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: