Rossi tops Day 2 of GP2 testing in Barcelona

American Alexander Rossi tops GP2 test

Day two of the first post-season test session opened this morning at Circuit de Catalunya on a very wet track with rain pouring down incessantly. It took a while before the first drivers braved the tricky conditions in order to do their installation laps. Kevin Ceccon at Ocean was the first one to feed on to the track, but it was Sergio Canamasas at Lotus GP who set a first lap time albeit a pretty slow one compared to yesterday’s best time.

The minutes ticked away and the rain kept on coming down. Only a handful of drivers set a lap time. Jolyon Palmer at iSport broke under the 2min barrier ahead of Eddie Cheever Jr (Coloni) and Canamasas. Halfway through the session, Nigel Melker at Racing Engineering went top ahead of teammate Facundo Regalia, but the Argentinean improved and went quickest before the session was briefly halted after Rene Binder (Lazarus) spun and stopped at Turn 5.

The skies eventually took pity on the GP2 field and the rain stopped for the final hour of the session. Alexander Rossi at Caterham took control of the timesheet ahead of Daniel Juncadella at Rapax and returnee Pal Varhaug at iSport. On a drying track, the lap times slowly improved, but the session was red flagged twice as rookie Sergei Sirotkin (DAMS) lost control of his car at Turn 4 and as Rene Binder also spun and stopped at Turn 6. At the checkered flag, Regalia was leading Canamasas, Rossi, Melker, Daniel De Jong, Adrian Quaife-Hobbs, Varhaug, Arthur Pic, Juncadella and Stefano Coletti.

After a one hour lunch break, the cars were back in action on a less damp track. Coletti, De Jong and Cheever Jr were the first ones out. Lap times dropped as the track dried out and Canamasas set the early pace but was soon bettered by iSport duo, Varhaug ahead of Palmer. The session was interrupted after the Norwegian and Pic both went wide and stopped in the gravel bed.

At the restart, the sun came out and hopes to use the slick tires arose. Melker went quickest ahead of both Trident cars, but Coletti improved and claimed the top spot just before another red flag halted the proceedings after Rene Binder spun and stopped at Turn 7. The track went live again and Rossi dipped under 1m32s and went top ahead of rookie Daniel Abt.

Another two red flags interrupted the session: Juncadella first went wide at turn 4. Soon after the restart, it was Lucas Foresti who lost control of his Caterham car also at turn 4. With 30 minutes left on the clock, the proceedings got going again and most drivers hoped to get the most out of their new sets of tires. Quaife-Hobbs found some extra pace amid traffic to slip into P2. A final red flag concluded the day courtesy of Varhaug who crashed into the barrier at turn 4.

Rossi finished on top ahead of Quaife-Hobbs, Melker, Trummer, Abt, Coletti, Rio Haryanto, Canamasas, Juncadella and Kevin Giovesi. The GP2 paddock will gather in three weeks time in Jerez for the second and final post-season test session of 2012.

Morning results

Pos Driver Team Lap time Laps
1. Facundo Regalia Racing Engineering 1:51.799 21
2. Sergio Canamasas Lotus GP 1:52.023 21
3. Alexander Rossi Caterham Racing 1:52.118 13
4. Nigel Melker Racing Engineering 1:52.179 17
5. Daniel De Jong Scuderia Coloni 1:52.469 13
6. Adrian Quaife Hobbs Barwa Addax Team 1:52.529 12
7. Pal Varhaug iSport International 1:52.536 17
8. Arthur Pic DAMS 1:52.566 18
9. Daniel Juncadella Rapax 1:52.648 16
10. Stefano Coletti Rapax 1:52.934 8
11. Jake Rosenzweig Barwa Addax Team 1:53.108 12
12. Jolyon Palmer iSport International 1:53.196 25
13. Rio Haryanto Carlin 1:53.653 8
14. Felipe Nasr Carlin 1:53.776 9
15. Lucas Foresti Caterham Racing 1:53.844 13
16. Sergey Sirotkin DAMS 1:53.890 16
17. Kevin Giovesi Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:53.892 13
18. Rene Binder Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:54.042 12
19. Stephane Richelmi Trident Racing 1:54.096 16
20. Simon Trummer Arden International 1:54.546 12
21. Eddie Cheever Jr Scuderia Coloni 1:54.604 23
22. Julian Leal Trident Racing 1:54.909 9
23. Mitch Evans Arden International 1:56.843 16
24. Daniel Abt Lotus GP 2:00.783 8
25. Luca Filippi Scuderia Coloni
26. Kevin Ceccon Ocean Racing Technology
27. Ramon Pineiro Ocean Racing Technology


Afternoon Results

Pos Driver Team Lap time Laps
1. Alexander Rossi Caterham Racing 1:31.173 26
2. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Barwa Addax Team 1:31.552 19
3. Nigel Melker Racing Engineering 1:31.583 28
4. Simon Trummer Arden International 1:31.667 43
5. Daniel Abt Lotus GP 1:31.763 30
6. Stefano Coletti Rapax 1:31.773 28
7. Rio Haryanto Carlin 1:31.822 29
8. Sergio Canamasas Lotus GP 1:31.876 35
9. Daniel Juncadella Rapax 1:31.883 24
10. Kevin Giovesi Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:31.896 30
11. Daniel De Jong Scuderia Coloni 1:32.027 31
12. Mitch Evans Arden International 1:32.035 28
13. Jolyon Palmer iSport International 1:32.036 38
14. Pal Varhaug iSport International 1:32.039 25
15. Jake Rosenzweig Barwa Addax Team 1:32.040 32
16. Stephane Richelmi Trident Racing 1:32.236 42
17. Felipe Nasr Carlin 1:32.243 38
18. Facundo Regalia Racing Engineering 1:32.337 26
19. Arthur Pic DAMS 1:32.438 38
20. Rene Binder Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:32.492 29
21. Julian Leal Trident Racing 1:32.770 35
22. Eddie Cheever Scuderia Coloni 1:32.781 30
23. Sergey Sirotkin DAMS 1:32.907 28
24. Lucas Foresti Caterham Racing 1:33.840 34
25. Luca Filippi Scuderia Coloni
26. Kevin Ceccon Ocean Racing Technology
27. Ramon Pineiro Ocean Racing Technology