The 2014 GP2 Series post-season testing opened today at Yas Marina Circuit for three days with many new faces joining some more familiar ones. Each team have been provided with seven sets of Medium Pirelli tyres for the three days.


When the track went live, Arthur Pic (who has already been confirmed with Campos Racing for the 2015 season) took to the track and set the early pace to top the timesheet just as a first red flag stopped the proceedings: F3 European Champion Esteban Ocon had stopped his DAMS car at Turn 11. At the re-start, 2014 GP2 Vice Champion Stoffel Vandoorne became the first man to dip under 1m50s: the ART man went top with a laptime of 1:49.445, half a second quicker than Pic. A second red flag halted the proceedings briefly when Zoel Amberg stopped his Trident car.

At the halfway point, Mitch Evans found some extra pace to break the 1m50s barrier and moved up to P2. The remainder of the session was trouble-free and, in the final stages, Pierre Gasly put his DAMS car in P3 just ahead of Pic. Rio Haryanto, Julian Leal, André Negrao, Jazeman Jaafar, Ocon and Nicholas Latifi completed the top ten. Rene Binder did not take part in the morning session as he did not feel well enough to drive.

The afternoon session opened under the lights of the Yas Marina Circuit with Vandoorne once again setting the pace with a laptime of 1:49.004, five tenths quicker than Gasly in P2. Forty-five minutes into the session, the Frenchman found some extra pace to dip under 1m49s and went top, one tenth better than Vandoorne.

With one hour left on the clock, the session was red flagged after Evans stopped at Turn 18 following a gearbox failure. In the closing minutes, most drivers pushed to improve on their personal best time, but nobody could better Gasly’s laptime who with a laptime of 1:48.948 topped the day. The session concluded on a final red flag, courtesy of Sergio Campana who stopped on track. Vandoorne finished the afternoon session P2 ahead of Jordan King, Pic, Negrao, Evans, Richie Stanaway, Rio Haryanto, Ocon, Nathanaël Berthon.

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

Morning results

Driver

Team

Laptime

Laps

1.

Stoffel Vandoorne

ART Grand Prix

1:49.445

34

2.

Mitch Evans

RT RUSSIAN TIME

1:49.824

21

3.

Pierre Gasly

DAMS

1:49.949

14

4.

Arthur Pic

Campos Racing

1:50.044

28

5.

Rio Haryanto

Status Grand Prix

1:50.192

27

6.

Julian Leal

Carlin

1:50.240

20

7.

André Negrao

Arden International

1:50.336

21

8.

Jazeman Jaafar

Campos Racing

1:50.386

34

9.

Esteban Ocon

DAMS

1:50.410

13

10.

Nicholas Latifi

Racing Engineering

1:50.431

18

11.

Richie Stanaway

Status Grand Prix

1:50.461

20

12.

Daniel Abt

Hilmer Motorsport

1:50.476

27

13.

Jordan King

Arden International

1:50.592

20

14.

Marvin Kirchhofer

Hilmer Motorsport

1:50.903

20

15.

Nathanaël Berthon

Venezuela GP Lazarus

1:50.906

27

16.

Emil Bernstorff

Rapax

1:51.054

30

17.

Artem Markelov

RT RUSSIAN TIME

1:51.133

21

18.

Norman Nato

Racing Engineering

1:51.272

20

19.

Sergio Campana

Venezuela GP Lazarus

1:51.501

20

20.

Daniel De Jong

MP Motorsport

1:51.554

11

21.

Zoel Amberg

Trident

1:51.630

26

22.

Luis Sa Silva

Carlin

1:51.777

23

23.

Sandy Stuvik

Rapax

1:52.035

24

24.

Marlon Stockinger

MP Motorsport

1:52.069

23

25.

Nobuharu Matsushita

ART Grand Prix

1:52.304

32


Afternoon results

Driver

Team

Laptime

Laps

1.

Pierre Gasly

DAMS

1:48.948

27

2.

Stoffel Vandoorne

ART Grand Prix

1:49.004

31

3.

Jordan King

Arden International

1:49.314

21

4.

Arthur Pic

Campos Racing

1:49.383

21

5.

André Negrao

Arden International

1:49.396

21

6.

Mitch Evans

RT RUSSIAN TIME

1:49.442

17

7.

Richie Stanaway

Status Grand Prix

1:49.589

30

8.

Rio Haryanto

Status Grand Prix

1:49.689

28

9.

Esteban Ocon

DAMS

1:49.892

26

10.

Nathanaël Berthon

Venezuela GP Lazarus

1:49.941

23

11.

Rene Binder

Trident

1:50.016

15

12.

Daniel Abt

Hilmer Motorsport

1:50.084

29

13.

Emil Bernstorff

Rapax

1:50.118

31

14.

Nicholas Latifi

Racing Engineering

1:50.155

27

15.

Daniel De Jong

MP Motorsport

1:50.263

13

16.

Jazeman Jaafar

Campos Racing

1:50.338

23

17.

Koudai Tsukakoshi

ART Grand Prix

1:50.352

31

18.

Marvin Kirchhofer

Hilmer Motorsport

1:50.372

27

19.

Julian Leal

Carlin

1:50.488

17

20.

Zoel Amberg

Trident

1:50.782

28

21.

Artem Markelov

RT RUSSIAN TIME

1:50.871

16

22.

Sergio Campana

Venezuela GP Lazarus

1:51.147

30

23.

Norman Nato

Racing Engineering

1:51.318

26

24.

Sandy Stuvik

Rapax

1:51.403

22

25.

Marlon Stockinger

MP Motorsport

1:51.420

17

26.

Luis Sa Silva

Carlin

1:51.529

27

GP2 Series Press Release