Nato tops first Day of second GP2 test, Evans 6th in morning

GP2 Series

The GP2 Series field is back on track this week for the second 2016 pre-season test session at Circuito de Jerez, Spain. The paddock was greeted by blue skies but cold temperatures. When the pitlane turned green, it was Alex Lynn who fed onto the track first but he was closely followed by his teammate Nicholas Latifi and the rest of the pack.

After all cars had completed their installation lap, it was a quiet morning with the proceedings halted due to foggy conditions. When the action picked up again, RUSSIAN TIME’s Raffaele Marciello set the early pace in a laptime of 1:26.762.

With half an hour left on the clock, Racing Engineering’s Jordan King went quickest in a 1:26.201 ahead of Lynn and Mitch Evans. But Norman Nato found some extra pace to dip under 1m26s and sit pretty at the top of the timesheets.

At the chequered flag, Nato headed Pierre Gasly by 0.1s with King in P3. Lynn, Antonio Giovinazzi, Evans, Sergey Sirotkin, Arthur Pic, Oliver Rowland and Gustav Malja completed the top ten.

In the afternoon, the session started under blue skies and in warmer temperatures. Latifi ventured onto the track first but it was his teammate Lynn who set the early pace with a 1:26.442 – 0.1s quicker than Nato in P2. In the opening hour, Arden International’s Jimmy Eriksson caused a red flag after he clipped the barrier at Turn one.

The rest of the session was trouble-free and studious with most drivers completing long runs and practice starts. With one hour left on the clock, Gasly topped the timesheet in a 1:26.375 and took P1 from Lynn with Nato P3.

At the chequered flag, the top three remained unchanged. Giovinazzi, King, Luca Ghiotto, Marvin Kirchhöfer, Marciello, Oliver Rowland and Pic rounded the top ten.

Day 2 of this pre-season test will start tomorrow at 09.00, local time.

Morning results

Driver

Team

Laptime

Laps

1.

Norman Nato

Racing Engineering

1:25.811

14

2.

Pierre Gasly

PREMA Racing

1:25.961

10

3.

Jordan King

Racing Engineering

1:26.124

15

4.

Alex Lynn

DAMS

1:26.280

8

5.

Antonio Giovinazzi

PREMA Racing

1:26.322

10

6.

Mitch Evans

Jagonya Ayam Campos Racing

1:26.350

18

7.

Sergey Sirotkin

ART Grand Prix

1:26.405

15

8.

Arthur Pic

Rapax

1:26.650

15

9.

Oliver Rowland

MP Motorsport

1:26.674

7

10.

Gustav Malja

Rapax

1:26.706

17

11.

Raffaele Marciello

RUSSIAN TIME

1:26.762

12

12.

Danïel De Jong

MP Motorsport

1:26.805

9

13.

Jimmy Eriksson

Arden International

1:26.888

15

14.

Marvin Kirchhöfer

Carlin

1:26.928

15

15.

Artem Markelov

RUSSIAN TIME

1:27.065

13

16.

Nobuharu Matsushita

ART Grand Prix

1:27.273

18

17.

Sean Gelael

Jagonya Ayam Campos Racing

1:27.421

15

18.

Luca Ghiotto

Trident

1:27.657

13

19.

Nabil Jeffri

Arden International

1:28.193

16

20.

Philo Paz Armand

Trident

1:28.744

15

21.

Nicholas Latifi

DAMS

1:35.360

4

Afternoon results

Driver

Team

Laptime

Laps

1.

Pierre Gasly

PREMA Racing

1:26.375

29

2.

Alex Lynn

DAMS

1:26.442

43

3.

Norman Nato

Racing Engineering

1:26.558

31

4.

Antonio Giovinazzi

PREMA Racing

1:26.566

19

5.

Jordan King

Racing Engineering

1:26.617

34

6.

Luca Ghiotto

Trident

1:26.855

18

7.

Marvin Kirchhöfer

Carlin

1:26.883

29

8.

Raffaele Marciello

RUSSIAN TIME

1:26.989

21

9.

Oliver Rowland

MP Motorsport

1:27.101

18

10.

Arthur Pic

Rapax

1:27.112

28

11.

Gustav Malja

Rapax

1:27.151

21

12.

Nicholas Latifi

DAMS

1:27.154

46

13.

Mitch Evans

Jagonya Ayam Campos Racing

1:27.222

34

14.

Nobuharu Matsushita

ART Grand Prix

1:27.224

41

15.

Sergey Sirotkin

ART Grand Prix

1:27.275

18

16.

Artem Markelov

RUSSIAN TIME

1:27.487

24

17.

Danïel De Jong

MP Motorsport

1:27.734

13

18.

Sean Gelael

Jagonya Ayam Campos Racing

1:27.824

34

19.

Philo Paz Armand

Trident

1:27.838

28

20.

Nabil Jeffri

Arden International

1:27.846

28

21.

Jimmy Eriksson

Arden International

1:28.352

8 

Nato tops first Day of second GP2 test, Evans 6th in morning

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