Pantano tops Istanbul free practice

The Italian's Racing Engineering machine outpaced the Piquet Sports duo of Andi Zuber and Pastor Maldonado. Pantano's 1:33.815s was almost two-tenths quicker than Zuber, with Maldonado over half a second adrift.

Fourth fastest was Romain Grosjean of ART Grand Prix, ahead of Vitaly Petrov (Campos), Super Nova's new man Andy Soucek and Durango's Davide Valsecchi.

Bruno Senna was eighth fastest for iSport, ahead of Javier Villa (Racing Engineering), who would later spin into the tyrewall, and Barcelona Sprint Race winner Kamui Kobayashi (DAMS). Fellow Barca winner Alvaro Parente was down in 12th, behind iSport's Karun Chandhok, and ended his session stranded at Turn 1.

Adam Carroll was 13th fastest on his return to GP2 and FMS. The man he replaced, Adrian Valles, got off to a bad start with BCN Competicion, clashing with a Durango car and spinning off.

Valles only managed to complete six laps and was the slowest of the 26 cars.

Spinners during the session included Luca Filippi (ART) and Yelmer Buurman (Arden). The were both able to continue running.

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time               Laps
 1.  Pantano       Racing Engineering        1:33.815            11
 2.  Zuber         Piquet Sports             1:34.010  + 0.195   15
 3.  Maldonado     Piquet Sports             1:34.373  + 0.558   14
 4.  Grosjean      ART Grand Prix            1:34.547  + 0.732   13
 5.  Petrov        Campos Team               1:34.689  + 0.874   13
 6.  Soucek        Super Nova Racing         1:34.835  + 1.020   15
 7.  Valsecchi     Durango                   1:34.952  + 1.137   15
 8.  Senna         iSport International      1:34.969  + 1.154   16
 9.  Villa         Racing Engineering        1:34.986  + 1.171   13
10.  Kobayashi     Dams                      1:34.989  + 1.174   16
11.  Chandhok      iSport International      1:35.055  + 1.240   14
12.  Parente       Super Nova Racing         1:35.070  + 1.255   15
13.  Carroll       FMS  International        1:35.228  + 1.413   15
14.  Filippi       ART Grand Prix            1:35.269  + 1.454   14
15.  Buemi         Trust Team Arden          1:35.297  + 1.482   15
16.  D'Ambrosio    Dams                      1:35.433  + 1.618   15
17.  Conway        Trident Racing            1:35.456  + 1.641   14
18.  Rodriguez     FMS International         1:35.476  + 1.661   12
19.  Valerio       Durango                   1:35.502  + 1.687   15
20.  Hanley        Campos Team               1:35.567  + 1.752   13
21.  Buurman       Trust Team Arden          1:35.705  + 1.890   16
22.  Pavlovic      BCN Competicion           1:35.761  + 1.946   16
23.  Ricci         DPR                       1:36.225  + 2.410   15
24.  Nunes         DPR                       1:36.470  + 2.655   17
25.  Tung          Trident Racing            1:36.563  + 2.748   16
26.  Valles        BCN Competicion           1:37.194  + 3.379    6