Barcelona GP2 test: Sirotkin leads Gasly and Lynn on first day
Sergey Sirotkin led the first day of 2016 GP2 Series testing at Barcelona for ART Grand Prix before rain intervened
The morning session at the Spanish track, venue for the season-opener in mid-May, was the day's only dry running.
Recent ART signing Sirotkin, a race-winner with Rapax in his rookie season in 2015, set the pace with a 1m29.072s.
That put him seven hundredths ahead of last year's DAMS team-mates Pierre Gasly and Alex Lynn.
Red Bull protege Gasly has now moved to Formula 3 graduate team Prema, while Williams Formula 1 team development driver Lynn stays on at DAMS.
Experienced GP2 drivers filled the top seven places, but last year's European F3 runner-up Antonio Giovinazzi was the top newcomer in eighth for Prema, just ahead of erstwhile Carlin F3 team-mate Sean Gelael.
Carlin is one of three teams yet to announce its 2016 GP2 line-up, but fielded former GP3 frontrunner Marvin Kirchhofer and its 2012 F3 and GP3 driver Will Buller, back in Europe after racing in Japanese Super Formula last season. Buller will hand over to Rene Binder on Thursday.
Arden tried out GP3 race-winner Jimmy Eriksson and F3 graduate Nabil Jeffri, while Status did not participate in the opening day but will run Meindert van Buuren and Sergio Canamasas on day two.
Jeffri caused one of the morning's red flags with a crash at Turn 5, where Gustav Malja also went off during the wet afternoon running.
Oliver Rowland caused the day's other stoppage when his MP car came to a halt at Turn 2.
Raffaele Marciello was quickest in the rain in the afternoon, when times were nearly 14 seconds slower, ahead of Nicholas Latifi and Luca Ghiotto.
WEDNESDAY MORNING TIMES:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sergey Sirotkin | ART Grand Prix | 1m29.072s | - | 17 |
| 2 | Pierre Gasly | Prema Racing | 1m29.141s | 0.069s | 20 |
| 3 | Alex Lynn | DAMS | 1m29.171s | 0.099s | 10 |
| 4 | Norman Nato | Racing Engineering | 1m29.542s | 0.470s | 18 |
| 5 | Mitch Evans | Jagonya Ayam Campos Racing | 1m29.655s | 0.583s | 19 |
| 6 | Jordan King | Racing Engineering | 1m29.686s | 0.614s | 21 |
| 7 | Arthur Pic | Rapax | 1m29.737s | 0.665s | 19 |
| 8 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Prema Racing | 1m29.771s | 0.699s | 19 |
| 9 | Sean Gelael | Jagonya Ayam Campos Racing | 1m29.784s | 0.712s | 28 |
| 10 | Nobuharu Matsushita | ART Grand Prix | 1m29.934s | 0.862s | 16 |
| 11 | Luca Ghiotto | Trident | 1m29.967s | 0.895s | 20 |
| 12 | Daniel de Jong | MP Motorsport | 1m30.004s | 0.932s | 12 |
| 13 | Nicholas Latifi | DAMS | 1m30.072s | 1.000s | 10 |
| 14 | Artem Markelov | RUSSIAN TIME | 1m30.139s | 1.067s | 20 |
| 15 | Raffaele Marciello | RUSSIAN TIME | 1m30.289s | 1.217s | 19 |
| 16 | Marvin Kirchhofer | Carlin | 1m30.317s | 1.245s | 26 |
| 17 | Gustav Malja | Rapax | 1m30.396s | 1.324s | 23 |
| 18 | William Buller | Carlin | 1m30.752s | 1.680s | 20 |
| 19 | Oliver Rowland | MP Motorsport | 1m31.274s | 2.202s | 11 |
| 20 | Philo Paz Armand | Trident | 1m31.583s | 2.511s | 17 |
| 21 | Jimmy Eriksson | Arden International | 1m32.195s | 3.123s | 14 |
| 22 | Nabil Jeffri | Arden International | 1m32.773s | 3.701s | 15 |
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON TIMES:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raffaele Marciello | RUSSIAN TIME | 1m41.863s | - | 23 |
| 2 | Nicholas Latifi | DAMS | 1m43.500s | 1.637s | 19 |
| 3 | Luca Ghiotto | Trident | 1m43.758s | 1.895s | 20 |
| 4 | Alex Lynn | DAMS | 1m43.909s | 2.046s | 33 |
| 5 | Gustav Malja | Rapax | 1m44.176s | 2.313s | 26 |
| 6 | Jordan King | Racing Engineering | 1m44.888s | 3.025s | 24 |
| 7 | Sergey Sirotkin | ART Grand Prix | 1m44.905s | 3.042s | 14 |
| 8 | Mitch Evans | Jagonya Ayam Campos Racing | 1m45.274s | 3.411s | 21 |
| 9 | Pierre Gasly | Prema Racing | 1m45.559s | 3.696s | 16 |
| 10 | Oliver Rowland | MP Motorsport | 1m45.889s | 4.026s | 20 |
| 11 | Marvin Kirchhofer | Carlin | 1m45.986s | 4.123s | 21 |
| 12 | Jimmy Eriksson | Arden International | 1m46.043s | 4.180s | 25 |
| 13 | William Buller | Carlin | 1m46.257s | 4.394s | 24 |
| 14 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Prema Racing | 1m46.455s | 4.592s | 17 |
| 15 | Nobuharu Matsushita | ART Grand Prix | 1m46.675s | 4.812s | 27 |
| 16 | Philo Paz Armand | Trident | 1m47.345s | 5.482s | 31 |
| 17 | Nabil Jeffri | Arden International | 1m47.692s | 5.829s | 23 |
| 18 | Norman Nato | Racing Engineering | 1m48.174s | 6.311s | 21 |
| 19 | Sean Gelael | Jagonya Ayam Campos Racing | 1m48.513s | 6.650s | 24 |
| 20 | Artem Markelov | RUSSIAN TIME | 1m48.686s | 6.823s | 26 |
| 21 | Arthur Pic | Rapax | 1m49.035s | 7.172s | 25 |
| 22 | Daniel de Jong | MP Motorsport | 1m50.630s | 8.767s | 21 |
| 23 | Sergio Canamasas | Status Grand Prix | - | - | 1 |
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