Sakhir, FP: Rossi sets the pace at Sakhir

American driver quickest in free practice

By Franck Drui

19 November 2015 - 10:23
Sakhir, FP: Rossi sets the pace at (...)

Back fresh from his F1 stint, Alexander Rossi looked on a mission in this morning’s free practice session at the Bahrain International Circuit: the American driver set the quickest laptime in a 1:41.180 – three hundredths better than newly crowned GP2 Champion Stoffel Vandoorne. Red Bull protégé Pierre Gasly finished the session in third place.

The pitlane opened in high temperature as the twenty-four GP2 cars fed onto the track with Medium Pirelli tyres. Gasly was quick to find his marks on the Bahraini track to go top ahead of Raffaele Marciello.

Ten minutes into the session, Vandoorne found some extra pace to go fastest, but the Belgian driver was edged out of the top spot just seconds later as Rossi improved as well. The rest of the session was trouble free with the teams and drivers working on their set ups and race simulations.

At the chequered flag, Rossi was unchallenged ahead of Vandoorne and Gasly. Nobuharu Matsushita who had qualified P2 on this same track earlier this season finished today’s free practice session in fourth ahead of Sergey Sirotkin, Marciello, Alex Lynn, Jordan King, Arthur Pic and Rio Haryanto. The top eighteen drivers finished within one second.

The action will resume at 14.20 local time for what promises to be a thrilling battle for pole position.

PosDriverTeamTimeLaps
1. Alexander Rossi Racing Engineering 1:41.180 18
2. Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 1:41.213 18
3. Pierre Gasly DAMS 1:41.230 19
4. Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 1:41.253 18
5. Sergei Sirotkin Rapax 1:41.345 17
6. Raffaele Marciello Trident 1:41.427 18
7. Alex Lynn DAMS 1:41.507 19
8. Jordan King Racing Engineering 1:41.529 15
9. Arthur Pic Campos Racing 1:41.535 15
10. Rio Haryanto Campos Racing 1:41.610 16
11. Norman Nato Arden International 1:41.688 17
12. Rene Binder MP Motorsport 1:41.729 18
13. Sergio Canamasas Daiko Team Lazarus 1:41.747 16
14. Artem Markelov RUSSIAN TIME 1:41.849 17
15. Mitch Evans RUSSIAN TIME 1:41.943 17
16. Marlon Stockinger Status Grand Prix 1:42.006 18
17. Nathanaël Berthon Daiko Team Lazarus 1:42.150 17
18. André Negrao Arden International 1:42.173 14
19. Dean Stoneman Carlin 1:42.453 17
20. Nicholas Latifi MP Motorsport 1:42.523 17
21. Daniiel De Jong Trident 1:42.864 17
22. Gustav Malja Rapax 1:43.302 17
23. Oliver Rowland Status Grand Prix 1:43.342 13
24. Sean Gelael Carlin 1:44.400 19

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