Stefano Coletti on top again, Mitch ends strong in the Top 10

GP2 Series

Less than two weeks before the 2013 GP2 Series season kicks off in Malaysia, Stefano Coletti confirmed his good form today: the Monegasque driver topped a dry testing day in Barcelona in the morning session with a laptime of 1:29.055. Felipe Nasr was fastest in the afternoon for Carlin.

A clear blue sky welcomed the GP2 drivers at the Circuit de Catalunya this morning for the final day of pre-season testing. As the pitlane opened, the track was still damp though pushing the majority of drivers to opt for wet weather tyres for the first half of the session. Stéphane Richelmi was the early pace setter, but his teammate Marcus Ericsson took control of the timesheets after one hour done and dusted in the session.

At the halfway mark and on a drying track, Riccardo Agostini was the first driver to test the hard compounds and to significantly improve on Ericsson’s best laptime. The rest of the field also switched to slicks and it was again Ericsson on soft tyres who set the best laptime in a 1:29.606 until a red flag was waved when Rene Binder spun and stopped at Turn 5. At the restart, most drivers opted for the Soft Pirelli compounds and Coletti found extra pace to set the best laptime of the session with a 1:29.055, one tenth clear from Ericsson. Richelmi, Jolyon Palmer, Sergio Canamasas, James Calado, and rookies Kevin Giovesi, Mitch Evans, Daniel Abt and Adrian Quaife-Hobbs rounded up the top ten.

The afternoon session opened one hour later on a dry track. Conor Daly replaced Riccardo Agostini at Hilmer Motorsport. Fabio Leimer set the early pace, but Coletti (on the hard compound) edged him out of the top spot. The Rapax driver remained in control of the timesheets until mid-session when Nasr on soft compounds set the fastest second and third sectors to claim top spot a shy 0.09s quicker than Coletti. In the closing stages, the Monegasque driver reduced the gap slightly to end three hundredths slower than Nasr. Taking advantage of a dry track after two days of wet weather, the drivers focused mainly on race simulations and pit-stop practice. Tom Dillmann finished third ahead of Leimer, Quaife-Hobbs, Robin Frijns, Calado, Giovesi, Evans and Daly.

This marked the end of the pre-season testing for GP2 Series. In two weeks time, the paddock will gather in Sepang, Malaysia, for the opening round of the eighth season of the category.

Morning results

DriverTeamLaptimeLaps
1.Stefano ColettiRapax1:29.05530
2.Marcus EricssonDAMS1:29.21735
3.Stéphane RichelmiDAMS1:29.45339
4.Jolyon PalmerCarlin1:29.46728
5.Sergio CanamasasCaterham Racing1:29.61136
6.James CaladoART Grand Prix1:29.62433
7.Kevin GiovesiVenezuela GP Lazarus1:29.81232
8.Mitch EvansArden International1:29.90234
9.Daniel AbtART Grand Prix1:29.99430
10.Adrian Quaife-HobbsMP Motorsport1:30.01223
11.Daniel De JongMP Motorsport1:30.03726
12.Robin FrijnsRUSSIAN TIME1:30.16824
13.Fabio LeimerRacing Engineering1:30.24422
14.Pal VarhaugHilmer Motorsport1:30.30026
15.Felipe NasrCarlin1:30.45927
16.Rene BinderVenezuela GP Lazarus1:30.48419
17.Jake RosenzweigBarwa Addax Team1:30.62016
18.Johnny CecottoArden International1:30.63531
19.Simon TrummerRapax1:30.66728
20.Riccardo AgostiniHilmer Motorsport1:30.72435
21.Rio HaryantoBarwa Addax Team1:30.81329
22.Tom DillmannRUSSIAN TIME1:30.85527
23.Rodolfo GonzalezTrident Racing1:31.02913
24.Ma Qing HuaCaterham Racing1:31.03532
25.Julian LealRacing Engineering1:31.22014


Afternoon results

DriverTeamLaptimeLaps
1.Felipe NasrCarlin1:29.38146
2.Stefano ColettiRapax1:29.41428
3.Tom DillmannRUSSIAN TIME1:29.84337
4.Fabio LeimerRacing Engineering1:29.86230
5.Adrian Quaife-HobbsMP Motorsport1:29.91439
6.Robin FrijnsRUSSIAN TIME1:30.05329
7.James CaladoART Grand Prix1:30.25655
8.Kevin GiovesiVenezuela GP Lazarus1:30.31833
9.Mitch EvansArden International1:30.32434
10.Conor DalyHilmer Motorsport1:30.41737
11.Daniel De JongMP Motorsport1:30.44129
12.Rene BinderVenezuela GP Lazarus1:30.45428
13.Pal VarhaugHilmer Motorsport1:30.55441
14.Julian LealRacing Engineering1:30.60136
15.Stéphane RichelmiDAMS1:30.64340
16.Daniel AbtART Grand Prix1:30.72152
17.Sergio CanamasasCaterham racing1:30.81354
18.Johnny CecottoArden International1:30.82133
19.Marcus EricssonDAMS1:30.82340
20.Simon TrummerRapax1:30.88443
21.Jolyon PalmerCarlin1:30.91828
22.Rio HaryantoBarwa Addax Team1:30.99742
23.Jake RosenzweigBarwa Addax Team1:31.27138
24.Rodolfo GonzalezTrident Racing1:31.36837
25.Ma Qing HuaCaterham Racing1:31.37053

Stefano Coletti on top again, Mitch ends strong in the Top 10

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