Day 3: Fabio Leimer stays on top in Abu Dhabi

Fabio Leimer

It was a trouble-free test session today at Yas Marina Circuit for the third day of post season testing which saw eight drivers join the paddock – Alexander Sims at ART Grand Prix, Brendon Hartley at Racing Engineering, Rio Haryanto at iSport International, Romain Grosjean at Dams, Davide Rigon at Rapax, Alexander Rossi at Arden International, Karun Chandhok at Ocean Racing Technology and Adrian Quaife-Hobbs at Scuderia Coloni.

The three-hour morning session was only briefly interrupted by one red flag, thus, all twenty-four drivers could benefit fully from continuous track time with Sam Bird – today at the wheel of an iSport car – the first one to top the timesheets. However, after dominating Day 2 of these post season tests, Rapax’s Fabio Leimer, on his fifth lap today, set his lap time in a 1:47.856, a lap that nobody could then better. Josef Kral, today at Arden International, came very close to the Swiss’ best, along with DPR’s Michael Herck while Bird had to settle for fourth quickest, a shy two tenths away from Leimer.

The afternoon session started with Grosjean setting up the pace ahead of Bird, but Leimer would simply not let anyone else shine, going at the top of the timesheets once again early in the session. In the last thirty minutes, Herck went quickest with Bird in tow, but Rapax’s Swiss ace improved even more and finished the day in the top spot ahead of the Romanian. Behind them was Bird, Grosjean, Dani Clos at Trident and Marcus Ericsson. Roberto Merhi adjusted well to the Racing Engineering car by claiming best rookie of the day.

Tomorrow’s session will start at 9am local time and will conclude the GP2 Series post season tests. Drivers’ entry list is available at www.gp2series.com

Morning Session // Day 3
1. Fabio Leimer – Rapax – 1:47.856 (18)
2. Josef Kral – Arden International – 1:47.882 (22)
3. Michael Herck – DPR – 1:47.905 (25)
4. Sam Bird – iSport International – 1:48.053 (19)
5. Marcus Ericsson – Barwa Addax Team – 1:48.113 (29)
6. Roberto Merhi – Racing Engineering – 1:48.279 (31)
7. Brendon Hartley – Racing Engineering – 1:48.372 (28)
8. Esteban Gutierrez – ART Grand Prix – 1:48.517 (26)
9. Romain Grosjean – Dams – 1:48.552 (27)
10. Dani Clos – Trident Racing – 1:48.634 (20)
11. Oliver Turvey – Super Nova Racing – 1:48.645 (30)
12. Jolyon Palmer – Barwa Addax Team – 1:48.647 (29)
13. Alexander Rossi – Arden International – 1:48.703 (24)
14. Karun Chandhok – Ocean Racing Technology – 1:48.772 (23)
15. Rodolfo Gonzalez – Ocean Racing Technology – 1:48.819 (34)
16. Kevin Ceccon – DPR – 1:49.085 (23)
17. Jake Rosenzweig – Super Nova Racing – 1:49.439 (24)
18. Julian Leal – Trident Racing – 1:49.439 (22)
19. Davide Rigon – Rapax – 1:49.476 (18)
20 Nathanael Berthon – Dams – 1:49.480 (11)
21. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs – Scuderia Coloni – 1:49.488 (31)
22. Alexander Sims – ART Grand Prix – 1:49.605 (29)
23. Armaan Ebrahim – Scuderia Coloni – 1:49.731 (17)
24. Rio Haryanto – iSport International – 1:50.067 (18)

Afternoon Session // Day 3

1. Fabio Leimer – Rapax – 1:47.165 (20)
2. Michael Herck – DPR – 1:47.281 (23)
3. Sam Bird – iSport International – 1:47.490 (14)
4. Romain Grosjean – Dams – 1:47.558 (21)
5. Dani Clos – Trident Racing – 1:47.567 (17)
6. Marcus Ericsson – Barwa Addax Team – 1:47.775 (21)
7. Roberto Merhi – Racing Engineering – 1:47.869 (19)
8. Oliver Turvey – Super Nova Racing – 1:47.960 (20)
9. Davide Rigon – Rapax – 1:48.008 (33)
10. Jolyon Palmer – Barwa Addax Team – 1:48.185 (28)
11. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs – Scuderia Coloni – 1:48.228 (25)
12. Josef Kral – Arden International – 1:48.303 (26)
13. Karun Chandhok – Ocean Racing Technology – 1:48.372 (23)
14. Alexander Rossi – Arden International – 1:48.425 (29)
15. Julian Leal – Trident Racing – 1:48.499 (21)
16. Brendon Hartley – Racing Engineering – 1:48.540 (23)
17. Nathanael Berthon – Dams – 1:48.575 (17)
18. Rodolfo Gonzalez – Ocean Racing Technology – 1:48.738 (28)
19. Armaan Ebrahim – Scuderia Coloni – 1:48.857 (30)
20 Alexander Sims – ART Grand Prix – 1:48.889 (27)
21. Jake Rosenzweig – Super Nova Racing – 1:49.139 (30)
22. Kevin Ceccon – DPR – 1:49.549 (7)
23. Rio Haryanto – iSport International – 1:49.715 (22)
24. Esteban Gutierrez ART Grand Prix 1:50.670 36