GP2: Pierre Gasly tops Day 1 at Yas Marina

The 2014 GP2 Series post-season testing opened today at Yas Marina Circuit for three days with many new faces joining some more familiar ones. Each team have been provided with seven sets of Medium Pirelli tires for the three days.

When the track went live, Arthur Pic (who has already been confirmed with Campos Racing for the 2015 season) took to the track and set the early pace to top the timesheet just as a first red flag stopped the proceedings: F3 European Champion Esteban Ocon had stopped his DAMS car at Turn 11. At the re-start, 2014 GP2 Vice Champion Stoffel Vandoorne became the first man to dip under 1m50s: the ART man went top with a laptime of 1:49.445, half a second quicker than Pic. A second red flag halted the proceedings briefly when Zoel Amberg stopped his Trident car.

At the halfway point, Mitch Evans found some extra pace to break the 1m50s barrier and moved up to P2. The remainder of the session was trouble-free and, in the final stages, Pierre Gasly put his DAMS car in P3 just ahead of Pic. Rio Haryanto, Julian Leal, André Negrao, Jazeman Jaafar, Ocon and Nicholas Latifi completed the top ten. Rene Binder did not take part in the morning session as he did not feel well enough to drive.

The afternoon session opened under the lights of the Yas Marina Circuit with Vandoorne once again setting the pace with a laptime of 1:49.004, five tenths quicker than Gasly in P2. Forty-five minutes into the session, the Frenchman found some extra pace to dip under 1m49s and went top, one tenth better than Vandoorne.

With one hour left on the clock, the session was red flagged after Evans stopped at Turn 18 following a gearbox failure. In the closing minutes, most drivers pushed to improve on their personal best time, but nobody could better Gasly’s laptime who with a laptime of 1:48.948 topped the day. The session concluded on a final red flag, courtesy of Sergio Campana who stopped on track. Vandoorne finished the afternoon session P2 ahead of Jordan King, Pic, Negrao, Evans, Richie Stanaway, Rio Haryanto, Ocon, Nathanael Berthon.

Tomorrow’s morning session will start at 12.00, local time.

Morning results

Afternoon results