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Vandoorne on top in free practice

McLaren test driver Stoffel Vandoorne’s push for second in the Series got underway with a strong performance in the heat of the free practice session this morning in Abu Dhabi, setting the pace ahead of his rivals and narrowly leading home Stéphane Richelmi and Arthur Pic.

The Belgian set the best time of 1:50.437 two thirds of the way through the session, edging past Richelmi by less than a tenth in a torrid session which saw the times tumble as the drivers pushed for any advantage they could find to put to use this afternoon.
The top spot changed constantly, with Johnny Cecotto, Raffaele Marciello, 2015 Sauber driver Felipe Nasr and Series champion Jolyon Palmer all taking a turn at the top of the timesheets before Vandoorne claimed it for himself 15 minutes in: after returning to the pits for fresh rubber Palmer and Richelmi went faster still but the Belgian was not to be denied, reclaiming bragging rights with a time which could not be beaten.
While most drivers went wide somewhere as they pushed the limits, no one damaged their cars with qualifying just a few hours away: behind the top three Palmer, Cecotto, Nasr, Marciello, Pierre Gasly, Stefano Coletti and Mitch Evans rounded out an incredibly close top ten, with all aiming for the top spot this afternoon.
GP2 Series Press Release
Pos. Car Driver Team Laps Time Gap
1 10 Stoffel Vandoorne (R) BEL ART Grand Prix 16 1:50,437
2 8 Stéphane Richelmi MON Dams 20 1:50,512 + 0,075
3 26 Arhur Pic (R) FRA Campos Racing 17 1:50,548 + 0,111
4 7 Joylon Palmer GBR Dams 19 1:50,760 + 0,323
5 23 Johnny Cecotto VEN Trident 20 1:50,855 + 0,418
6 3 Felipe Nasr BRA Carlin 20 1:50,911 + 0,474
7 5 Raffaele Marciello (R) ITA Racing Engineering 18 1:51,012 + 0,575
8 19 Pierre Gasly (R) FRA EQ8 Caterham Racing 19 1:51,032 + 0,595
9 6 Stefano Coletti MON Racing Engineering 18 1:51,122 + 0,685
10 1 Mitch Evans NZ RT Russian Time 12 1:51,137 + 0,700
11 27 Kimiya Sato (R) JAP Campos Racing 18 1:51,187 + 0,750
12 21 Marco Sørensen (R) DAN MP Motorsport 17 1:51,401 + 0,964
13 24 Nathanaël Berthon FRA Venezuela GP Lazarus 20 1:51,402 + 0,965
14 18 Rio Haryanto IND EQ8 Caterham Racing 18 1:51,427 + 0,990
15 22 Sergio Canamasas ESP Trident 18 1:51,442 + 1,005
16 4 Julián Leal COL Carlin 19 1:51,464 + 1,027
17 9 Takuya Izawa (R) JAP ART Grand Prix 18 1:50,542 + 0,105
18 2 Artem Markelov (R) RUS RT Russian Time 17 1:51,658 + 1,221
19 20 Daniël de Jong NED MP Motorsport 11 1:51,772 + 1,335
20 17 André Negrao (R) BRA Arden International 11 1:51,931 + 1,494
21 16 Rene Binder AUT Arden International 20 1:52,006 + 1,569
22 11 Nicholas Latifi CAN Hilmer Motorsport 21 1:52,185 + 1,748
23 25 Connor Daly USA Venezuela GP Lazarus 15 1:52,321 + 1,884
24 14 Adrian Quaife-Hobbs GBR Rapax 20 1:52,330 + 1,893
25 12 Jon Lancaster GBR Hilmer Motorsport 8 1:52,514 + 2,077
26 15 Simon Trummer CHE Rapax 7 2:4,662 + 14,225