Brit Quaife-Hobbs leads the way in Silverstone

Marussia Manor Racing’s Adrian Quaife-Hobbs started his quest for home glory this morning by topping free practice 1 at Silverstone Circuit.

The fourth round of 2011 GP3 Series kicked off this morning with the first of two Friday practice sessions at the Northamptonshire circuit and the British driver set the pace claiming the top spot with a time of 1:52.066 nearly four tenths ahead of fellow countryman Lewis Williamson.

Under dark and ominous looking clouds, the thirty strong field went out on Pirelli P Zero wet weather tires to test the conditions of the drying track. MW Arden’s Williamson was the first man to set the pace, but no sooner had the Scotman gone top the field were back in the pits to switch to slicks.

By mid-way through the session the sun was creepy through and times were quickly dropping. Marussia Manor Racing’s Rio Haryanto briefly went top before Status Grand Prix’s Antonio Felix Da Costa bumped him into second, only to be toppled himself a few seconds later by Lotus ART’s James Calado, who knocked one second off the Portuguese driver’s time. Next lap around Calado was set to improve even further until the Brit spun and found the wall ending his session prematurely.

In the dying minutes of the session the drivers headed out for a final shootout. Haryanto was the man to beat, sitting pretty at the top of the timesheet until Williamson put in a flying lap, only for both men to be toppled by Quaife-Hobbs. Chaves, Evans, Bottas, Smith, Sims, Dillmann and Christensen rounded out the top ten.

Next up for GP3 is practice 2 later today at 15:50 local time.

Practice 1 times:

POS NO DRIVER NAT TEAM TIME LAPS GAP
1 10 A. QUAIFE-HOBBS GBR Marussia Manor Racing 1:52.066 12 0.000s
2 28 L. WILLIAMSON GBR MW Arden 1:52.444 11 0.378
3 11 R. HARYANTO INA Marussia Manor Racing 1:52.915 10 0.849
4 24 G. CHAVES COL Addax Team 1:52.991 12 0.925
5 26 M. EVANS NZL MW Arden 1:53.000 12 0.934
6 2 V. BOTTAS FIN Lotus ART 1:53.262 10 1.196
7 25 D. SMITH GBR Addax Team 1:53.288 11 1.222
8 4 A. SIMS GBR Status Grand Prix 1:53.357 10 1.291
9 23 T. DILLMANN FRA Addax Team 1:53.577 12 1.511
10 30 M. CHRISTENSEN DEN RSC Mucke Motorsport 1:53.638 11 1.572
11 29 L. BACHETA GBR RSC Mucke Motorsport 1:53.717 13 1.651
12 7 N. MULLER SUI Jenzer Motorsport 1:53.792 13 1.726
13 20 M. STOCKINGER PHI Atech CRS GP 1:53.895 10 1.829
14 17 A. VAINIO FIN Tech 1 Racing 1:53.934 10 1.868
15 5 A. FELIX DA COSTA POR Status Grand Prix 1:53.988 12 1.922
16 15 D. MORAD CAN Carlin 1:54.000 12 1.934
17 31 N. MELKER NED RSC Mucke Motorsport 1:54.038 12 1.972
18 19 T. PAL KISS HUN Tech 1 Racing 1:54.093 12 2.027
19 14 C. DALY USA Carlin 1:54.114 11 2.048
20 21 N. YELLOLY GBR Atech CRS GP 1:54.185 10 2.119
21 27 S. TRUMMER SUI MW Arden 1:54.243 11 2.177
22 1 P. NUNES BRA Lotus ART 1:54.700 10 2.634
23 9 V. GHIRELLI ITA Jenzer Motorsport 1:54.785 12 2.719
24 8 M. ZIMIN RUS Jenzer Motorsport 1:54.796 9 2.730
25 22 Z. AMBERG SUI Atech CRS GP 1:54.854 13 2.788
26 6 I. LUKASHEVICH RUS Status Grand Prix 1:54.999 8 2.933
27 12 M. LAINE FIN Marussia Manor Racing 1:55.258 6 3.192
28 3 J. CALADO GBR Lotus ART 1:55.308 2 3.242
29 16 L. CORDEIRO BRA Carlin 1:56.229 12 4.163
30 18 T. HYLKEMA NED Tech 1 Racing 1:56.912 11 4.846