Rowland tops practice in Bahrain

Oliver Rowland ended practice in Bahrain on top, a welcome bonus to yesterday's announcement that has joined Renault's driver academy. The DAMS car looks rapid this year and will look to challenge the favourites Prema. 

Rowland set a time of  1:42.221, with the Brit's closest challengers being Artem Markelov and rookie Charles Leclerc, who both set times of  1:42.313 and 1:42.372 respectively. 

Leclerc's team mate Antonio Fuoco was fourth, followed closely by Frenchman Norman Nato, who will be looking to start his year off the same way as he did last year, as the 24-year old took victory at the first race in 2016.

Luca Ghiotto was sixth, with Dutchman Nyck de Vries in seventh. De Vries was in contention for a seat at McLaren this year for the Monaco Grand Prix before Jenson Button was announced earlier today. 

Johnny Cecotto was eighth, followed by McLaren-Honda young driver Nobuharu Matsushita in ninth. Rounding out the top ten was Gustav Malja. Qualifying for tomorrow's feature race takes place this evening, 6PM UK time.

Fergal Walsh