Photo: Charles Coates/GP2 Series Media Service
Sam Bird began the weekend by living up to his “Monaco specialist” fame, topping the GP2 practice session at the track.
Bird led a Russian Time 1-2 ahead of Tom Dillmann, with the two teammates separated by a mere 0.05s. GP3 champion Mitch Evans was third, while his teammate Johnny Cecotto took sixth, having won his first race at the track last year. Carlin’s Jolyon Palmer and Marcus Ericsson of DAMS were between them, in fourth and fifth respectively.
Championship contenders Fabio Leimer and Felipe Nasr were seventh and eighth. Rio Haryanto took ninth, while James Calado rounded out the top ten and effectively ended the session going off-track. Championship leader Stefano Coletti clocked in in 17th.
The qualifying will being at 14:10 GMT, with the drivers being separated into two groups.
Session results
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Sam Bird | Russian Time | 1:21.512 | 15 | |
| 2 | Tom Dillmann | Russian Time | 1:21.569 | +0.057 | 18 |
| 3 | Mitchell Evans | Arden International | 1:21.754 | +0.242 | 17 |
| 4 | Jolyon Palmer | Carlin | 1:22.059 | +0.547 | 19 |
| 5 | Marcus Ericsson | DAMS | 1:22.290 | +0.778 | 18 |
| 6 | Johnny Cecotto | Arden International | 1:22.391 | +0.879 | 15 |
| 7 | Fabio Leimer | Racing Engineering | 1:22.499 | +0.987 | 13 |
| 8 | Felipe Nasr | Carlin | 1:22.516 | +1.004 | 17 |
| 9 | Rio Haryanto | Barwa Addax Team | 1:22.578 | +1.066 | 16 |
| 10 | James Calado | ART Grand Prix | 1:22.647 | +1.135 | 18 |
| 11 | Julian Leal | Racing Engineering | 1:22.795 | +1.283 | 18 |
| 12 | Kevin Ceccon | Trident Racing | 1:22.872 | +1.360 | 18 |
| 13 | Alexander Rossi | Caterham Racing | 1:22.979 | +1.467 | 18 |
| 14 | Jake Rosenzweig | Barwa Addax Team | 1:23.251 | +1.739 | 16 |
| 15 | Nathanael Berthon | Trident Racing | 1:23.365 | +1.853 | 19 |
| 16 | Sergio Canamasas | Caterham Racing | 1:23.369 | +1.857 | 18 |
| 17 | Stefano Coletti | Rapax | 1:23.527 | +2.015 | 17 |
| 18 | Simon Trummer | Rapax | 1:23.633 | +2.121 | 17 |
| 19 | Stephane Richelmi | DAMS | 1:23.648 | +2.136 | 10 |
| 20 | Robin Frijns | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:23.702 | +2.190 | 19 |
| 21 | Daniel Abt | ART Grand Prix | 1:23.854 | +2.342 | 19 |
| 22 | Rene Binder | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 1:23.905 | +2.393 | 19 |
| 23 | Daniel de Jong | MP Motorsport | 1:24.223 | +2.711 | 19 |
| 24 | Jon Lancaster | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:24.600 | +3.088 | 11 |
| 25 | Kevin Giovesi | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 1:24.755 | +3.243 | 19 |
| 26 | Adrian Quaife-Hobbs | MP Motorsport | 1:24.916 | +3.404 | 19 |