Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Davide Valsecchi fastest for DAMS in GP2 practice in Bahrain

Davide Valsecchi set the pace in free practice ahead of qualifying for the second race weekend of the GP2 Series season at the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain

Valsecchi, who somersaulted out of the sprint race at the previous event at Sepang, lapped his DAMS machine in 1m41.417s. His time was 0.671 seconds faster than Max Chilton's Carlin machine, which lapped in 1m42.088s.

In hot conditions, with the air temperature topping 30C, it was reigning British Formula 3 champion Felipe Nasr who set the early pace, a couple of tenths ahead of DAMS team-mate Valsecchi. Addax's Johnny Cecotto Jr then hit the front before Valsecchi set his never-to-be-beaten lap, which was eight tenths clear of the opposition at the time.

Cecotto ended the session third on 1m42.294s, ahead of Nasr's fourth-placed 1m42.320s. Points leader Luiz Razia (Arden) was fifth fastest on 1m42.390s, but after setting his time he wandered into the path of a flat-out Nasr - immediately waving to apologise for almost causing a high-speed accident. The stewards will no doubt want a word with him after the session; Nasr was livid.

Fabio Leimer was sixth quickest for Racing Engineering, ahead of Lotus duo Esteban Gutierrez - who had a number of off-track adventures - and Sepang sprint race winner James Calado.

Series returnee Dani Clos, who replaces Josef Kral at Addax this weekend, was ninth fastest, 1.5s off the pace.

Pos  Driver               Team                Time       Gap
 1.  Davide Valsecchi     DAMS                1m41.417s
 2.  Max Chilton          Carlin              1m42.088s  + 0.671s
 3.  Johnny Cecotto       Addax               1m42.294s  + 0.877s
 4.  Felipe Nasr          DAMS                1m42.320s  + 0.903s
 5.  Luiz Razia           Arden               1m42.390s  + 0.973s
 6.  Fabio Leimer         Racing Engineering  1m42.411s  + 0.994s
 7.  Esteban Gutierrez    Lotus               1m42.649s  + 1.232s
 8.  James Calado         Lotus               1m42.853s  + 1.436s
 9.  Dani Clos            Addax               1m42.918s  + 1.501s
10.  Fabio Onidi          Coloni              1m42.963s  + 1.546s
11.  Marcus Ericsson      iSport              1m43.047s  + 1.630s
12.  Julian Leal          Trident             1m43.082s  + 1.665s
13.  Nathanael Berthon    Racing Engineering  1m43.139s  + 1.722s
14.  Stefano Coletti      Coloni              1m43.235s  + 1.818s
15.  Rio Haryanto         Carlin              1m43.289s  + 1.872s
16.  Simon Trummer        Arden               1m43.377s  + 1.960s
17.  Giedo van der Garde  Caterham            1m43.470s  + 2.053s
18.  Stephane Richelmi    Trident             1m43.485s  + 2.068s
19.  Fabrizio Crestani    Lazarus             1m43.532s  + 2.115s
20.  Jolyon Palmer        iSport              1m43.542s  + 2.125s
21.  Rodolfo Gonzalez     Caterham            1m43.726s  + 2.309s
22.  Brendon Hartley      Ocean               1m43.754s  + 2.337s
23.  Nigel Melker         Ocean               1m43.974s  + 2.557s
24.  Tom Dillmann         Rapax               1m44.112s  + 2.685s
25.  Ricardo Teixeira     Rapax               1m44.137s  + 2.720s
26.  Giancarlo Serenelli  Lazarus             1m44.697s  + 3.280s

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article James Calado takes first GP2 points-paying win for Lotus in Sepang sprint race
Next article Davide Valsecchi fastest for DAMS in GP2 qualifying in Bahrain

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe