Filippi quickest in Abu Dhabi practice

Meritus racer on top at Yas Marina Circuit

By

4 February 2010 - 17:18
Filippi quickest in Abu Dhabi practice

Last November during the opening round of the third season of the GP2 Asia Series at the Yas Marina Circuit, Luca Filippi showed an impressive pace, setting up the track record in a 1:51.415. Today, on the same track, the Meritus driver once again set the pace during Free Practice of the second round of the Asia Series. The Italian clocked his best lap time in a 1:54.146 at the chequered flag.

The session started at twilight on an extremely dirty track and with sand still up in the air following a sandstorm today in Abu Dhabi. Arden’s Charles Pic rapidly topped the timesheet, but his lap time was soon bettered by Daniele Zampieri at Rapax.

Twelve minutes into the session, Alberto Valerio lost control of his Coloni car and hit the barrier leaving the Marshalls to try and get the nose cone stuck under it for over 20 minutes. At that time Zampieri was leading Michael Herck, Vladimir Arabadzhiev and Giedo van der Garde.

The session was eventually restarted for 15 minutes. Soon enough, Filippi was fastest only to be bettered first by Sergio Perez, then by Giacomo Ricci and finally by Pic. Taking a lot of risks in the third sector, Ocean’s Fabio Leimer climbed to P2, but the battle for quickest was on between Filippi, Series leader Davide Valsecchi and Pic.

With two minutes left on the clock, Filippi claimed the top spot following an impressive third sector. Pic tried to deny him that result, but unfortunately pushed a bit too hard and lost his car in the last corner.

Joining the fight in the last seconds of the session, ART’s Sam Bird claimed P2, but Valsecchi would not want to be left unnoticed and set what he thought would be the quickest lap time at the chequered flag. However, Filippi was on a mission: a few seconds later, he set the record straight and would not lose the top spot again.

Pos. Driver Team Time Gap
01. Filippi Meritus 1:54.146 + 0.000
02. Valsecchi iSport 1:54.431 + 0.285
03. Bird ART Grand Prix 1:54.775 + 0.629
04. Pic Arden International 1:54.803 + 0.657
05. Perez Barwa Addax 1:54.824 + 0.678
06. Leimer Ocean Racing 1:54.904 + 0.758
07. Bianchi ART Grand Prix 1:54.971 + 0.825
08. Rossi Meritus 1:55.077 + 0.931
09. Van der Garde Barwa Addax 1:55.102 + 0.956
10. Ricci DPR 1:55.107 + 0.961
11. Piscopo DAMS 1:55.172 + 1.026
12. Kral Super Nova 1:55.222 + 1.076
13. Villa Arden International 1:55.347 + 1.201
14. Turvey iSport 1:55.481 + 1.335
15. Vietoris DAMS 1:55.563 + 1.417
16. Herck DPR 1:55.821 + 1.675
17. Ericsson Super Nova 1:55.971 + 1.825
18. Clos Trident 1:56.295 + 2.149
19. Chilton Ocean Racing 1:56.308 + 2.162
20. Arabadzhiev Rapax 1:56.330 + 2.184
21. Zampieri Rapax 1:56.646 + 2.500
22. Bratt Coloni 1:56.659 + 2.513
23. Kralev Trident 1:59.971 + 5.825
24. Valerio Coloni + —

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