GP2 Hot News

Esteban Gutierrez quickest on Day 2

Esteban Gutiérrez finished at the top of the timesheets today after putting in a laptime of 1:28.740, 0.004s ahead of Giedo van der Garde in a very closely fought morning session. Julian Leal topped the afternoon session ahead of Nigel Melker.

The temperatures were very cold as day two of the second 2012 pre-season testing opened at Circuit de Catalunya. James Calado set the early pace, two hundredths quicker than his teammate Gutiérrez, but the Briton’s laptime was later bettered by GP3 graduate Rio Haryanto. Max Chilton was the first driver to dip under 1m29s in what looked like a qualifying session for most racers as they compared the performance between Pirelli Prime and Option tires. By mid-session, Gutiérrez went top, a mere 0.008s faster than Chilton whilst Davide Valsecchi also broke the 1m29s barrier and put his DAMS car into P3. In an extremely competitive and trouble-free session, van der Garde found the extra pace to slip into P2, four thousands of a second shy from Gutiérrez’ laptime. At the chequered flag, the top three remained unchanged and were followed by Valsecchi, Stefano Coletti, Luiz Razia, Calado, Fabrizio Crestani, Jolyon Palmer and Fabio Onidi.

After the lunch break, Stéphane Richelmi set the early pace, but his teammate Julian Leal went two tenths quicker and took control of the timesheets early on and remained unchallenged until the chequered flag. The remainder of the three hour session was used by the drivers to work on race simulations and pit stop practice. With only fifteen days left before the season opener in Sepang, the teams' main focus was on finding the best set up. In the final half hour, Melker went second fastest. Richelmi, Josef Kral, Tom Dillmann (replacing Sergio Canamasas at Rapax), Razia, Jon Lancaster, Ricardo Teixeira, Haryanto and Gutiérrez rounded up the top ten.

Tomorrow’s session will start at 9am local time and run until 12pm. After a one hour break, it will run from 1pm until 4pm.

Morning results

Pos Driver Team Laptime Laps
1. Esteban Gutiérrez Lotus GP 1:28.740 36
2. Giedo van der Garde Caterham Racing 1:28.744 30
3. Max Chilton Carlin 1:28.748 29
4. Davide Valsecchi DAMS 1:28.785 25
5. Stefano Coletti Scuderia Coloni 1:29.047 24
6. Luiz Razia Arden International 1:29.065 35
7. James Calado Lotus GP 1:29.100 37
8. Fabrizio Crestani Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:29.150 22
9. Jolyon Palmer iSport International 1:29.195 21
10. Fabio Onidi Scuderia Coloni 1:29.198 27
11. Tom Dillmann Rapax 1:29.289 26
12. Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering 1:29.339 28
13. Nathanaël Berthon Racing Engineering 1:29.397 29
14. Rio Haryanto Carlin 1:29.515 26
15. Jon Lancaster Ocean Racing Technology 1:29.533 30
16. Nigel Melker Ocean Racing Technology 1:29.540 28
17. Marcus Ericsson iSport International 1:29.547 27
18. Josef Kral Barwa Addax Team 1:29.621 32
19. Felipe Nasr DAMS 1:29.865 35
20. Simon Trummer Arden International 1:29.881 33
21. Rodolfo Gonzalez Caterham Racing 1:30.169 36
22. Johnny Cecotto Barwa Addax Team 1:30.200 28
23. Stéphane Richelmi Trident Racing 1:30.553 24
24. Julian Leal Trident Racing 1:30.747 6
25. Ricardo Teixeira Rapax 1:31.220 22
26. Giancarlo Serenelli Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:32.740 37


Afternoon results

Pos Driver Team Laptime Laps
1. Julian Leal Trident Racing 1:29.653 42
2. Nigel Melker Ocean Racing Technology 1:29.680 16
3. Stéphane Richelmi Trident Racing 1:29.860 37
4. Josef Kral Barwa Addax Team 1:29.924 27
5. Tom Dillmann Rapax 1:29.937 23
6. Luiz Razia Arden International 1:29.970 30
7. Jon Lancaster Ocean Racing Technology 1:30.259 34
8. Ricardo Teixeira Rapax 1:31.877 28
9. Rio Haryanto Carlin 1:32.581 30
10. Esteban Gutiérrez Lotus GP 1:32.613 47
11. Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering 1:32.751 36
12. Fabrizio Crestani Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:32.842 21
13. Giancarlo Serenelli Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:33.089 24
14. Stefano Coletti Scuderia Coloni 1:33.154 30
15. Marcus Ericsson iSport International 1:33.225 37
16. Giedo van der Garde Caterham Racing 1:33.387 48
17. Jolyon Palmer iSport International 1:33.410 41
18. Felipe Nasr DAMS 1:33.461 32
19. Davide Valsecchi DAMS 1:33.485 32
20. Max Chilton Carlin 1:33.485 37
21. Fabio Onidi Scuderia Coloni 1:33.616 33
22. James Calado Lotus GP 1:33.677 49
23. Nathanaël Berthon Racing Engineering 1:33.751 45
24. Simon Trummer Arden International 1:33.761 52
25. Johnny Cecotto Barwa Addax Team 1:34.542 34
26. Rodolfo Gonzalez Caterham Racing 1:35.054 47