
Britain's Nick Tandy set the fastest lap time for the Kolles & Heinz Union team to top the first practice session at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya on Friday. The session took place on a damp track following a large thunderstorm in the area on Thursday night.
With Catalunya having been hit around midnight by heavy rain and a spectacular storm, Tandy edged his way to the best time of 1:06.397 to lead ART's Adrien Tambay by over three tenths of a second. Championship leader Jules Biachi placed third in the second ART car as Holland's Henki Waldschmidt and Finland's Mika Mäki completed the top five.
Sam Bird was the second British contender in sixth for Mücke Motorsport as the returning Stefano Coletti, Vietoris, Vernay, and Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top ten.
Qualifying for the eighth meeting of the 2009 season will begin at 4:35pm local Spanish time (BST +1 / GMT +2).