Racing Engineering's Norman Nato set the pace in Friday's GP2 practice session which marks the first time cars have been driven in anger around the new Baku City Circuit.
Nato posted a 1m55.394s lap to head the 22-car field, three-tenths quicker than Pema's Antonio Giovinazzi could manage in second.
The new circuit, which will lack grip until after opening practice for Formula 1 later today, caught several drivers out, with Sergio Canamasas the first driver to spin, just five minutes into the session.
The Carlin driver looked to have stalled his car, bringing out a Virtual Safety Car, but he managed to get going again and finished tenth quickest, 2.1 seconds down.
Turn 15 proved the most difficult, with several cars taking to the run-off, including Jordan King, Raffaele Marciello, Philo Paz Armand and Gutav Malja amongst them.
A second VSC was brought out when a fire truck parked on the run-off at the same corner just as King went wide. It was swiftly relocated.
Sergey Sirotkin finished third quickest for ART Grand Prix, whilst team-mate Nobuharu Matsushita ran wide at Turn 3 with five minutes remaining on the clock, causing another VSC, which ended the session.
Pierre Gasly was fourth ahead of Oliver Rowland, Luca Ghiotto, King, Arthur Pic, Marciello and Canamasas completing the top ten.
