Fabrizio Crestani Fastest As GP2 Testing Resumes

Italian driver Fabrizio Crestani was fastest as GP2 pre-season testing resumed, this time at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona. After the dominance of Davide Valsecchi at the first test at Jerez, new team Venezuela GP Lazarus showed they are up to speed with the rest of the field.

The second and final pre-season test at the Circuit de Catalunya saw four new faces join the grid in Giancarlo Serenelli, Ricardo Teixeira, Sergio Canamasas and Jon Lancaster. As the day got off to a cool start, many of the participating drivers’ immediately got to the track to set their installation laps early on.

As the morning session passed the one hour mark, Fabrizio Crestani was already atop the timing sheets with a 01:30.271. However, Dutchman Giedo van der Garde soon changed that as he stormed to the top before Stefano Coletti joined him as the temperature began to rise, resulting in quicker lap times all round.

With only 30 minutes remaining in the morning session, Crestani returned to the top with a 01:29.420. This time went unchallenged as the morning session ended under red flag conditions, with Julian Leal and Nathaniel Berthon both stopping on the track.

The early afternoon pacesetter was James Calado for Lotus GP, before the session was red flagged as Brazilian Felipe Nasr ran wide and embedded his DAMS car in the gravel. This was shortly followed by a further red flag delay, this time caused by Italian Fabio Onidi who spun on the exit of turn 9. Unlike his team-mate Crestani, Onidi had an average first day finishing in the middle of the pack, roughly a second of the pace.

As the session resumed, it continued smoothly until the end of the day. Max Chilton was fastest as the afternoon session came to a close, his time going unbeaten throughout the closing stages of the day.

The Barcelona test continues tomorrow, as the teams gear up for the season-opening Malaysian Grand Prix towards the end of the month.

Morning session:

Pos Driver Team Time Gap
 1.  Fabrizio Crestani    Lazarus             1m29.420s
 2.  Jolyon Palmer        iSport              1m29.645s  + 0.225s
 3.  Stephane Richelmi    Trident             1m29.658s  + 0.238s
 4.  Rio Haryanto         Carlin              1m29.673s  + 0.253s
 5.  Stefano Coletti      Coloni              1m29.713s  + 0.293s
 6.  Davide Valsecchi     DAMS                1m29.726s  + 0.306s
 7.  Julian Leal          Trident             1m29.743s  + 0.323s
 8.  Giedo van der Garde  Caterham            1m29.750s  + 0.330s
 9.  Max Chilton          Carlin              1m29.774s  + 0.354s
10.  Simon Trummer        Arden               1m29.892s  + 0.472s
11.  Esteban Gutierrez    Lotus               1m29.932s  + 0.512s
12.  Marcus Ericsson      iSport              1m29.994s  + 0.574s
13.  James Calado         Lotus               1m30.245s  + 0.825s
14.  Fabio Leimer         Racing Engineering  1m30.356s  + 0.936s
15.  Fabio Onidi          Coloni              1m30.366s  + 0.946s
16.  Nigel Melker         Ocean               1m30.703s  + 1.283s
17.  Johnny Cecotto       Addax               1m30.726s  + 1.306s
18.  Nathanael Berthon    Racing Engineering  1m30.861s  + 1.441s
19.  Felipe Nasr          DAMS                1m30.907s  + 1.487s
20.  Josef Kral           Addax               1m31.606s  + 2.186s
21.  Rodolfo Gonzalez     Caterham            1m32.472s  + 3.052s
22.  Sergio Canamasas     Rapax               1m32.662s  + 3.242s
23.  Ricardo Teixeira     Rapax               1m33.189s  + 3.769s
24.  Giancarlo Serenelli  Lazarus             1m35.588s  + 6.168s

Afternoon session:

Pos Driver Team Time Gap
 1.  Max Chilton          Carlin              1m29.479s
 2.  Julian Leal          Trident             1m29.494s  + 0.015s
 3.  Marcus Ericsson      iSport              1m29.605s  + 0.126s
 4.  Stefano Coletti      Coloni              1m29.687s  + 0.208s
 5.  James Calado         Lotus               1m29.740s  + 0.261s
 6.  Giedo van der Garde  Caterham            1m29.769s  + 0.290s
 7.  Davide Valsecchi     DAMS                1m29.877s  + 0.398s
 8.  Esteban Gutierrez    Lotus               1m29.902s  + 0.423s
 9.  Johnny Cecotto       Addax               1m29.947s  + 0.468s
10.  Simon Trummer        Arden               1m29.980s  + 0.501s
11.  Nathanael Berthon    Racing Engineering  1m30.014s  + 0.535s
12.  Fabio Leimer         Racing Engineering  1m30.053s  + 0.574s
13.  Fabio Onidi          Coloni              1m30.311s  + 0.832s
14.  Jolyon Palmer        iSport              1m30.323s  + 0.844s
15.  Felipe Nasr          DAMS                1m30.393s  + 0.914s
16.  Stephane Richelmi    Trident             1m30.577s  + 1.098s
17.  Nigel Melker         Ocean               1m30.603s  + 1.124s
18.  Jon Lancaster        Ocean               1m30.715s  + 1.236s
19.  Sergio Canamasas     Rapax               1m31.468s  + 1.989s
20.  Rio Haryanto         Carlin              1m31.646s  + 2.167s
21.  Josef Kral           Addax               1m31.696s  + 2.217s
22.  Rodolfo Gonzalez     Caterham            1m31.967s  + 2.488s
23.  Ricardo Teixeira     Rapax               1m32.613s  + 3.134s
24.  Fabrizio Crestani    Lazarus             1m33.456s  + 3.977s
25.  Giancarlo Serenelli  Lazarus             1m35.420s  + 5.941s

Picture Copyright © Alastair Staley/GP2 Series Media Service