Kobayashi leads Bahrain practice

GP2 Asia championship leader Kamui Kobayashi continued to show strong form in the series' return to action in practice at Bahrain on Thursday.

The DAMS driver, winner of the Dubai race two months ago, posted a best time of 1:42.642 to finish clearly ahead of his closest rival Nico Hulkenberg.

The ART Grand Prix racer finished over half a second behind Kobayashi, with teammate Jerome D'Ambrosio in third, but nearly a whole second adrift.

GP2 Asia returnee Marco Bonanomi placed his Meritus car in a promising fourth, ahead of fellow rookie Edoardo Mortara in the quicker Arden car. Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Kamui Kobayashi DAMS 1:42.642 2. Nico Hulkenberg ART 1:43.221 +0.579 3. Jerome d'Ambrosio DAMS 1:43.444 +0.802 4. Marco Bonanomi Qi-Meritus 1:43.520 +0.878 5. Edoardo Mortara Arden 1:43.576 +0.934 6. Roldan Rodriguez Piquet 1:43.577 +0.935 7. Diego Nunes Piquet 1:43.597 +0.955 8. James Jakes Super Nova 1:43.872 +1.230 9. Giedo van der Garde iSport 1:44.001 +1.359 10. Javier Villa Super Nova 1:44.024 +1.382 11. Vitaly Petrov Campos 1:44.027 +1.385 12. Luiz Razia Arden 1:44.037 +1.395 13. Davide Valsecchi Durango 1:44.095 +1.453 14. Sergio Perez Campos 1:44.113 +1.471 15. Sakon Yamamoto ART 1:44.185 +1.543 16. Hamad Al-Fardan iSport 1:44.492 +1.850 17. Yelmer Buurman Ocean 1:44.521 +1.879 18. Earl Bamber Qi-Meritus 1:44.666 +2.024 19. Adrian Valles Trident 1:44.907 +2.265 20. Michael Herck DPR 1:44.949 +2.307 21. Giacomo Ricci DPR 1:45.142 +2.500 22. Fabrizio Crestani Ocean 1:45.532 +2.890 23. Rodolfo Gonzalez FMS 1:45.563 +2.921 24. Frankie Provenzano Trident 1:45.828 +3.186 25. Michael Dalle Stelle Durango 1:46.053 +3.411 26. Kevin Nai Chia Chen FMS 1:47.023 +4.381

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