Benjamin Bailly dominated the opening practice session in the Algarve to end more than eight tenths clear of Italy's Nicola De Marco in second.
Bailly set three laps quicker than any of his rival to underline his dominance with his fastest tour of the 4.69km circuit coming midway through the 30-minute session.
At one stage Bailly held an advantage of more than one second over Jolyon Palmer, until De Marco moved into second in the closing minutes. Portugal-born Ricardo Teixeira impressively moved into third during the final moments, as the Sonangol-backed driver made good use of his previous experience in Portimão.
Philipp Eng also jumped championship leader Palmer on his final lap, whilst Jack Clarke slotted into sixth behind his compatriot.
Briton Will Bratt and Dutchman Kelvin Snoeks incredibly set exactly the same time to finish seventh and eighth, ahead of Kazim Vasiliauskas. Lithuanian Vasiliauskas set the pace during winter testing in Portimao last December, but his best lap in free practice was more than 1.1s slower than Bailly's ultimate benchmark.
Indian racer Armaan Ebrahim pipped championship challenger Dean Stoneman to tenth in what was a relatively incident-free session. Mihai Marinescu was the only driver to endure a wild moment, after the Romanian recovered from an early spin in sector one.
The Formula Two field will be back on track at 4:30pm (local time) today for the final free practice session. The opening qualifying session will take place tomorrow morning ahead of the first of the weekend's two races, and Sunday will follow the same format.
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| Autodromo Internacional do Algarve 2010 | |
|---|---|
| 4 Jul '10 | Stoneman wins second race at Portimão |
| 4 Jul '10 | Palmer takes pole position for second race |
| 3 Jul '10 | Palmer takes commanding win at Portimão |
| 3 Jul '10 | Palmar denies Bailly's pole |
| 3 Jul '10 | Bailly continues strong pace at Portimão |
| Benjamin Bailly | |
| 2 Jul '10 | Benjamin Bailly sets early Portimão pace |
| 25 Jun '10 | Race winner Bailly remaining modest |
| 20 Jun '10 | Bailly converts pole position into first race win |
| 18 Jun '10 | Bailly fastest in second practice |
| Formula 2 | |
| 27 Mar | Former Champion Stoneman to join F2 test |
| 13 Jan | Video: 2012 Formula 2 car revealed in Birmingham |
| 24 Dec '11 | Video: Formula 2 season highlights |
| 15 Dec '11 | Bortolotti: DTM would be a great option |
| 7 Dec '11 | Calendar confirmed for 2012 F2 campaign |
| Benjamin Bailly | |||
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| More Benjamin Bailly photos | |||
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