Yas Marina Tests, Day 3: Latifi ends on top

Nicholas Latifi concluded his GP2 season on top at Yas Marina Circuit: the Canadian driver from DAMS set the fastest overall laptime over the past three days of post-season testing with a 1:49.929. Johnny Cecotto (Rapax) and Jordan King (MP Motorsport) completed the top three.

The final day of post-season testing opened in slightly cooler conditions with the twenty-one drivers on Medium Pirelli tyres. King set the early pace in a 1:50.136 before a red flag period caused by Sergio Sette Camara after he clipped the barrier at Turn 19.

At the restart, Louis Delétraz found some extra pace to clock in a laptime of 1:50.403 but it was not enough to edge out King of the top spot. Halfway through the session, a second red flag was caused after Cecotto stopped on track at Turn 20. When the action resumed, King bettered his own time and was the first man to dip under 1m50s.

The remainder of the session was trouble-free and studious with most of the drivers completing long runs. At the chequered flag, King’s laptime of 1:49.880 was unbeaten. Delétraz, Cecotto, Gustav Malja, Oliver Rowland, Artem Markelov, Antonio Fuoco, Sette Camara, Egor Orudzhev and Philo Paz Armand completed the top ten.

Once again, the evening session opened at night time but was quickly stopped by a red flag period caused by debris on track. At the restart, it was Sean Gelael who set the early pace with a laptime of 1:49.728 before Markelov posted a laptime of 1:49.226 to go top.

One hour into the session, Rowland clocked in a lap of 1:49.216 which was soon bettered by only 0.01s by his teammate Latifi. In the final stages, the Canadian went even quicker and lapped the track in a 1:48.929 - the fastest time of the past three days. He then remained at the top of the timings until the chequered flag.

The proceedings were briefly halted one last time due to debris on track. At the chequered flag, Latifi topped the session ahead of Cecotto, King, Rowland, Markelov, Fuoco, Charles Leclerc, Gelael, Alexander Albon and Callum Ilott.

This concludes the 2016 GP2 Series season.

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Afternoon results