Rossi and Raffaele top Day 1 of post-season GP2 testing

Alexander Rossi proving he has the speed for F1

F3 European champion Marciello Raffaele impressed on his first GP2 outing: the Italian set the best laptime of the day at the wheel of the Trident Racing car in a 1:49.811 in the evening session at Yas Marina Circuit. 2013 season best rookie Alexander Rossi was quickest in the morning session in his backmarker Caterham machine and then focused on long runs in the evening.

Just a couple of days after the checkered flag has dropped on the 2013 GP2 Series season, all thirteen teams stayed in Abu Dhabi for a three-day post-season test session, sharing the track time with GP3 Series cars. Pirelli have nominated Medium tires for all three days.

The morning session opened at 12.00 local time and Johnny Cecotto set the early pace at the wheel of the Venezuela GP Lazarus car. The Venezuelan driver set a laptime of 1:50.642, six tenths quicker than Mitch Evans who tested at RUSSIAN TIME today. The session was trouble free with the exception of one red flag after rookie Denis Nagulin stopped his Lazarus car on track. In the final hour, Rossi found some extra pace to break under 1m50s and deny Cecotto top spot. Daniel Abt was also able to improve in the final minutes of the session to put his Hilmer car ahead of Cecotto. At the checkered flag, behind the top three, Evans was fourth. Marciello was fifth ahead of Daniel De Jong, Arden’s and rookie Nico Müller, Stéphane Richelmi, newcomer Will Stevens (MP Motorsport) and Rene Binder (Arden).

The action resumed at 6pm local time and under the lights of the Yas Marina Circuit. Richelmi was quick to set a laptime that put him at the top of the standings, but GP3 graduate Carlos Sainz (Carlin) dipped under 1m50s as rookie and McLaren protégé Stoffel Vandoorne also improved at the wheel of his ART car enough to move up to P2, but was still seven tenths slower than the Spaniard. He was edged out of second spot by Stevens. Binder was up next to try and catch Sainz. He reduced the gap, but was not able to match the Carlin man’s pace. Abt found some extra speed to move up to P2. With one hour left on the clock, Marciello went quickest, one tenth better than Sainz. In the dying minutes, a red flag interrupted the proceedings after Rossi stopped on the track following a tire puncture due to flat spot. At the checkered flag, Marciello remained top ahead of Sainz, Abt, Cecotto, Jolyon Palmer, Evans, Binder, Stevens, newcomer Andre Negrao (Hilmer) and GP3 Vice Champion Facu Regalia (Caterham).

Day 2 of testing will see a few changes starting with Palmer moving to DAMS alongside Richelmi. Müller will join Racing Engineering with Negrao. Julian Leal will test at Arden International with Brazilian Pietro Fantin. Carlos Huertas will join Carlin for the day, whilst Sam Bird will substitute for an injured Tom Dillmann at RUSSIAN TIME. EQ8 Caterham Racing will test two new drivers: Rio Haryanto and Stevens. British F3 champion Jordan King will test at Barwa Addax Team whilst GP3 graduate Adderly Fong will test at Trident. Binder will move to Hilmer. Finally, GP3 graduates Giovanni Venturini and Tio Ellinas will test for Lazarus and MP Motorsport respectively.

Morning results

Pos Driver Team Laptime Laps
1. Alexander Rossi EQ8 Caterham Racing 1:49.958 22
2. Daniel Abt Hilmer Motorsport 1:50.608 20
3. Johnny Cecotto Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:50.643 12
4. Mitch Evans RUSSIAN TIME 1:50.722 20
5. Raffaele Marciello Trident Racing 1:50.812 20
6. Daniel De Jong MP Motorsport 1:51.038 15
7. Nico Müller Arden International 1:51.144 23
8. Stephane Richelmi DAMS 1:51.152 20
9. Will Stevens MP Motorsport 1:51.210 21
10. Rene Binder Arden International 1:51.234 25
11. Simon Trummer Rapax 1:51.515 23
12. Carlos Sainz Carlin 1:51.536 20
13. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin 1:51.620 27
14. Julian Leal Trident Racing 1:51.627 13
15. Andre Negrao Hilmer Motorsport 1:51.734 21
16. Rio Haryanto Racing Engineering 1:51.779 24
17. Jolyon Palmer Racing Engineering 1:51.966 21
18. Rodolfo Gonzalez Barwa Addax Team 1:52.056 13
19. Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 1:52.357 28
20. Arthur Pic ART Grand Prix 1:52.422 28
21. Artem Markelov RUSSIAN TIME 1:52.763 17
22. Sandy Stuvik Rapax 1:52.772 20
23. Nikolay Martsenko Barwa Addax Team 1:53.419 18
24. Denis Magulin Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:55.231 20
25. Facu Regalia EQ8 Caterham Racing 1
26. Kevin Magnussen DAMS 0

Evening results

Pos Driver Team Laptime Laps
1. Raffaele Marciello Trident Racing 1:49.811 17
2. Carlos Sainz Carlin 1:49.967 28
3. Daniel Abt Hilmer Motorsport 1:50.120 25
4. Johnny Cecotto Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:50.206 19
5. Jolyon Palmer Racing Engineering 1:50.238 28
6. Mitch Evans RUSSIAN TIME 1:50.279 22
7. Rene Binder Arden International 1:50.291 22
8. Will Stevens MP Motorsport 1:50.392 26
9. Andre Negrao Hilmer Motorsport 1:50.411 26
10. Facu Regalia EQ8 Caterham Racing 1:50.525 29
11. Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 1:50.538 23
12. Arthur Pic ART Grand Prix 1:50.547 26
13. Simon Trummer Rapax 1:50.610 27
14. Julian Leal Trident Racing 1:50.631 26
15. Nicol Müller Arden International 1:50.634 20
16. Rio Haryanto Racing Engineering 1:50.712 24
17. Stephane Richelmi DAMS 1:50.791 27
18. Artem Markelov RUSSIAN TIME 1:50.900 25
19. Rodolfo Gonzalez Barwa Addax Team 1:50.993 25
20. Daniel De Jong MP Motorsport 1:51.106 22
21. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin 1:51.261 22
22. Nikolay Martsenko Barwa Addax Team 1:51.339 30
23. Sandy Stuvik Rapax 1:51.343 24
24. Alexander Rossi EQ8 Caterham Racing 1:52.006 35
25. Denis Nagulin Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:53.510 24
26. Kevin Magnussen DAMS 0