GP2: Gasly leads Giovinazzi in Sepang practice

GP2 championship leader Pierre Gasly led Prema team-mate and title rival Antonio Giovinazzi in the practice session for the series' first Sepang event since 2013.

In an unusual schedule for the Malaysian Grand Prix support races, both GP2 and GP3 held their practice sessions on Thursday, with only qualifying scheduled for Friday.

Red Bull protege and 2017 Toro Rosso Formula 1 seat contender Gasly set a benchmark of 1m42.352s as he learned the circuit.

Giovinazzi, 10 points behind Gasly in the standings, closed what had been a three tenths of a second gap to 0.123s in the closing minutes.

Raffaele Marciello was third for Russian Time, ahead of Racing Engineering team-mates Jordan King and Norman Nato.

None of the handful of drivers with previous Sepang GP2 experience were in the top 10, with Jaguar Formula E bound Mitch Evans - a podium finisher in the last GP2 race in Malaysia - the best of them in 11th.

Home favourite Nabil Jeffri had a quick spin on his way to 18th, and is Arden's only entry this weekend. His erstwhile team-mate Jimmy Eriksson elected to end his disappointing 2016 campaign ahead of Sepang.

The other change to the line-up for Sepang is return of four-time race winner Johnny Cecotto Jr. The Venezuelan GP2 veteran, who began the year in Formula V8 3.5, is standing in for an unwell Arthur Pic at Rapax.

Cecotto started his first GP2 weekend since last October's Sochi round at the tail of the field.

Originally on Autosport.com