Gutierrez tops wet free practice

Esteban Gutierrez

Esteban Gutierrez has started his weekend in fine style by taking the top spot in this afternoon's rain affected free practice session in Singapore, leading the way as the circuit started to dry in the closing minutes ahead of Fabio Leimer and Stefano Coletti.

The Mexican set the best time of 2:14.339 with just four minutes remaining in the session, leaving the possibility of an improvement from anyone in the field: unfortunately with everyone looking to move up at the same time, there was not enough space for the clear lap needed to top Gutierrez's time.

A huge downpour before the session had transformed into light drizzle by the time the drivers took to the circuit for the first time, but had left its mark in the form of large puddle all around the track and a lot of leaves, which all required a lot of laps to clear up.

Gutierrez, his teammate James Calado, Johnny Cecotto and Luca Filippi set the pace as conditions slowly improved, although most of the field took a trip into the exit road at turn 8 or ran around instead of between the curbs at turn 10 as they all looked for the limits on track.

When the clock ran out Calado, Cecotto, Giedo van der Garde, Simon Trummer and Rio Haryanto were just outside the top three positions, while title rivals Davide Valsecchi and Luiz Razia ran very conservative sessions to finish P14 and P20 respectively: it's unlikely that they will be so kind to their rivals in this evening's qualifying session in just a few short hours time.

Singapore – Free Practice

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Esteban Gutierrez Lotus GP 2:14.339 11
2. Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering 2:14.671 11
3. Stefano Coletti Rapax 2:15.284 11
4. James Calado Lotus GP 2:15.335 12
5. Johnny Cecotto Barwa Addax Team 2:15.634 12
6. Giedo van der Garde Caterham Racing 2:15.436 11
7. Simon Trummer Arden International 2:15.729 12
8. Rio Haryanto Carlin 2:15.734 13
9. Felipe Nasr DAMS 2:16.232 11
10. Julian Leal Trident Racing 2:16.233 11
11. Fabio Onidi Scuderia Coloni 2:16.306 11
12. Rodolfo Gonzalez Caterham Racing 2:16.325 11
13. Nathanael Berthon Racing Engineering 2:16.461 12
14. Davide Valsecchi DAMS 2:16.510 11
15. Nigel Melker Ocean Racing Technology 2:16.535 12
16. Jolyon Palmer iSport International 2:16.623 11
17. Sergio Canamasas Venezuela GP Lazarus 2:16.956 11
18. Luca Filippi Scuderia Coloni 2:17.243 9
19 Victor Guerin Ocean Racing Technology 2:17.329 11
20. Luiz Razia Arden International 2:17.524 13
21. Stephane Richelmi Trident Racing 2:17,962 11
22. Max Chilton Carlin 2:18.033 11
23. Marcus Ericsson iSport International 2:18.635 12
24. Jake Rosenzweig Barwa Addax Team 2:18.906 12
25. Rene Binder Venezuela GP Lazarus 2:19.745 12
26. Ricardo Teixeira Rapax 2:24.101 10