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Johnny Cecotto leads the way in Barcelona

2016 GP2 Series Test 3 Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Thursday 1 December 2016. Johnny Cecotto Jr. (VEN, Rapax) Photo: Sam Bloxham/GP2 Series Media Service. ref: Digital Image _SLA1724

Venezuelan on top on first morning of test.

Johnny Cecotto got the 2017 FIA Formula 2 Championship’s season underway by topping the timesheets in this morning’s first test session in Barcelona with a laptime of 1:29.239, bumping Oliver Rowland and Nobuharu Matsushita off the top spot late in the session by just over a tenth.

The session opened under overcast but dry conditions and all of the teams headed out immediately, with Sean Gelael the first man on track as the lights went green. Much of the session was dedicated to installation laps as the teams worked to set up a base for their cars, with PREMA Racing pair Charles Leclerc and Antonio Fuoco the only drivers to set a time for the first hour.

Jordan King was the first driver to start pushing, setting the pace just after the hour mark, and his rivals were soon following in his wake: Luca Ghiotto was the target with 30 minutes remaining in the session, ahead of Rowland and Gustav Malja, and the Briton soon blew past his mark with Matsushita in his wake.

But as the session wound down Cecotto just pipped his rivals to take the early bragging rights as the session closed and the grid returned to the pitlane: the teams will now evaluate their set ups and have a quick bite to eat before the afternoon session opens at 14:00 CET.

Day 1 Morning results

Driver

Team

Laptime

Laps

1.

Johnny Cecotto

Rapax

1:29.239

11

2.

Oliver Rowland

DAMS

1:29.355

13

3.

Nobuharu Matsushita

ART Grand Prix

1:29.552

18

4.

Nyck De Vries

Rapax

1:29.625

11

5.

Norman Nato

Pertamina Arden

1:29.674

10

6.

Luca Ghiotto

RUSSIAN TIME

1:29.727

18

7.

Nicholas Latifi

DAMS

1:29.743

13

8.

Charles Leclerc

PREMA Racing

1:29.928

21

9.

Alexander Albon

ART Grand Prix

1:30.018

18

10.

Sean Gelael

Pertamina Arden

1:30.162

10

11.

Artem Markelov

RUSSIAN TIME

1:30.188

12

12.

Gustav Malja

Racing Engineering

1:30.365

16

13.

Antonio Fuoco

PREMA Racing

1:30.433

24

14.

Jordan King

MP Motorsport

1:30.672

17

15.

Sergio Canamasas

Trident

1:30.901

17

16.

Ralph Boschung

Campos Racing

1:30.992

16

17.

Sergio Sette Camara

MP Motorsport

1:31.072

10

18.

Nabil Jeffri

Trident

1:31.230

13

19.

Roberto Merhi

Campos Racing

1:31.470

14

20.

Louis Delétraz

Racing Engineering

1:31.591

17