Bruno Mendez made a big improvement on his performance in this morning's Auto GP free practice by setting the fastest lap in the second session at Brno.
After a slow start left him on the fringes of the top 10, Campos Racing's Mendez leapt into second place on the times at the 15-minute mark. The young Spaniard then set the fastest lap so far this weekend – a 1m43.597s – to take the top spot with just three minutes of the session to run.
Samuele Buttarelli, who finished just behind Mendez in the first free practice session, was next up for TP Formula, with long-time pacesetter Luca Filippi rounding out the top three for Super Nova Racing.
Series points leader Giovanni Venturini improved on his seventh fastest time from this morning by placing fourth, just ahead of nearest championship rivals Kevin Ceccon (Ombra Racing) in fifth and Sergei Afanasiev (DAMS) in sixth.
A last lap effort from Fabrizio Crestiani gave the Italian seventh for Lazarus, while Jon Lancaster continued his competitive Auto GP debut by posting the eighth fastest time.
Adrien Tambay finished ninth for DAMS, with Marco Barba and Fabio Onidi 10th and 11th on identical 1m45.001s lap times.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Bruno Mendez Campos 1m43.597s
2. Samuele Buttarelli TP 1m43.785s + 0.188s
3. Luca Filippi Super Nova 1m44.162s + 0.565s
4. Giovanni Venturini Durango 1m44.206s + 0.609s
5. Kevin Ceccon Ombra 1m44.393s + 0.796s
6. Sergei Afanasiev DAMS 1m44.490s + 0.893s
7. Fabrizio Crestani Lazarus 1m44.683s + 1.086s
8. Jon Lancaster Super Nova 1m44.755s + 1.158s
9. Adrien Tambay Gravity-Charouz/DAMS 1m44.908s + 1.311s
10. Marco Barba Campos 1m45.001s + 1.404s
11. Fabio Onidi Lazarus 1m45.001s + 1.404s
12. Pasquale di Sabatino TP 1m45.038s + 1.441s
13. Rio Haryanto DAMS 1m45.287s + 1.690s
14. Giuseppe Cipriani Durango 1m46.466s + 2.869s
15. Francesco Dracone Emmebi 1m48.377s + 4.780s