Grosjean quickest in Silverstone test
GP2 Asia series champion Romain Grosjean continued with his strong form ahead of the start of the main series by topping the times on the opening day of pre-season testing at Silverstone
In cold, wet and windy conditions, the Frenchman finished with a time of 1m40.725s in the DAMS car, outpacing Arden's Josef Kral by over half a second.
Grosjean set the best time in the afternoon, when conditions improved and allowed drivers to lap the circuit some 15 seconds quicker than in the morning.
Rapax driver Fabio Leimer was third quickest, with Sam Bird in the iSport machine and ART's Jules Bianchi rounding up the top five. Bianchi had been fastest in the morning session.
The afternoon session finished eight minutes ahead of schedule, when Fairuz Fauzy lost control of his car. The session was not restarted after that.
The test continues tomorrow.
Morning times Driver Team Time Laps 1. Jules Bianchi Lotus ART 1:55.769 29 2. Jolyon Palmer Arden International 1:56.146 22 3. Esteban Gutierrez Lotus ART 1:56.236 21 4. Charles Pic Barwa Addax 1:56.244 29 5. Giedo van der Garde Barwa Addax 1:56.496 22 6. Max Chilton Carlin 1:56.841 21 7. Luiz Razia Team AirAsia 1:57.027 25 8. Johnny Cecotto Ocean Racing Technology 1:57.270 21 9. Dani Clos Racing Engineering 1:57.296 25 10. Fairuz Fauzy Super Nova Racing 1:57.452 19 11. Oliver Turvey Carlin 1:57.472 11 12. Romain Grosjean Dams 1:57.576 24 13. Christian Vietoris Racing Engineering 1:57.788 29 14. Kevin Mirocha Ocean Racing Technology 1:57.850 27 15. Julian Leal Rapax 1:57.871 20 16. Marcus Ericsson iSport International 1:58.027 17 17. Sam Bird iSport International 1:58.289 19 18. Michael Herck Scuderia Coloni 1:58.293 40 19. Rodolfo Gonzalez Trident Racing 1:58.319 14 20. Pal Varhaug Dams 1:58.439 30 21. Davide Valsecchi Team AirAsia 1:58.770 10 22. Josef Kral Arden International 1:58.048 21 23. Davide Rigon Scuderia Coloni 2:00.070 17 24. Fabio Leimer Rapax 2:00.228 26 25. Stefano Coletti Trident Racing 2:00.299 13 26. Luca Filippi Super Nova Racing -- 2 Afternoon times Driver Team Time Laps 1. Romain Grosjean Dams 1:40.725 17 2. Josef Kral Arden International 1:41.361 11 3. Fabio Leimer Rapax 1:41.480 14 4. Sam Bird iSport International 1:41.525 14 5. Jules Bianchi Lotus ART 1:41.555 15 6. Christian Vietoris Racing Engineering 1:41.639 15 7. Luca Filippi Super Nova Racing 1:41.651 14 8. Julian Leal Rapax 1:41.781 15 9. Michael Herck Scuderia Coloni 1:41.819 20 10. Giedo van der Garde Barwa Addax Team 1:41.900 13 11. Oliver Turvey Carlin 1:42.103 17 12. Johnny Cecotto Ocean Racing Technology 1:42.147 17 13. Stefano Coletti Trident Racing 1:42.231 18 14. Marcus Ericsson iSport International 1:42.360 18 15. Davide Rigon Scuderia Coloni 1:42.376 21 16. Dani Clos Racing Engineering 1:42.399 16 17. Davide Valsecchi Team AirAsia 1:42.488 9 18. Jolyon Palmer Arden International 1:42.508 12 19. Luiz Razia Team AirAsia 1:42.509 16 20. Charles Pic Barwa Addax Team 1:42.929 13 21. Esteban Gutierrez Lotus ART 1:43.125 14 22. Pal Varhaug Dams 1:43.450 17 23. Rodolfo Gonzalez Trident Racing 1:43.479 18 24. Fairuz Fauzy Super Nova Racing 1:43.919 16 25. Kevin Mirocha Ocean Racing Technology 1:44.029 21 26. Max Chilton Carlin 1:55.587 3
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