergio Campana reached agreement to race for Ibiza Racing in the week leading up to Monza's season opener. The 2011 Italian F3 champion had a minor gearbox problem on his way to ninth, while Antonio Spavone completed the top-10 for Super Nova.

Pos  Driver               Team         Time       Gap
 1.  Robert Visoiu        Ghinzani     1m37.439s
 2.  Andrea Roda          Virtuosi UK  1m37.613s  + 0.174s
 3.  Yoshitaka Kuroda     Euronova     1m37.948s  + 0.509s
 4.  Kimiya Sato          Euronova     1m38.013s  + 0.574s
 5.  Luciano Bacheta      Zele         1m38.174s  + 0.735s
 6.  Vittorio Ghirelli    Super Nova   1m38.185s  + 0.746s
 7.  Riccardo Agostini    Manor MP     1m38.201s  + 0.762s
 8.  Narain Karthikeyan   Zele         1m38.266s  + 0.827s  
 9.  Sergio Campana       Ibiza        1m38.644s  + 1.205s
10.  Antonio Spavone      Super Nova   1m38.730s  + 1.291s
11.  Giuseppe Cipriani    Ibiza        1m39.698s  + 2.259s
12.  Max Snegirev         Virtuosi UK  1m40.300s  + 2.861s
13.  Meindert van Buuren  Manor MP     1m42.534s  + 5.095s