Photo: Bruce Jenkins
Alex Lynn might have started out Friday at Hampton Downs as the quickest man on track, but it didn’t take long for 2010-11 Toyota Racing Series champion Mitch Evans to get up to speed, allowing him to display commandeering pace in the following afternoon sessions.
Lynn was the only one to go under 1m02s in the first practice session, posting a time of 1m01.855s. Usual frontrunner Lucas Auer was second yet Evans was already not far off, feeling confident on his return to the Toyota Racing Series right from the start. Brazilians Bruno Bonifacio and Pipo Derani rounded out the top five, within 0.003s of each other.
The times went up significantly as the track got up to temperature in the afternoon, prompting the fastest time of session two to be almost a second faster – 1m00.922s, set by the very man Evans. Bonifacio came a close second with a large group of drivers below him within 0.1s of each other – led by third-placed Jann Mardenborough and also including Derani, Auer, Ignazio D’Agosto (for whom this is his debut in TRS) and Felix Serralles.
Session three was, perhaps, the most eventful of the day as it saw multiple yellow flags due to cars going off at Turn 2. Among those who went for such a detour was Damon Leitch, who was forced to cut his Friday programme short. Once again, it was Evans who set the quickest time, going a tenth-and-a-half faster with with 1m00.779s. Brits Lynn and Mardenborough also went under 1m01s as Bonifacio and D’Agosto completed the top five.
Combined Results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Session 1 | Session 2 | Session 3 | PB Pos |
| 1 | Mitch Evans | Giles Motorsport | 1m02.134s | 1m00.922s | 1m00.779s | 1 |
| 2 | Alex Lynn | M2 Competition | 1m01.855s | 1m01.897s | 1m00.889s | 1 |
| 3 | Jann Mardenborough | ETEC Motorsport | 1m02.735s | 1m01.474s | 1m00.897s | 3 |
| 4 | Bruno Bonifacio | Giles Motorsport | 1m02.376s | 1m01.112s | 1m01.042s | 2 |
| 5 | Ignazio D’Agosto | Victory Motor Racing | 1m03.010s | 1m01.528s | 1m01.095s | 5 |
| 6 | Nick Cassidy | M2 Competition | 1m02.449s | 1m02.097s | 1m01.124s | 6 |
| 7 | Pipo Derani | Giles Motorsport | 1m02.379s | 1m01.474s | 1m01.224s | 4 |
| 8 | Lucas Auer | Giles Motorsport | 1m02.049s | 1m01.522s | 1m01.357s | 2 |
| 9 | Tanart Sathienthirakul | ETEC Motorsport | 1m02.417s | 1m02.143s | 1m01.434s | 6 |
| 10 | Felix Serralles | Giles Motorsport | 1m03.160s | 1m01.551s | 1m01.443s | 7 |
| 11 | Steijn Schothorst | M2 Competition | 1m03.021s | 1m02.013s | 1m01.449s | 11 |
| 12 | Dennis Olsen | M2 Competition | 1m03.005s | 1m02.012s | 1m01.615s | 10 |
| 13 | Tatiana Calderon | ETEC Motorsport | 1m03.522s | 1m02.245s | 1m01.840s | 13 |
| 14 | Akash Nandy | ETEC Motorsport | 1m03.979s | 1m02.643s | 1m01.877s | 14 |
| 15 | Damon Leitch | Victory Motor Racing | 1m02.547s | 1m01.985s | 1m02.121s | 8 |
| 16 | Nicholas Latifi | Giles Motorsport | 1m03.037s | 1m02.060s | 1m02.959s | 12 |
| 17 | Spike Goddard | M2 Competition | 1m04.096s | 1m03.026s | 1m02.919s | 16 |
| 18 | Andrew Tang | ETEC Motorsport | 1m03.699s | 1m02.950s | 1m03.960s | 17 |
| 19 | Michael Scott | M2 Competition | 1m03.326s | 1m03.283s | 1m03.035s | 15 |
Times in bold denote quickest times of the day for given driver.
Times in italics denote quickest times in a given session