Adrien Simon and DS Mathershaw topped a session for the first time since the Japanese V-Prix back in April, as they look to put a halt to the strong run of recent form shown by Downton and Franklin, and haul themselves back into the title fight. The Frenchman - fresh from the announcement he will continue with the team next season in their new partnership with Porsche - was 0.031 of a second quicker than Franklin's Tumo Kinnumen, the Finn desperate for a decent result as the pressure builds on him to retain his seat. Nathaniel Powers was third for Downton - just under three tenths from the top time - with Enrique Ruiz behind nearly half a second down on Simon, and just beating a great effort from Felix Beyer, the Dutchman putting his Holmqvist in the top five. His fellow Felix - Perez - was behind in sixth, ahead of home racer Sam Hudson - who drove the Downton in practice for the first time this season - ending up three and a half tenths down on Powers. Johan Halvosen, Allar Kangur and Sebastian Bergkvist rounded out the top ten - the Estonian having brushed the banking late on and missed the final ten minutes of running - with Jules Simon the last of the cars in eleventh that were within a second of the fastest time. In the midfield Thierry Xylander, Rodolfo de la Fuente and Dmytro Kovalenko cut a delighted trio in fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth respectively - the latter especially as his time gives him reason to hope he can qualify for the first time since Australia. Carson Davenport was twentieth on his first in the Lucas - six places and two and a half tenths clear of Arden Hutchinson - and just ahead of a disappointed Gabriele Garcia, who complained of a lack of traction in his North Star. James Thompson was another reserve in action - taking the place of Sergio Alvarez at Phoenix and winding up 25th, while Diego Campos made his return with Cheema ahead of a full weekend, the Spaniard 28th ahead of Viktor Ostberg and Finn Schnyder, though both experienced problems. The Lopez stopped with a hydraulics fault with 25 minutes to go, while Schnyder caused the only red flag as he beached it in the gravel on the exit of turn two after just fifteen minutes. See below for full practice classification:
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