Max Chilton Fastest During Bahrain GP2 Practice

One week after the Bahrain Grand Prix, GP2 have stayed on in the kingdom for their own standalone race weekend, the second consecutive race meeting for the Series on the Sakhir International Circuit. Carlin’s Max Chilton was fastest in this morning’s practice session, with Davide Valsecchi only three tenths behind.

The two Coloni’s of Fabio Onidi and Stefano Coletti were first out as the session got underway, with Onidi being one of the first drivers’ to set a competitive lap time with a 01:43.660. The two Caterham’s of Giedo van der Garde and Rodolfo Gonzalez then went fastest, with the Venezuelan driver set to test Caterham’s F1 car at Mugello next week.

Carlin then showed their hand, as Max Chilton went fastest with a 01:42.136, as his Indonesian team-mate Rio Haryanto slotted into 2nd place. The session was then momentarily halted as the iSport International of Jolyon Palmer stopped out on track at turn 8. As the cars’ returned to the pits, and the marshals retrieved the stricken car, the session’s time remained ticking away.

With only five minutes of the session remaining, the track returned to green flag conditions as the majority of the field returned for one last flying lap. Championship leader, Davide Valsecchi, was able to slot into 2nd place as the Arden of Luiz Razia remained not too far behind in 3rd position.

The GP2 cars’ will return to the track in a busy Friday schedule for qualifying later on, before the feature race takes place in the afternoon instead of its usual Saturday afternoon slot.

Picture Copyright © Alastair Staley/GP2 Series Media Service