The Japanese ace tops the morning Free Practice that marked the opening of the second season of the GP2 Asia Series. Dams’ Kobayashi has taken the top spot in free practice today in Shanghai this morning almost half  a  second  clear  from  Roldan  Rodriguez  on  Piquet  GP. 

After  setting  the  pace  during  last week’s two-day test session on this same track, the Toyota test driver looks decidedly on top form for the GP2 Asia Series second season debut. In a dry and calm session, the Japanese set a best time of 1:45.527 only on his third lap, 0.468 ahead of Rodriguez.

The Spaniard is the only driver, along with Kobayashi, to have gone under 1:46.  In  third  place,  the  experienced  Andreas  Zuber  on  Fisichella  Motor  Sport  International  just edged out Javier Villa and rookie Van der Garde. Behind the top five, Vitaly Petrov finished ahead of Davide Valsecchi, Sakon Yamamoto and Mika Maki.

Another rookie, Hamad Al Farden, completes the Top 10. GFH Team iSport are the only ones to have placed their two drivers in the Top 10. The session was red flagged one minute before the end of the session after Frenchman Nelson Philippe stopped his ART car at turn 13 following a minor technical problem. The first qualifying session of the 08/09 GP2 Asia Series will start at 4pm, local time.