Sam Bird started the second round of the Formula 3 Euro Series at Lausitz in the same way he started the season opener – by topping the first official practice session of the weekend.
The Mucke Motorsport driver just edged his rookie team-mate Alexander Sims to complete a British one-two at the top of the times, ahead of Signature's Jean-Karl Vernay, who was a winner last time out at Hockenheim.
Christian Vietoris completed a very good day for local team Mucke by getting three of its cars into the top four, while championship favourite Jules Bianchi was fifth fastest for ART, just over two tenths shy of the pace.
Mika Maki, who topped the morning's pre-event test, was near the top for most of the one-hour session in the afternoon, but he eventually slipped to sixth as times improved later on.
Marco Wittman was another rookie to shine in seventh place, ahead of Carlin's Brendon Hartley, who jumped up to eighth in the closing stages.
ART rookies Valtteri Bottas and Esteban Gutierrez showed promising pace to complete the top 10, just ahead of championship leader Stefano Coletti, who was another to slip down the order after showing well early on.
Several drivers were given warnings by the officials during the session for using parts of the road outside the designated race track, an infraction that is likely to be dealt with more seriously during qualifying and the races.
TIMES:
Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap
1. Sam Bird Mucke D/M 1m17.492s
2. Alexander Sims Mucke D/M 1m17.596s +0.104
3. Jean-Karl Vernay Signature D/V 1m17.680s +0.188
4. Christian Vietoris Mucke D/M 1m17.745s +0.253
5. Jules Bianchi ART D/M 1m17.765s +0.273
6. Mika Maki Signature D/V 1m17.799s +0.307
7. Marco Wittmann Mucke D/M 1m17.847s +0.355
8. Brendon Hartley Carlin D/V 1m17.874s +0.382
9. Valtteri Bottas ART D/M 1m17.970s +0.478
10. Esteban Gutierrez ART D/M 1m18.037s +0.545
11. Stefano Coletti Prema D/M 1m18.063s +0.571
12. Atte Mustonen Motopark D/M 1m18.065s +0.573
13. Roberto Merhi Manor D/M 1m18.160s +0.668
14. Adrien Tambay ART D/M 1m18.242s +0.750
15. Basil Shaaban Prema D/M 1m18.273s +0.781
16. Christopher Zanella Motopark D/M 1m18.350s +0.858
17. Kevin Mirocha HBR D/M 1m18.409s +0.917
18. Henkie Waldschmidt SG D/M 1m18.434s +0.942
19. Pedro Henrique Manor D/M 1m18.445s +0.953
20. Matteo Chinosi Prema D/M 1m18.531s +1.039
21. Johnny Cecotto Jr HBR D/M 1m18.564s +1.072
22. Jake Rosenzweig Carlin D/V 1m18.690s +1.198
23. Tiago Geronimi Signature D/V 1m18.713s +1.221
24. Andrea Caldarelli SG D/M 1m18.763s +1.271
25. Cesar Ramos Manor D/M 1m18.906s +1.414
26. Alexandre Marsoin SG D/M 1m19.645s +2.153
27. Johan Jokinen Kolles D/V 1m20.158s +2.666