Norman Nato ends Day 3 on top

Racing Engineering ace quickest in final day at Jerez de la Frontera

By Franck Drui

31 March 2016 - 16:36
Norman Nato ends Day 3 on top

Frenchman Norman Nato concluded this week’s second pre-season testing at the top of the timesheets: he lapped the Spanish track in a 1:24.518 ahead of Arthur Pic and Nobuharu Matsushita. Rapax driver Pic was quickest in the afternoon session.

Blue skies greeted the paddock once again for the third and final day of pre-season testing in Spain. When the pitlane turned green, Racing Engineering’s Jordan King was the first man to feed onto the track, but it was DAMS’ Alex Lynn who set the early pace with a laptime of 1:25.220. Twenty minutes into the session, Oliver Rowland caused a first red flag after he stopped on track between Turns 8 and 9.

After the restart, Nato found some extra pace to dip under 1m25s and topped the timesheet in a 1:24.518. One hour into the session, a second red flag period was caused by two cars: Arden International’s Nabil Jeffri spun and stopped in the gravel bed at Turn 2 whilst Raffaele Marciello stopped at Turn 8. The proceedings were halted again shortly after the restart due to Philo Paz Armand who also spun and stopped at Turn 2.

The remainder of the session was busy with most of the drivers completing longer runs and practice starts. At the chequered flag, Nato remained top ahead of Pic and Nobuharu Matsushita. Pierre Gasly, Lynn, Sergey Sirotkin, Antonio Giovinazzi, Nicholas Latifi, King and Luca Ghiotto completed the top ten. The first seventeen drivers lapped within one second.

In the afternoon, Swede Gustav Malja set the early pace in a 1:25.820 but Pic bettered his teammate’s laptime in a 1:25.583 to claim P1. At mid-session Raffaele Marciello caused a fourth red flag period after he stopped on track between Turns 5 and 6. As the clock ticked down, the teams and drivers were focused again on long runs, practice starts and pit stops. The proceedings were briefly halted in the closing stages after Matsushita stopped on track at Turn 1.

When the session ended, Pic headed Malja and Artem Markelov. Marciello, Jimmy Ericksson, Nabil Jeffri, Mitch Evans, Marvin Kirchhöfer, Oliver Rowland and Daniël De Jong completed the top 10.

This concludes the 2016 pre-season test session at Jerez de la Frontera. The GP2 paddock will gather next at Barcelona for Round 1 on May 13-14-15.

Morning results

PosDriverTeamTimeLaps
1. Norman Nato Racing Engineering 1:24.518 31
2. Arthur Pic Rapax 1:24.592 23
3. Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 1:24.617 28
4. Pierre Gasly PREMA Racing 1:24.652 42
5. Alex Lynn DAMS 1:24.677 24
6. Sergey Sirotkin ART Grand Prix 1:24.682 32
7. Antonio Giovinazzi PREMA Racing 1:24.688 37
8. Nicholas Latifi DAMS 1:24.689 19
9. Jordan King Racing Engineering 1:24.747 24
10. Luca Ghiotto Trident 1:24.937 28
11. Gustav Malja Rapax 1:24.948 30
12. Mitch Evans Jagonya Ayam Campos Racing 1:25.072 21
13. Oliver Rowland MP Motorsport 1:25.120 22
14. Daniël De Jong MP Motorsport 1:25.134 16
15. Raffaele Marciello RUSSIAN TIME 1:25.318 14
16. Artem Markelov RUSSIAN TIME 1:25.339 34
17. Marvin Kirchhöfer Carlin 1:25.404 28
18. Philo Paz Armand Trident 1:25.698 22
19. Jimmy Eriksson Arden International 1:25.819 29
20. Sean Gelael Jagonya Ayam Campos Racing 1:26.053 30
21. Nabil Jeffri Arden International 1:26.074 27

Afternoon results

PosDriverTeamTimeLaps
1. Arthur Pic Rapax 1:25.583 42
2. Gustav Malja Rapax 1:25.820 38
3. Artem Markelov RUSSIAN TIME 1:26.140 39
4. Raffaele Marciello RUSSIAN TIME 1:26.435 8
5. Jimmy Eriksson Arden International 1:26.629 48
6. Nabil Jeffri Arden International 1:27.235 38
7. Mitch Evans Jagonya Ayam Campos Racing 1:27.410 44
8. Marvin Kirchhöfer Carlin 1:28.620 44
9. Oliver Rowland MP Motorsport 1:28.761 37
10. Daniël De Jong MP Motorsport 1:28.857 33
11. Sean Gelael Jagonya Ayam Campos Racing 1:29.988 52
12. Nicholas Latifi DAMS 1:30.115 34
13. Sergey Sirotkin ART Grand Prix 1:30.227 55
14. Philo Paz Armand Trident 1:30.459 46
15. Pierre Gasly PREMA Racing 1:30.570 32
16. Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 1:30.580 50
17. Antonio Giovinazzi PREMA Racing 1:30.626 48
18. Norman Nato Racing Engineering 1:30.716 51
19. Alex Lynn DAMS 1:30.840 33
20. Luca Ghiotto Trident 1:30.854 42
21. Jordan King Racing Engineering 1:31.096 49

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