James Calado lived up to his billing as GP2 championship favorite by setting the pace in the season's opening practice session in Malaysia.
Calado's early 1m45.403s lap put his ART entry a scant 0.019 seconds ahead of Rapax's Simon Trummer. Newcomer team Russian Time got off to an encouraging start with Tom Dillmann going third quickest.
His teammate Sam Bird was only 19th, but was driving a GP2 car for the first time since the end of 2011. GP3 champion Mitch Evans was the quickest rookie in fourth place. Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr completed the top six.
Most of the field kept things tidy through the half hour. Julian Leal took a trip through the Turn 7 gravel, while Kevin Ceccon resorted to the run-off area in a close call with Sergio Canamasas.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. James Calado ART 1m45.403s
2. Simon Trummer Rapax 1m45.422s + 0.019s
3. Tom Dillmann Russian Time 1m45.589s + 0.186s
4. Mitch Evans Arden 1m45.668s + 0.265s
5. Marcus Ericsson DAMS 1m45.750s + 0.347s
6. Felipe Nasr Carlin 1m45.784s + 0.381s
7. Johnny Cecotto Jr Arden 1m45.796s + 0.393s
8. Stefano Coletti Rapax 1m45.846s + 0.443s
9. Rio Haryanto Addax 1m45.850s + 0.447s
10. Stephane Richelmi DAMS 1m45.865s + 0.462s
11. Daniel de Jong MP 1m46.000s + 0.597s
12. Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering 1m46.140s + 0.737s
13. Julian Leal Racing Engineering 1m46.193s + 0.790s
14. Jolyon Palmer Carlin 1m46.357s + 0.954s
15. Rene Binder Lazarus 1m46.374s + 0.971s
16. Kevin Giovesi Lazarus 1m46.590s + 1.187s
17. Sergio Canamasas Caterham 1m46.595s + 1.192s
18. Daniel Abt ART 1m46.635s + 1.232s
19. Sam Bird Russian Time 1m46.694s + 1.291s
20. Nathanael Berthon Trident 1m46.695s + 1.292s
21. Jake Rosenzweig Addax 1m46.737s + 1.334s
22. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs MP 1m46.934s + 1.531s
23. Conor Daly Hilmer 1m47.303s + 1.900s
24. Kevin Ceccon Trident 1m47.355s + 1.952s
25. Pal Varhaug Hilmer 1m48.550s + 3.147s
26. Ma Qing Hua Caterham 1m48.829s + 3.426s