Ferrari’s struggling Formula One championship challenge was given some hope yesterday when Fernando Alonso was fastest in practice for the European Grand Prix.

The Spaniard timed a quickest lap of 1 minute, 37.968 seconds around Valencia’s street circuit to edge McLaren rival Lewis Hamilton by just over two-tenths of a second.

Runaway F1 leader Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull trailed by 0.297 seconds in third ahead of Michael Schumacher of Mercedes and Ferrari’s Felipe Massa. Jenson Button of McLaren and Red Bull’s Mark Webber were next just over a half-second behind.

Ferrari is without a win after seven races and the Italian team had suggested it may have to turn its attention to the 2012 season unless results improve soon.

Alonso admitted frustration on Thursday over the Italian team’s failure to get closer to Red Bull despite the two-time world champion saying he’s never driven better. Alonso has two podium finishes but is 92 points behind Vettel in fifth.

Vettel leads Button by 60 points going into tomorrow’s race, with the German driver having won five of seven GPs this season.

Webber, who is next in the standings in front of Hamilton, had topped the first practice session with a time more than two seconds slower.

Sauber driver Sergio Perez completed both practice sessions to suggest the Mexican rookie would be available to race after missing the Canadian GP as he recovered from a heavy crash in Monaco.

The two 90-minute sessions were mostly free of incident with the exception of Niko Hulkenberg swerving into the wall at the end of the main straight to exit early in the first session. The slippery track provided problems for many drivers at the same spot as Hulkenberg’s crash, but most were able to recover and escape into the run-off area when in danger.

Practice wraps up today before qualifying for tomorrow’s 57-lap race.