Ericsson fastest after first day of final test at Barcelona
Marcus Ericsson set the pace on the opening day of GP2's final test of 2011 at Barcelona
The 21-year-old Swede scored a podium for iSport when the series visited the track in May. He stayed with the team for the test, rising to the top of the timesheets in the morning session by posting a 1m29.705s, which stood for the remainder of the day.
Dani Clos, who beat Ericsson to the runner-up spot in the second race in May, finished just over 0.1s behind him in second. Clos, testing for Scuderia Coloni, set his fastest time in the morning session, as did the majority of the frontrunners.
Esteban Gutierrez set the third fastest time of the day for the Lotus ART squad, with whom he scored his breakthrough GP2 win this year at Valencia.
Kevin Ceccon (Scuderia Coloni) and Nigel Melker (Ocean Racing) set the exact same time to take a share of fourth fastest - Melker finishing the day as fastest rookie - with GP3 graduate Tom Dillmann (iSport) in sixth.
Dillmann then turned pacesetter in the slower afternoon session, finishing more than half a second clear of Gutierrez and Melker. Alexander Rossi was fourth fastest for Caterham Team AirAsia, but his afternoon benchmark was more than 0.6s off his morning time.
Dams' Rio Harynato ended his session prematurely as he slid into the gravel bed, bringing out red flags with 15 minutes remaining. Gutierrez and Rossi were able to find time in the final minutes, but neither was able to trouble Dillmann's afternoon benchmark.
Morning times:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Marcus Ericsson iSport International 1:29.705 25 2. Dani Clos Scuderia Coloni 1:29.810 34 3. Esteban Gutierrez Lotus ART 1:29.911 24 4. Kevin Ceccon Scuderia Coloni 1:29.978 28 5. Nigel Melker Ocean Racing Technology 1:29.978 25 6. Tom Dillmann iSport International 1:30.025 26 7. Julian Leal Barwa Addax Team 1:30.084 23 8. Alexander Rossi Caterham Team AirAsia 1:30.140 18 9. Kevin Magnussen Carlin 1:30.158 22 10. Jolyon Palmer Barwa Addax Team 1:30.299 29 11. Max Chilton Carlin 1:30.399 24 12. Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering 1:30.416 29 13. Roberto Merhi Arden International 1:30.446 28 14. Josef Kral Trident Racing 1:30.453 21 15. Brendon Hartley Ocean Racing Technology 1:30.526 19 16. Rio Haryanto Dams 1:30.536 25 17. Antonio Felix Da Costa Lotus ART 1:30.798 29 18. Stefano Coletti Dams 1:30.880 25 19. Stéphane Richelmi Trident Racing 1:30.993 33 20. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Super Nova Racing 1:31.137 25 21. Luiz Razia Caterham Team AirAsia 1:31.176 22 22. Fabio Onidi Rapax 1:31.257 16 23. Nathanaël Berthon Racing Engineering 1:31.329 19 24. Jake Rosenzweig Scuderia Coloni 1:31.342 33 25. Pal Varhaug Rapax 1:31.443 37 26. Craig Dolby Arden International 1:31.891 23
Afternoon times:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Tom Dillmann iSport International 1:30.210 35 2. Esteban Gutierrez Lotus ART 1:30.749 23 3. Nigel Melker Ocean Racing Technology 1:30.769 23 4. Alexander Rossi Caterham Team AirAsia 1:30.773 31 5. Kevin Ceccon Scuderia Coloni 1:30.774 28 6. Antonio Felix Da Costa Lotus ART 1:30.860 24 7. Dani Clos Scuderia Coloni 1:30.881 18 8. Craig Dolby Arden International 1:31.042 20 9. Roberto Merhi Arden International 1:31.061 23 10. Marcus Ericsson iSport International 1:31.113 29 11. Rio Haryanto Dams 1:31.178 28 12. Pal Varhaug Rapax 1:31.197 26 13. Nathanaël Berthon Racing Engineering 1:31.259 26 14. Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering 1:31.284 21 15. Stéphane Richelmi Trident Racing 1:31.307 30 16. Stefano Coletti Dams 1:31.328 27 17. Kevin Magnussen Carlin 1:31.351 20 18. Josef Kral Trident Racing 1:31.407 24 19. Luiz Razia Caterham Team AirAsia 1:31.520 28 20. Brendon Hartley Ocean Racing Technology 1:31.557 27 21. Jake Rosenzweig Super Nova Racing 1:31.586 22 22. Max Chilton Carlin 1:31.611 20 23. Julian Leal Barwa Addax Team 1:31.737 25 24. Adrian Quaif-Hobbs Super Nova Racing 1:32.056 26 25. Fabio Onidi Rapax 1:33.082 24 26. Jolyon Palmer Barwa Addax Team 1:34.427 31
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Gravel Notes Podcast: WRC Croatia preview
Why MotoGP’s COTA thriller was just what Liberty wanted to see
Sutton tops final BTCC pre-season test
Why tough love has allowed Fourmaux to reach new WRC heights
Why Alpine’s rigorous training camp yields telling insights into its juniors
Can F2's relaxed title favourite prove a point to Alpine?
Why F1's junior logjam isn't entirely a product of current issues
Inside the racing university moulding F1 drivers and engineers alike
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments