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Mihai Marinescu leads opening Formula 2 practice session at Silverstone

Mihai Marinescu set the pace in the opening practice session of the Formula 2 season at Silverstone on Friday

The 23-year-old Romanian, who finished fifth in last year's standings, leapt to the top of the timesheets early on and whittled his pace down to a 1m47.631s lap during the 45-minute session.

Behind Marinescu, the rest of the top five was dominated by rookies, with Formula 3 coverts Alex Fontana and Markus Pommer second and third; Swiss driver Fontana 0.208 seconds adrift of the pacesetter.

BARC Formula Renault champion Dino Zamparelli was the best of the British contingent in fourth despite a spin at Club midway through the session. His countryman Luciano Bacheta was fifth.

Christopher Zanella, the 2011 series runner-up, was sixth with Brit Hector Hurst, Iranian Kourosh Khani, Formula Renault 3.5 convert Daniel McKenzie and 15-year-old Matheo Tuscher completing the top 10.

Pos  Driver                Time       Gap
 1.  Mihai Marinescu       1m47.631s
 2.  Alex Fontana          1m47.911s  + 0.280s
 3.  Markus Pommer         1m47.989s  + 0.358s
 4.  Dino Zamparelli       1m48.231s  + 0.600s
 5.  Luciano Bacheta       1m48.435s  + 0.804s
 6.  Christopher Zanella   1m48.479s  + 0.848s
 7.  Hector Hurst          1m48.503s  + 0.872s
 8.  Kourosh Khani         1m48.546s  + 0.915s
 9.  Daniel McKenzie       1m48.573s  + 0.942s
10.  Matheo Tuscher        1m48.983s  + 1.352s
11.  Parthiva Sureshwaren  1m49.004s  + 1.373s
12.  David Zhu             1m49.162s  + 1.531s
13.  Jose Luis Abadin      1m49.414s  + 1.783s
14.  Kevin Mirocha         1m49.445s  + 1.814s
15.  Mauro Calamia         1m49.513s  + 1.882s
16.  Plamen Kralev         1m49.577s  + 1.946s
17.  Samuele Buttarelli    1m50.232s  + 2.601s

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