Alex Lynn quickest on Day 2 of GP2 testing

Alex Lynn
Alex Lynn

The second day of pre-season testing at Yas Marina circuit opened in windy conditions. Stoffel Vandoorne set the early pace ahead of Alexander Rossi and Arthur Pic as most drivers focused on long runs and race simulations this morning. At the halfway mark, Alex Lynn took control of the time sheets with a laptime of 1:50.602. As the clock ticked down, the British driver put on super soft Pirelli tires and improved further to dip under 1m50s.

His teammate and yesterday’s fastest man Pierre Gasly (also on super softs) moved up to P2 in the closing stages and at the checkered flag, both DAMS cars sat pretty at the top of the standings ahead of Raffaele Marciello. The Italian driver set the exact same laptime as Vandoorne, but he did it earlier than the Belgian ace. Mitch Evans, Rossi, Julian Leal, Pic, Andre Negrao and Jordan King rounded up the top ten.

The afternoon session meant more long runs for the drivers. Sergey Sirotkin was the first man to feed onto the track, but it was Vittorio Ghirelli who set the early pace until Richie Stanaway went top midway through the session. His laptime was bettered by Marciello and the Italian was unchallenged until a first red flag period, courtesy of Rio Haryanto who stopped his car in the start/finish line.

Nato fastest in the afternoon
Nato fastest in the afternoon

At the restart and with one hour left on the clock, Norman Nato went quickest in a 1:50.858, but he caused a second red flag period after he stopped at Turn 20.

The pitlane went green with twenty minutes left in the session and some drivers decided to switch to super soft compounds, including Nato who was able to re-join the field in the closing stages and managed to improve further on his best laptime. When the checkered flag dropped, his laptime of 1:49.697 meant he finished the session on top, but it was Lynn who was declared the fastest man of the day.

Behind Nato, his teammate Negrao moved up to P2 in the dying minutes ahead of Marciello, Sergio Canamasas, Rene Binder, Vandoorne, Sirotkin, Zoel Amberg, Nobuharu Matsushita and Stanaway.

Tomorrow’s morning session will start at 09.00, local time.

Morning results

Pos Driver Team Laptime Laps
1. Alex Lynn DAMS 1:49.648 27
2. Pierre Gasly DAMS 1:50.104 29
3. Raffaele Marciello Trident 1:50.620 26
4. Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 1:50.620 23
5. Mitch Evans RUSSIAN TIME 1:50.625 18
6. Alexander Rossi Racing Engineering 1:50.767 36
7. Julian Leal Carlin 1:50.906 29
8. Arthur Pic Campos Racing 1:50.996 35
9. Andre Negrao Arden International 1:51.040 24
10. Jordan King Racing Engineering 1:51.073 31
11. Marco Sorensen Carlin 1:51.117 26
12. Rene Binder Trident 1:51.146 22
13. Rio Haryanto Campos Racing 1:51.248 35
14. Richie Stanaway Status Grand Prix 1:51.620 26
15. Artem Markelov RUSSIAN TIME 1:51.623 31
16. Daniel De Jong MP Motorsport 1:51.758 15
17. Zoel Amberg Lazarus 1:51.891 40
18. Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 1:51.908 19
19. Vittorio Ghirelli MP Motorsport 1:51.969 11
20. Robert Visoiu Rapax 1:52.112 31
21. Sergey Sirotkin Rapax 1:52.192 15
22. Norman Nato Arden International 1:52.319 24
23. Sergio Canamasas Hilmer Motorsport 1:52.360 29
24. Marlon Stockinger Status Grand Prix 1:52.764 25
25. Nathanael Berthon Lazarus 1:52.949 8
26. Axcil Jefferies Hilmer Motorsport

Afternoon results

Pos Driver Team Laptime Laps
1. Norman Nato Arden International 1:49.697 15
2. Andre Negrao Arden International 1:50.941 15
3. Raffaele Marciello Trident 1:50.973 20
4. Sergio Canamasas Hilmer Motorsport 1:51.171 21
5. Rene Binder Trident 1:51.219 17
6. Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 1:51.251 15
7. Sergey Sirotkin Rapax 1:51.264 30
8. Zoel Amberg Lazarus 1:51.395 20
9. Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 1:51.556 25
10. Richie Stanaway Status Grand Prix 1:51.648 20
11. Mitch Evans RUSSIAN TIME 1:51.656 15
12. Daniel De Jong MP Motorsport 1:51.675 16
13. Artem Markelov RUSSIAN TIME 1:51.783 14
14. Nathanael Berthon Lazarus 1:52.012 6
15. Vittorio Ghirelli MP Motorsport 1:52.133 19
16. Robert Visoiu Rapax 1:52.196 19
17. Marlon Stockinger Status Grand Prix 1:52.694 22
18. Alex Lynn DAMS 1:53.223 27
19. Pierre Gasly DAMS 1:53.550 28
20. Jordan King Racing Engineering 1:53.684 26
21. Rio Haryanto Campos Racing 1:53.804 24
22. Alexander Rossi Racing Engineering 1:54.024 20
23. Arthur Pic Campos Racing 1:54.354 31
24. Julian Leal Carlin 1:54.735 30
25. Marco Sorensen Carlin 1:54.818 13
26. Axcil Jefferies Hilmer Motorsport