Palmer leads Day One of GP2 testing from Kiwi Evans

GP2 Series

The 2014 GP2 Series has officially started today at Yas Marina Circuit with the opening of the first of two three day test sessions. All twenty-six drivers were eager to take to the track and it was rookie Stoffel Vandoorne who was the first man in action in his ART machine. The rest of the field followed to complete their installation laps on Pirelli Medium tyres.

On a dirty track, Daniel Abt set the early pace, but it was a majorly quiet first half of the session with the drivers playing the waiting game and hoping for a cleaner circuit. An hour and a half into the session, it was Vandoorne who had covered the most laps (fifteen). The laptimes started to drop and it was Mitch Evans who took top spot before a red flag period after the Kiwi’s teammate Artem Markelov stopped his car at Turn 4. At the restart, Alexander Rossi and Felipe Nasr took turns at the top of the standings. The proceedings were briefly halted a second time after Facu Regalia also stopped on track.

In the final stages, Rio Haryanto found some extra pace and set a laptime of 1:50.862 which was good enough to head the timings. At the chequered flag, the Indonesian driver was leading teammate Rossi, Jolyon Palmer, Stéphane Richelmi, Nasr, Johnny Cecotto, Julian Leal, Jon Lancaster, Rene Binder and Evans.

After the lunch break, the action returned with the DAMS pair quick to take to the track, and Richelmi setting the early pace in a 1:50.715. Nasr bettered the Monegasque driver’s time by three tenths right before his teammate Leal stopped on the circuit at Turn 20 briefly stopping the proceedings. When the track went live again, Nasr was able to improve some more and became the first man to dip under 1m50s. Soon after that, it was Cecotto’s turn to shine and steal the top spot from the Brazilian with a laptime of 1:49.892.

With one hour left on the clock, Palmer was able to set a laptime of 1:49.143, seven tenths quicker than Cecotto. Evans managed to improve on his personal best, but remained one tenth behind the Briton. Palmer even found some extra pace in the closing stages to set a time of 1:49.126. A final red flag period briefly interrupted the session after rookie Axcil Jefferies span and stopped at Turn 19. At the chequered flag, Palmer remained top ahead of Evans. Richelmi moved up to third in the dying minutes to finish ahead of Abt, Vandoorne, Cecotto, Nasr, Stefano Coletti, Rossi and newcomer Arthur Pic.

Tomorrow’s session will start at 9am local time.

Morning results

 DriverTeamLaptimeLaps
1.Rio HaryantoEQ8 Caterham Racing1:50.86213
2.Alexander RossiEQ8 Caterham Racing1:51.13512
3.Jolyon PalmerDAMS1:51.23211
4.Stéphane RichelmiDAMS1:51.47911
5.Felipe NasrCarlin1:51.59016
6.Johnny CecottoTrident1:51.5999
7.Julian LealCarlin1:51.60912
8.Jon LancasterMP Motorsport1:51.76513
9.Rene BinderArden International1:51.8939
10.Mitch EvansRT RUSSIAN TIME1:51.92817
11.Stefano ColettiRacing Engineering1:52.12110
12.Kimiya SatoCampos Racing1:52.17924
13.Daniel AbtHilmer Motorsport1:52.25918
14.Facu RegaliaHilmer Motorsport1:52.39810
15.Nathanaël BerthonTrident Racing1:52.58612
16.Raffaele MarcielloRacing Engineering1:52.62116
17.Arthur PicCampos Racing1:52.82023
18.Conor DalyVenezuela GP Lazarus1:53.02216
19.Simon TrummerRapax1:53.0418
20.Adrian Quaife-HobbsRapax1:53.16310
21.Axcil JefferiesTrident1:53.68620
22.Artem MarkelovRT RUSSIAN TIME1:53.80712
23.Takuya IzawaART Grand Prix2:23.23127
24.Stoffel VandoorneART Grand Prix2:23.75028
25.André NegraoArden International0
26.Daniiel De JongMP Motorsport0


Afternoon results

 DriverTeamLaptimeLaps
1.Jolyon PalmerDAMS1:49.12624
2.Mitch EvansRT RUSSIAN TIME1:49.29213
3.Stéphane RichelmiDAMS1:49.75628
4.Daniel AbtHilmer Motorsport1:49.77722
5.Stoffel VandoorneART Grand Prix1:49.79028
6.Johnny CecottoTrident1:49.89219
7.Felipe NasrCarlin1:49.89629
8.Stefano ColettiRacing Engineering1:49.96323
9.Alexander RossiEQ8 Caterham Racing1:50.01825
10.Arthur PicCampos Racing1:50.20419
11.Takuya IzawaART Grand Prix1:50.21937
12.André NegraoArden International1:50.24122
13.Rio HaryantoEQ8 Caterham Racing1:50.25624
14.Raffaele MarcielloRacing Engineering1:50.26124
15.Daniiel De JongMP Motorsport1:50.2656
16.Facu RegaliaHilmer Motorsport1:50.28917
17.Jon LancasterMP Motorsport1:50.43417
18.Rene BinderArden International1:50.49623
19.Julian LealCarlin1:50.54127
20.Artem MarkelovRT RUSSIAN TIME1:50.92521
21.Conor DalyVenezuela GP Lazarus1:50.93325
22.Nathanaël BerthonVenezuela GP Lazarus1:51.02620
23.Simon TrummerRapax1:51.04323
24.Axcil JefferiesTrident1:51.30029
25.Kimiya SatoCampos Racing1:51.33120
26.Adrian Quaife-HobbsRapax1:51.43716

Palmer leads Day One of GP2 testing from Kiwi Evans

  • GP2 Series
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