Van der Garde leads second test day
Giedo van der Garde was quickest on the second day of GP2 testing at Jerez, while Formula 3 Euro Series frontrunner Christian Vietoris emerged fastest among the rookies trying the championship for the first time this week
Having won races for iSport this year, van der Garde switched to 2009 title contender Addax today and led the way with a lap of 1m25.291s in the faster morning session, 0.2s ahead of Alberto Valerio, a Piquet driver all season but running for Coloni at Jerez.
Kamui Kobayashi returned to GP2 after his Formula 1 practice outing with Toyota in Japan, and moved from the DAMS team that took him to the Asia series title to Racing Engineering. He was third in the morning and quickest in the afternoon session, which saw hotter temperatures and slower times.
Kobayashi's 2009 season team-mate Jerome D'Ambrosio, who was testing with champion squad ART, was second quickest in the session.
Top newcomer in the second session was Formula Master champion Fabio Leimer, driving for the Ocean team.
Other rookies sampling GP2 in today's test included F3 race-winners Sam Bird (DAMS) and Marcus Ericsson (iSport) and Formula 2 frontrunner Philip Eng (Ocean), plus Aston Martin sportscar driver Jan Charouz, who drove for ART.
Tomorrow's final day of testing will see five times World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb running for DPR and 2008 GP2 runner-up Bruno Senna returning with iSport.
Combined times:
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Giedo van der Garde Addax 1m25.291s 2. Alberto Valerio Coloni 1m25.434s 3. Kamui Kobayashi Racing Engineering 1m25.520s 4. Jerome d'Ambrosio ART 1m25.525s 5. Christian Vietoris DAMS 1m25.575s 6. Luiz Razia Piquet 1m25.734s 7. Oliver Turvey iSport 1m25.759s 8. Diego Nunes Addax 1m25.783s 9. Sam Bird DAMS 1m25.911s 10. James Jakes Super Nova 1m25.972s 11. Philip Eng Ocean 1m26.170s 12. Stefano Coletti Trident 1m26.248s 13. Marcus Ericsson iSport 1m26.317s 14. Dani Clos Arden 1m26.357s 15. Michael Herck DPR 1m26.496s 16. Ricardo Teixeira Super Nova 1m26.632s 17. Fabio Leimer Ocean 1m26.975s 18. Will Bratt Coloni 1m26.990s 19. Rodolfo Gonzalez Arden 1m27.083s 20. Josef Kral Piquet 1m27.170s 21. Sten Pentus Racing Engineering 1m27.175s 22. Filip Salaquarda Trident 1m27.229s 23. Francesco Castellaci Durango 1m28.421s 24. Vladimir Arabadhziev DPR 1m28.516s 25. Jan Charouz ART 1m29.205s
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