Electrical problems plagued Mitch Evans’ first day of testing in his new GP2 car but he still logged solid performances in the two sessions run at the famous Jerez circuit in Spain.
Evans, driving for Arden Racing, was 12th fastest amongst the 24 drivers in the morning session.
He completed 14 laps with a fastest lap of 1m 26.070s that put him 0.740s behind Carlin’s Jolyon Palmer who led the field.
In the afternoon Evans was 14th with his best time 1m 26.116 which left him 1.057s off the pace set by Hilmer Motorsport’s Tom Dillman.
Evans was red-flagged as electrical problems hit, leaving the young Kiwi frustrated.
He later tweeted: “Great to be back in the car, had some reliability issues this morn that put us on the back foot for the rest of the day. P12 & p14 #worktodo.”
Evan’s Arden team mate Johnny Cecotto was fourth in the morning session and 10th in the afternoon.
Evans is stepping up a level after being crowned GP3 champion last year.
He tested impressively with Arden in Europe late last year to secure his drive and is now ironing out issues with his new car.
The GP2 season opens in Sepang, Malaysia on March 22.
