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Manor young driver Jordan King the fastest in Sakhir

The second GP2 Series pre-season test session opened today at Bahrain International Circuit on a dusty track and in hot temperatures. This week, the teams and drivers will be busy preparing for the 2015 season which sees the introduction of the DRS. Pirelli have selected the Hard and Soft compounds for the three days.

The field remains mostly unchanged with only two new faces joining Hilmer Motorsport this week: GP3 graduate Nick Yelloly partners GP2 returnee Nigel Melker. The last change compared to the first pre-season test session line up sees Sergio Canamasas move to MP Motorsport.

When the pitlane went green, the cars fed onto the track for installation laps. It was rookie Nobuharu Matsushita who set the early pace until André Negrao topped the timing sheets one hour into the session. His laptime was bettered by one tenth by Sergio Canamasas (who moved to MP Motorsport for this week’s session). It was a rather quiet morning as the temperatures kept on rising. With one hour left on the clock, Nathanaël Berthon moved up to P1, but Marco Sorensen went two hundredths quicker to take the top spot. In the final thirty minutes, rookie Norman Nato edged the Carlin man out, but Mitch Evans improved further and topped the timesheet with a laptime of 1:42.479, one tenth better than the Frenchman. At the chequered flag, behind Evans and Nato, Sorensen finished third ahead of Berthon, Julian Leal, Stoffel Vandoorne, Canamasas, Alexander Rossi, Negrao and Pierre Gasly.

The afternoon session kicked off in scorching heat and with Vandoorne first out on track. Arthur Pic set the early pace before Lynn went quickest. At the one hour mark, Jordan King claimed the top spot going four tenths faster than fellow countryman Lynn. With one hour left on the clock, Nato dipped under 1m42s, but Sorensen improved further and went top before Nato found some extra pace to reclaim P1. Thirty minutes before the chequered flag, King was back on top with a laptime of 1:41.494 – two tenths better than the Arden man. In the dying minutes, the proceedings were halted after Evans stopped at Turn 3. The session was not restarted and King ended up on top ahead of Evans, Sergey Sirotkin (who moved up to third on his last attempt), Nato, Vandoorne, Sorensen, Leal, Berthon, Gasly and Artem Markelov.

Tomorrow’s morning session will start at 09.00, local time.

Morning Results

Driver Team Laptime Laps
1. Mitch Evans RUSSIAN TIME 1:42.479 10
2. Norman Nato Arden International 1:42.653 22
3. Marco Sorensen Carlin 1:42.689 14
4. Nathanaël Berthon Lazarus 1:42.712 16
5. Julian Leal Carlin 1:42.728 4
6. Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 1:42.779 35
7. Sergio Canamasas MP Motorsport 1:42.800 14
8. Alexander Rossi Racing Engineering 1:42.801 10
9. Andre Negrao Arden International 1:42.953 26
10. Pierre Gasly DAMS 1:43.015 10
11. Daniel De Jong MP Motorsport 1:43.016 7
12. Nick Yelloly Hilmer Motorsport 1:43.042 22
13. Jordan King Racing Engineering 1:43.101 16
14. Arthur Pic Campos Racing 1:43.226 3
15. Rio Haryanto Campos Racing 1:43.347 18
16. Sergey Sirotkin Rapax 1:43.357 14
17. Richie Stanaway Status Grand Prix 1:43.391 16
18. Artem Markelov RUSSIAN TIME 1:43.455 14
19. Raffaele Marciello Trident 1:43.766 14
20. Robert Visoiu Rapax 1:43.826 14
21. Marlon Stockinger Status Grand Prix 1:43.876 19
22. Alex Lynn DAMS 1:44.022 10
23 Zoel Amberg Lazarus 1:44.333 28
24. Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 1:44.392 26
25. Rene Binder Trident 1:44.416 10

Afternoon results*

Driver

Team

Laptime

Laps

1.

Jordan King

Racing Engineering

1:41.494

20

2.

Mitch Evans

RUSSIAN TIME

1:41.608

14

3.

Sergey Sirotkin

Rapax

1:41.636

12

4.

Norman Nato

Arden International

1:41.755

16

5.

Stoffel Vandoorne

ART Grand Prix

1:41.851

22

6.

Marco Sorensen

Carlin

1:41.861

16

7.

Julian Leal

Carlin

1:41.985

13

8.

Nathanaël Berthon

Lazarus

1:42.004

13

9.

Pierre Gasly

DAMS

1:42.015

14

10.

Artem Markelov

RUSSIAN TIME

1:42.038

13

11.

Alexander Rossi

Racing Engineering

1:42.201

20

12.

Daniel De Jong

MP Motorsport

1:42.301

9

13.

Arthur Pic

Campos Racing

1:42.301

14

14.

Richie Stanaway

Status Grand Prix

1:42.365

22

15.

Raffaele Marciello

Trident

1:42.431

9

16.

Alex Lynn

DAMS

1:42.461

11

17.

Nick Yelloly

Hilmer Motorsport

1:42.608

18

18.

Robert Visoiu

Rapax

1:42.628

11

19.

André Negrao

Arden International

1:42.700

10

20.

Nobuharu Matsushita

ART Grand Prix

1:43.181

19

21.

Rio Haryanto

Campos Racing

1:43.207

15

22.

Zoel Amberg

Lazarus

1:43.383

17

23.

Marlon Stockinger

Status Grand Prix

1:43.398

13

24.

Rene Binder

Trident

1:43.902

6

25.

Sergio Canamasas

MP Motorsport

1:44.630

8

*Nigel Melker is expected to test for Hilmer Motorsport on Days 2 and 3.