GP2 Bahrain: Nobuharu Matsushita quickest in Day 2 testing
Alex Lynn went quickest with one hour left on the clock, but his laptime was bettered first by King, and then by Pic. As the track improved, Rio Haryanto went top, but in the dying minutes, Sergey Sirotkin dipped under 1m42s. His laptime of 1:41.797 was enough for him to top the shortened session at the checkered flag ahead of King, Lynn, Haryanto, Pic, Stoffel Vandoorne, Nobuharu Matsushita, Julian Leal, Rene Binder and Rossi.
It was Richie Stanaway who set the early afternoon pace ahead of Nick Yelloly and Marlon Stockinger, but it was Marco Sorensen who was the first man to break the 1m42s barrier. The teams’ programs consisted of race simulations for the major part of the trouble-free session. Midway, Rossi went top with a laptime 0.004s better than Stanaway’s, but the Status man reclaimed P1 later on after having lapped the track in a 1:41.086.
The final fifteen minutes of the session saw most of the drivers switch to Soft Pirelli tires and push hard. Raffaele Marciello clocked in a laptime of 1:40.446 whilst others also improved, but not as much as the Italian who looked pretty at the top of the standings. Matsushita however found some extra pace and with five minutes left on the clock set a laptime of 1:40.191. In the closing stages, Pic also managed to improve and moved up to P2 ahead of Marciello. At the checkered flag, and behind the top three, Sirotkin, Sorensen, Vandoorne, Daniel De Jong, Sergio Canamasas, Haryanto and Artem Markelov rounded up the top ten.
Tomorrow’s session will run from 09.00 until 12.00, and then from 13.00 until 16.00 local time.
Morning results
Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
1. | Sergey Sirotkin | Rapax | 1:41.797 | 10 |
2. | Jordan King | Racing Engineering | 1:42.289 | 10 |
3. | Alex Lynn | DAMS | 1:42.427 | 9 |
4. | Rio Haryanto | Campos Racing | 1:42.437 | 15 |
5. | Arthur Pic | Campos Racing | 1:42.483 | 21 |
6. | Stoffel Vandoorne | ART Grand Prix | 1:42.557 | 12 |
7. | Nobuharu Matsushita | ART Grand Prix | 1:42.588 | 14 |
8. | Julian Leal | Carlin | 1:42.736 | 5 |
9. | Rene Binder | Trident | 1:43.104 | 16 |
10. | Alexander Rossi | Racing Engineering | 1:43.390 | 15 |
11. | Robert Visoiu | Rapax | 1:43.580 | 12 |
12. | Raffaele Marciello | Trident | 1:43.749 | 4 |
13. | Nathanael Berthon | Lazarus | 1:43.868 | 8 |
14. | Nick Yelloly | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:43.877 | 9 |
15. | Pierre Gasly | DAMS | 1:43.963 | 4 |
16. | Marco Sorensen | Carlin | 1:44.511 | 4 |
17. | Sergio Canamasas | MP Motorsport | 1:44.954 | 6 |
18. | Zoel Amberg | Lazarus | 1:45.070 | 8 |
19. | Richie Stanaway | Status Grand Prix | 0 | 0 |
Afternoon results
Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
1. | Nobuharu Matsushita | ART Grand Prix | 1:40.191 | 31 |
2. | Arthur Pic | Campos Racing | 1:40.350 | 27 |
3. | Raffaele Marciello | Trident | 1:40.446 | 16 |
4. | Sergey Sirotkin | Rapax | 1:40.561 | 24 |
5. | Marco Sorensen | Carlin | 1:40.658 | 25 |
6. | Stoffel Vandoorne | ART Grand Prix | 1:40.666 | 26 |
7. | Daniel De Jong | MP Motorsport | 1:40.927 | 20 |
8. | Sergio Canamasas | MP Motorsport | 1:40.958 | 33 |
9. | Rio Haryanto | Campos Racing | 1:40.981 | 29 |
10. | Artem Markelov | RUSSIAN TIME | 1:41.034 | 24 |
11. | Richie Stanaway | Status Grand Prix | 1:41.086 | 21 |
12. | Rene Binder | Trident | 1:41.097 | 25 |
13. | Robert Visoiu | Rapax | 1:41.128 | 27 |
14. | Norman Nato | Arden International | 1:41.183 | 32 |
15. | Nick Yelloly | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:41.227 | 22 |
16. | Alexander Rossi | Racing Engineering | 1:41.341 | 21 |
17. | Alex Lynn | DAMS | 1:41.352 | 22 |
18. | Mitch Evans | RUSSIAN TIME | 1:41.372 | 16 |
19. | Zoel Amberg | Lazarus | 1:41.440 | 35 |
20. | Julian Leal | Carlin | 1:41.497 | 21 |
21. | Pierre Gasly | DAMS | 1:41.606 | 31 |
22. | Marlon Stockinger | Status Grand Prix | 1:41.669 | 33 |
23. | Nathanael Berthon | Lazarus | 1:42.467 | 5 |
24. | André Negrao | Arden International | 1:42.509 | 23 |
25. | Nigel Melker | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:43.631 | 13 |
26. | Jordan King | Racing Engineering | 1:44.181 | 34 |