GP2: Caterham leads again, Evans 6th and 13th

GP2 Series

The second day of testing at Bahrain International Circuit opened this morning under overcast skies and in cooler temperatures. Jolyon Palmer, Takuya Izawa and Stoffel Vandoorne were quick to take to the track, but it was Conor Daly who topped the timesheets on soft Pirelli tyres early into the session. Fellow countryman Alexander Rossi became the first man to dip under 1m41s today, but Daly went even quicker and lapped the track in 1:40.233. It was then Mitch Evans who found some extra pace to break under the 1m40s barrier. His laptime was bettered by Palmer by two hundredths, the Briton clocking in a time of 1:39.854.

A few drops of rain fell over the track, but most of the field opted to put on the softer compounds and it was Rio Haryanto’s time to shine: the Indonesian driver managed to set a blazing laptime of 1:39.129 – three tenths quicker than last year’s pole position. Haryanto’s teammate Rossi went out on track for another attempt at topping the timesheet but ended a hairsbreadth away from the Indonesian. In the final stages, Julian Leal edged Raffaele Marciello out of third. Behind the Italian, Palmer, Evans, Vandoorne, Stéphane Richelmi, Rene Binder and Kimiya Sato rounded out the top ten.

After the lunch break, the temperatures rose and Daniiel De Jong was the early pace setter. He remained top for most of the session as drivers focused on race simulations and pitstop practices. With one hour left on the clock, Daniel Abt went quickest on Hard compounds, but De Jong on Soft Pirelli tyres soon improved on the German’s laptime and regained control of the timesheet.

In the closing stages, laptimes started to tumble down and the fight for the top spot saw Jon Lancaster, Vittorio Ghirelli and Johnny Cecotto successively hit the front, but at the chequered flag, De Jong reclaimed P1 with a 1:40.508 – two tenths quicker than Cecotto (also on Soft compounds). Leal was able to find some extra pace on Hard Pirelli tyres to move up to third in the dying minutes ahead of Ghirelli, Lancaster, Simon Trummer, Facu Regalia, Abt, Felipe Nasr and Arthur Pic.

The final day of pre-season testing will start again at 9am local time.

Morning results

 DriverTeamLaptimeLaps
1.Rio HaryantoEQ8 Caterham Racing1:39.12932
2.Alexander RossiEQ8 Caterham Racing1:39.17331
3.Julian LealCarlin1:39.53822
4.Raffaele MarcielloRacing Engineering1:39.70433
5.Jolyon PalmerDAMS1:39.85431
6.Mitch EvansRT RUSSIA TIME1:39.87015
7.Stoffel VandoorneART Grand Prix1:39.91332
8.Stephane RichelmiDAMS1:40.04529
9.Rene BinderArden International1:40.12615
10.Kimiya SatoCampos Racing1:40.15425
11.Nathanael BerthonVenezuela GP Lazarus1:40.19018
12.Artem MarkelovRT RUSSIAN TIME1:40.19118
13.Conor DalyVenezuela GP Lazarus1:40.23310
14.Adrian Quaife-HobbsRapax1:40.25019
15.Andre NegraoArden International1:40.31419
16.Takuya IzawaART Grand Prix1:40.67830
17.Felipe NasrCarlin1:40.78626
18.Arthur PicCampos Racing1:40.84024
19.Johnny CecottoTrident1:40.84215
20.Vittorio GhirelliTrident1:40.99125
21.Daniiel de JongMP Motorsport1:41.04110
22.Stefano ColettiRacing Engineering1:41.10622
23.Jon LancasterMP Motorsport1:41.16640
24.Simon TrummerRapax1:41.58629
25.Facu RegaliaHilmer Motorsport1:43.74839
26.Daniel AbtHilmer Motorsport1:43.79630

Afternoon results

 DriverTeamLaptimeLaps
1.Daniiel de JongMP Motorsport1:40.50819
2.Johnny CecottoTrident1:40.77919
3.Julian LealCarlin1:40.88221
4.Vittorio GhirelliTrident1:41.23514
5.Jon LancasterMP Motorsport1:41.27717
6.Simon TrummerRapax1:41.43629
7.Facu RegaliaHilmer Motorsport1:41.47625
8.Daniel AbtHilmer Motorsport1:41.74610
9.Felipe NasrCarlin1:41.99824
10.Arthur PicCampos Racing1:42.35438
11.Rene BinderArden International1:42.39331
12.André NegraoArdent International1:43.00729
13.Mitch EvansRT RUSSIAN TIME1:43.83927
14.Artem MarkelovRT RUSSIAN TIME1:43.87726
15.Jolyon PalmerDAMS1:43.91032
16.Nathanaël BerthonVenezuela GP Lazarus1:43.17932
17.Conor DalyVenezuela GP Lazarus1:44.27631
18.Stéphane RichelmiDAMS1:44.38124
19.Stoffel VandoorneART Grand Prix1:44.45846
20.Raffaele MarcielloRacing Engineering1:44.63217
21.Stefano ColettiRacing Engineering1:44.81826
22.Takuya IzawaART Grand Prix1:44.89546
23.Adrian Quaife-HobbsRapax1:45.15138
24.Alexander RossiEQ8 Caterham Racing1:45.24033
25.Kimiya SatoCampos Racing1:45.34833
26.Rio HaryantoEQ8 Caterham Racing1:45.44335

GP2: Caterham leads again, Evans 6th and 13th

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