Bahrain GP2 test: Alexander Rossi fastest for Caterham on day one
Alexander Rossi put Caterham at the top of the timesheets after the first day of GP2's final pre-season test in Bahrain
The American hit the front with a 1m40.604s in the final 30 minutes of the day.
That was just enough to withstand a late flyer from Hilmer Motorsport's morning pacesetter Daniel Abt, who fell just 0.012 seconds shy of deposing Rossi.
2012 GP3 champion Mitch Evans also got within one tenth of Rossi, but had to settle for third overall.
Conor Daly, who suffered a heavy roll one week ago in Abu Dhabi, edged Jolyon Palmer in the fight for fourth.
Johnny Cecotto meanwhile beat Raffaele Marciello and Vittorio Ghirelli - champions in the 2013 European Formula 3 and Auto GP series respectively - to sixth.
Ghirelli was the only driver change compared to the Abu Dhabi test, replacing Axcil Jefferies at Trident - which is yet to confirm its second driver for the 2014 campaign.
Arthur Pic and Facu Regalia had occupied second and third in the morning, behind Abt, but slipped down the order as times improved over the afternoon.
Pic wound up 17th in the second session, four spots behind Regalia.
Combined Wednesday testing times:
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps 1. Alexander Rossi Caterham 1m40.604s 43 2. Daniel Abt Hilmer 1m40.616s +0.012s 43 3. Mitch Evans Russian Time 1m40.680s +0.076s 41 4. Conor Daly Lazarus 1m40.734s +0.130s 39 5. Jolyon Palmer DAMS 1m40.769s +0.165s 38 6. Johnny Cecotto Trident 1m40.829s +0.225s 25 7. Raffaele Marciello Racing Engineering 1m40.932s +0.328s 42 8. Vittorio Ghirelli Trident 1m40.976s +0.372s 35 9. Felipe Nasr Carlin 1m41.022s +0.418s 35 10. Stoffel Vandoorne ART 1m41.041s +0.437s 62 11. Jon Lancaster MP 1m41.045s +0.441s 34 12. Nathanael Berthon Lazarus 1m41.065s +0.461s 38 13. Facu Regalia Hilmer 1m41.131s +0.527s 43 14. Arthur Pic Campos 1m41.192s +0.588s 38 15. Julian Leal Carlin 1m41.195s +0.591s 32 16. Rio Haryanto Caterham 1m41.275s +0.671s 36 17. Stephane Richelmi DAMS 1m41.359s +0.755s 37 18. Stefano Coletti Racing Engineering 1m41.394s +0.790s 29 19. Rene Binder Arden 1m41.426s +0.822s 35 20. Andre Negrao Arden 1m41.438s +0.834s 33 21. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Rapax 1m41.548s +0.944s 35 22. Simon Trummer Rapax 1m41.709s +1.105s 31 23. Artem Markelov Russian Time 1m41.726s +1.122s 43 24. Kimiya Sato Campos 1m41.739s +1.135s 50 25. Takuya Izawa ART 1m42.013s +1.409s 61 26. Daniel de Jong MP 1m42.282s +1.678s 34
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