Indonesian driver sets fastest laptime at Bahrain International Circuit

Press Release

The second day of testing at Bahrain International Circuit opened this morning under overcast skies and in cooler temperatures. Jolyon Palmer, Takuya Izawa and Stoffel Vandoorne were quick to take to the track, but it was Conor Daly who topped the timesheets on soft Pirelli tyres early into the session. Fellow countryman Alexander Rossi became the first man to dip under 1m41s today, but Daly went even quicker and lapped the track in 1:40.233. It was then Mitch Evans who found some extra pace to break under the 1m40s barrier. His laptime was bettered by Palmer by two hundredths, the Briton clocking in a time of 1:39.854.

A few drops of rain fell over the track, but most of the field opted to put on the softer compounds and it was Rio Haryanto’s time to shine: the Indonesian driver managed to set a blazing laptime of 1:39.129 – three tenths quicker than last year’s pole position. Haryanto’s teammate Rossi went out on track for another attempt at topping the timesheet but ended a hairsbreadth away from the Indonesian. In the final stages, Julian Leal edged Raffaele Marciello out of third. Behind the Italian, Palmer, Evans, Vandoorne, Stéphane Richelmi, Rene Binder and Kimiya Sato rounded out the top ten.

After the lunch break, the temperatures rose and Daniiel De Jong was the early pace setter. He remained top for most of the session as drivers focused on race simulations and pitstop practices. With one hour left on the clock, Daniel Abt went quickest on Hard compounds, but De Jong on Soft Pirelli tyres soon improved on the German’s laptime and regained control of the timesheet.

In the closing stages, laptimes started to tumble down and the fight for the top spot saw Jon Lancaster, Vittorio Ghirelli and Johnny Cecotto successively hit the front, but at the chequered flag, De Jong reclaimed P1 with a 1:40.508 – two tenths quicker than Cecotto (also on Soft compounds). Leal was able to find some extra pace on Hard Pirelli tyres to move up to third in the dying minutes ahead of Ghirelli, Lancaster, Simon Trummer, Facu Regalia, Abt, Felipe Nasr and Arthur Pic.

Morning results

Driver

Team

Laptime

Laps

1.

Rio Haryanto

EQ8 Caterham Racing

1:39.129

32

2.

Alexander Rossi

EQ8 Caterham Racing

1:39.173

31

3.

Julian Leal

Carlin

1:39.538

22

4.

Raffaele Marciello

Racing Engineering

1:39.704

33

5.

Jolyon Palmer

DAMS

1:39.854

31

6.

Mitch Evans

RT RUSSIA TIME

1:39.870

15

7.

Stoffel Vandoorne

ART Grand Prix

1:39.913

32

8.

Stephane Richelmi

DAMS

1:40.045

29

9.

Rene Binder

Arden International

1:40.126

15

10.

Kimiya Sato

Campos Racing

1:40.154

25

11.

Nathanael Berthon

Venezuela GP Lazarus

1:40.190

18

12.

Artem Markelov

RT RUSSIAN TIME

1:40.191

18

13.

Conor Daly

Venezuela GP Lazarus

1:40.233

10

14.

Adrian Quaife-Hobbs

Rapax

1:40.250

19

15.

Andre Negrao

Arden International

1:40.314

19

16.

Takuya Izawa

ART Grand Prix

1:40.678

30

17.

Felipe Nasr

Carlin

1:40.786

26

18.

Arthur Pic

Campos Racing

1:40.840

24

19.

Johnny Cecotto

Trident

1:40.842

15

20.

Vittorio Ghirelli

Trident

1:40.991

25

21.

Daniiel de Jong

MP Motorsport

1:41.041

10

22.

Stefano Coletti

Racing Engineering

1:41.106

22

23.

Jon Lancaster

MP Motorsport

1:41.166

40

24.

Simon Trummer

Rapax

1:41.586

29

25.

Facu Regalia

Hilmer Motorsport

1:43.748

39

26.

Daniel Abt

Hilmer Motorsport

1:43.796

30

Afternoon results

Driver

Team

Laptime

Laps

1.

Daniiel de Jong

MP Motorsport

1:40.508

19

2.

Johnny Cecotto

Trident

1:40.779

19

3.

Julian Leal

Carlin

1:40.882

21

4.

Vittorio Ghirelli

Trident

1:41.235

14

5.

Jon Lancaster

MP Motorsport

1:41.277

17

6.

Simon Trummer

Rapax

1:41.436

29

7.

Facu Regalia

Hilmer Motorsport

1:41.476

25

8.

Daniel Abt

Hilmer Motorsport

1:41.746

10

9.

Felipe Nasr

Carlin

1:41.998

24

10.

Arthur Pic

Campos Racing

1:42.354

38

11.

Rene Binder

Arden International

1:42.393

31

12.

André Negrao

Ardent International

1:43.007

29

13.

Mitch Evans

RT RUSSIAN TIME

1:43.839

27

14.

Artem Markelov

RT RUSSIAN TIME

1:43.877

26

15.

Jolyon Palmer

DAMS

1:43.910

32

16.

Nathanaël Berthon

Venezuela GP Lazarus

1:43.179

32

17.

Conor Daly

Venezuela GP Lazarus

1:44.276

31

18.

Stéphane Richelmi

DAMS

1:44.381

24

19.

Stoffel Vandoorne

ART Grand Prix

1:44.458

46

20.

Raffaele Marciello

Racing Engineering

1:44.632

17

21.

Stefano Coletti

Racing Engineering

1:44.818

26

22.

Takuya Izawa

ART Grand Prix

1:44.895

46

23.

Adrian Quaife-Hobbs

Rapax

1:45.151

38

24.

Alexander Rossi

EQ8 Caterham Racing

1:45.240

33

25.

Kimiya Sato

Campos Racing

1:45.348

33

26.

Rio Haryanto

EQ8 Caterham Racing

1:45.443

35

The final day of pre-season testing will start again at 9am local time.