Evans strong as Marciello tops opening GP2 test day

Autosport

Raffaele Marciello topped the first day of GP2’s post-season test at Yas Marina for the Trident Racing squad.

This year’s European Formula 3 champion hit the front in the evening session of what was his first outing in GP2, setting the outright pace with a 1m49.811s.

Only two drivers – series regular Alexander Rossi and Red Bull junior Carlos Sainz – were able to join him in the sub 1m50s bracket.

The former set the pace for Caterham in the morning session with a 1m49.958s, leaving him more than half a second clear of a chasing pack led by Daniel Abt, Johnny Cecotto and last year’s GP3 champion Mitch Evans, who was testing for newly-crowned teams’ champions Russian Time.

Rossi’s time was ultimately enough to earn him second overall, although Carlin’s Sainz ended the evening just nine thousandths of a second down the road.

Sainz’s time had kept him top of the evening pile until the final hour, when Marciello improved to end the day at the head of the timesheets.

With the exception of Rossi, all top 10 times were set in that latter session.

Abt – testing for Hilmer – secured fourth overall with a 1m50.120s.

Less than one tenth of a second, meanwhile, covered Cecotto (Lazarus), GP2 race-winner Jolyon Palmer (Racing Engineering), Evans and Arden’s Rene Binder.

Will Stevens, who took five podiums in Formula Renault 3.5 this year, secured ninth for MP Motorsport, fractions ahead of fellow FR3.5 podium sitter Andre Negrao, driving for Hilmer.

Among a number of changes for day two are Palmer switching to DAMS, British F3 champion Jordan King coming in at Addax and Sam Bird substituting for Tom Dillmann at Russian Time, the team with which he finished runner-up in GP2 this year.

Morning times

Pos Driver                  Team                  Time       Laps
 1. Alexander Rossi         Caterham              1m49.958s  22
 2. Daniel Abt              Hilmer                1m50.608s  20
 3. Johnny Cecotto          Lazarus               1m50.643s  12
 4. Mitch Evans             Russian Time          1m50.722s  20
 5. Raffaele Marciello      Trident               1m50.812s  20
 6. Daniel De Jong          MP Motorsport         1m51.038s  15
 7. Nico Muller             Arden                 1m51.144s  23
 8. Stephane Richelmi       DAMS                  1m51.152s  20
 9. Will Stevens            MP Motorsport         1m51.210s  21
10. Rene Binder             Arden                 1m51.234s  25
11. Simon Trummer           Rapax                 1m51.515s  23
12. Carlos Sainz            Carlin                1m51.536s  20
13. Jazeman Jaafar          Carlin                1m51.620s  27
14. Julian Leal             Trident               1m51.627s  13
15. Andre Negrao            Hilmer                1m51.734s  21
16. Rio Haryanto            Racing Engineering    1m51.779s  24
17. Jolyon Palmer           Racing Engineering    1m51.966s  21
18. Rodolfo Gonzalez        Addax                 1m52.056s  13
19. Stoffel Vandoorne       ART                   1m52.357s  28
20. Arthur Pic              ART                   1m52.422s  28
21. Artem Markelov          Russian Time          1m52.763s  17
22. Sandy Stuvik            Rapax                 1m52.772s  20
23. Nikolay Martsenko       Addax                 1m53.419s  18
24. Denis Magulin           Lazarus               1m55.231s  20
25. Facu Regalia            Caterham              no time     1

Afternoon times

Pos Driver                  Team                  Time       Laps
 1. Raffaele Marciello      Trident               1m49.811s  17
 2. Carlos Sainz            Carlin                1m49.967s  28
 3. Daniel Abt              Hilmer                1m50.120s  25
 4. Johnny Cecotto          Lazarus               1m50.206s  19
 5. Jolyon Palmer           Racing Engineering    1m50.238s  28
 6. Mitch Evans             Russian Time          1m50.279s  22
 7. Rene Binder             Arden                 1m50.291s  22
 8. Will Stevens            MP Motorsport         1m50.392s  26
 9. Andre Negrao            Hilmer                1m50.411s  26
10. Facu Regalia            Caterham              1m50.525s  29
11. Stoffel Vandoorne       ART                   1m50.538s  23
12. Arthur Pic              ART                   1m50.547s  26
13. Simon Trummer           Rapax                 1m50.610s  27
14. Julian Leal             Trident               1m50.631s  26
15. Nicol Muller            Arden                 1m50.634s  20
16. Rio Haryanto            Racing Engineering    1m50.712s  24
17. Stephane Richelmi       DAMS                  1m50.791s  27
18. Artem Markelov          Russian Time          1m50.900s  25
19. Rodolfo Gonzalez        Addax                 1m50.993s  25
20. Daniel De Jong          MP Motorsport         1m51.106s  22
21. Jazeman Jaafar          Carlin                1m51.261s  22
22. Nikolay Martsenko       Addax                 1m51.339s  30
23. Sandy Stuvik            Rapax                 1m51.343s  24
24. Alexander Rossi         Caterham              1m52.006s  35
25. Denis Nagulin           Lazarus               1m53.510s  24

Evans strong as Marciello tops opening GP2 test day

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