Jolyon Palmer quickest again at Yas Marina

The second day of GP2 Series pre-season testing opened at Yas Marina Circuit this morning with Rio Haryanto setting the early pace just before a first red flag period after Stoffel Vandoorne clipped the barrier at Turn 19 and stopped on track. The proceedings resumed and Haryanto kept the top spot. A second red flag halted the action after Axcil Jefferies span and stopped at Turn 13.

The track went live again. Mitch Evans found some extra pace and improved on the Indonesian’s laptime by four tenths. After a third short red flag period courtesy of Jefferies who stopped at Turn 1, Jon Lancaster put his head down and first moved up to P2 before bettering Evans’ best by two tenths hence claiming the top spot ahead of Kimiya Sato. The rookie from Campos managed a laptime just one tenth slower than Lancaster.

In the final hour, Conor Daly collided with Facu Regalia at Turn 18 with the American barrelling into the barrier which prompted another red flag period and brought Daly’s day to an early end. The session restarted with twenty minutes left on the clock. Stéphane Richelmi went quickest, but it was his teammate and yesterday’s fastest man Jolyon Palmer who claimed the top spot with a laptime of 1:50.311, sixth tenths better than the Monegasque driver. At the chequered and behind the DAMS pair, Lancaster, Sato, Evans, Haryanto, Alexander Rossi, Felipe Nasr, Johnny Cecotto and Daly completed the top 10.

After the two hour break, Vandoorne was the first man back on track and he set the early pace. For this afternoon session, teams were mainly focused on race simulations, set-ups and pit stop practices. In the standings, Daniel Abt claimed the top spot until Daniel De Jong went quickest in the final hour. Then, Vandoorne bettered the Dutchman’s laptime and looked set to finish the day on top, but Cecotto eventually found some clean air to set a laptime of 1:50.760 good enough to end ahead of the Belgian driver. At the chequered flag, André Negrao, Regalia, Abt, Evans, Arthur Pic, Rene Binder and Lancaster rounded the top 10.

Tomorrow’s session will start again at 9am local time.

Morning results

Afternoon results