Pierre Gasly tops Day 1 at Yas Marina

DAMS quickest in opening pre-season test day

By Franck Drui

9 March 2015 - 15:34
Pierre Gasly tops Day 1 at Yas Marina

The 2015 GP2 Series pre-season tests got underway today at the Yas Marina Circuit. Day one of the three day test saw all twenty-six drivers eager to try out the brand new DRS on their cars. When the pitlane went green, Alexander Rossi was the first man out soon followed by the rest of the field for their installation laps on a dirty track and in windy conditions.

The first two hours were studious with teams focusing on aero testing. With one hour left on the clock, the session was suspended for thirty minutes for software adjustments. When it resumed, Jordan King went quickest, but his time was bettered first by Rene Binder and then by Rossi.

In the closing stages, the session was red flagged after Stockinger stopped on track at Turn 5. With eight minutes left on the clock, the track went live again and the cars enjoyed a cleaner track with Rossi topping the timesheet at the chequered flag with a laptime of 1:50.845 ahead of DAMS’ pair Pierre Gasly and Alex Lynn.

In the afternoon, Zoel Amberg fed onto the track first, but it was Stoffel Vandoorne who topped the timesheets in the first hour, dipping under 1m50s. Gasly went quicker in a 1:49.760 – 3 hundredths better than the Belgian driver. Halfway through the session, Mitch Evans found some extra pace to clock the circuit in 1:49.598. Rio Haryanto also improved, moving up to P2, but he remained 2 tenths slower than the New Zealander.

There was a red flag period in the final hour after Julian Leal stopped at turn 17. The proceedings resumed with 30 minutes left on the clock. King went top ahead of Sergey Sirotkin, but Gasly went even quicker to snatch P1 with ten minutes remaining with a laptime of 1:49.089. Arthur Pic broke into the 1m48s, but so did Gasly who remained top ahead of the Campos man with a laptime of 1:48.897.

At the chequered flag, Gasly and Pic were P1 and P2 ahead of Trident’s duo of Raffaele Marciello and Binder who moved up to third and fourth respectively in the dying minutes. Sirotkin finished fifth ahead of Evans, Haryanto, Rossi and Lynn.

Tomorrow’s morning session will start at 12.00, local time.

Morning results

PosDriverTeamLaptimeLaps
1. Alexander Rossi Racing Engineering 1:50.845 8
2. Pierre Gasly DAMS 1:51.298 12
3. Alex Lynn DAMS 1:51.544 13
4. Raffaele Marciello Trident 1:51.605 19
5. Daniel De Jong MP Motorsport 1:51.665 17
6. Mitch Evans RUSSIAN TIME 1:51.670 10
7. Rene Binder Trident 1:51.779 9
8. Jordan King Racing Engineering 1:51.822 10
9. Nathanaël Berthon Lazarus 1:52.001 10
10. Arthur Pic Campos Racing 1:52.020 13
11. Julian Leal Carlin 1:52.074 15
12. Sergey Sirotkin Rapax 1:52.103 15
13. Richie Stanaway Status Grand Prix 1:52.261 14
14. Rio Haryanto Campos Racing 1:52.273 15
15. Artem Markelov RUSSIAN TIME 1:53.059 16
16. Robert Visoiu Rapax 1:53.338 17
17. Sergio Canamasas Hilmer Motorsport 1:53.340 12
18. Marco Sorensen Carlin 1:53.366 6
19. Zoel Amberg Lazarus 1:53.565 15
20. Marlon Stockinger Status Grand Prix 1:53.701 15
21. Vittorio Ghirelli MP Motorsport 1:54.451 15
22. André Negrao Arden International 1:54.645 21
23. Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 2:08.142 30
24. Norman Nato Arden International 2:15.901 30
25. Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 2:25.398 23
26. Axcil Jefferies Hilmer Motorsport

Afternoon results

PosDriverTeamLaptimeLaps
1. Pierre Gasly DAMS 1:48.897 23
2. Arthur Pic Campos Racing 1:48.955 18
3. Raffaele Marciello Trident 1:49.252 14
4. Rene Binder Trident 1:49.294 21
5. Jordan King Racing Engineering 1:49.303 21
6. Sergey Sirotkin Rapax 1:49.379 20
7. Mitch Evans RUSSIAN TIME 1:49.393 21
8. Rio Haryanto Campos Racing 1:49.456 24
9. Alexander Rossi Racing Engineering 1:49.474 22
10. Alex Lynn DAMS 1:49.480 24
11. Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 1:49.579 23
12. Norman Nato Arden International 1:49.682 22
13. Richie Stanaway Status Grand Prix 1:49.771 16
14. Daniel De Jong MP Motorsport 1:49.865 18
15. André Negrao Arden International 1:49.916 18
16. Marco Sorensen Carlin 1:49.960 24
17. Nathanaël Berthon Lazarus 1:50.163 17
18. Julian Leal Carlin 1:50.307 4
19. Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 1:50.674 22
20. Vittorio Ghirelli MP Motorsport 1:50.680 19
21. Artem Markelov RUSSIAN TIME 1:50.929 25
22. Marlon Stockinger Status Grand Prix 1:51.004 22
23. Robert Visoiu Rapax 1:51.069 23
24. Sergio Canamasas Hilmer Motorsport 1:51.178 24
25. Zoel Amberg Lazarus 1:52.651 14
26. Axcil Jefferies Hilmer Motorsport

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