Herck fastest in GP2 testing
Michael Herck was quickest for Coloni as GP2 testing in Abu Dhabi resumed today ahead of next weekend's Asia series opener
The teams switched to a 2.939-mile configuration of the Yas Marina track for today's test, and will also use this layout for the forthcoming races.
Herck emerged on top of an extremely close afternoon session during a late exchange of fast times following a red flag near the end of the day.
The Coloni driver's 1m36.467s lap beat AirAsia's Davide Valsecchi and iSport's Marcus Ericsson by just 0.01 seconds as the Italian and Swede matched each other's exact lap times.
Jules Bianchi was fourth for ART, with his team-mate Esteban Gutierrez the quickest GP rookie in eighth. Dani Clos (Racing Engineering) and Rodolfo Gonzalez (Trident) completed the top six.
Seventh-placed Arden driver Josef Kral had been the man to beat in the morning, when his 1m36.609s time beat nearest rival Ericsson by 0.3s.
Clos, Bianchi and Herck had filled the other top five spots in this session, with Formula 2 convert Jolyon Palmer an impressive sixth in the other Arden car.
Testing continues on Monday, followed by a two-day break before the GP2 Asia season begins with practice on Thursday.
Session one: Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps 1. Josef Kral Arden 1m36.609s 26 2. Marcus Ericsson iSport 1m36.912s + 0.303s 21 3. Dani Clos Racing Engineering 1m37.000s + 0.391s 32 4. Jules Bianchi ART 1m37.114s + 0.505s 23 5. Michael Herck Coloni 1m37.240s + 0.631s 25 6. Jolyon Palmer Arden 1m37.389s + 0.780s 29 7. Rodolfo Gonzalez Trident 1m37.484s + 0.875s 22 8. Max Chilton Carlin 1m37.495s + 0.886s 18 9. Charles Pic Addax 1m37.503s + 0.894s 30 10. Giedo van der Garde Addax 1m37.592s + 0.983s 21 11. Esteban Gutierrez ART 1m37.715s + 1.106s 21 12. Sam Bird iSport 1m37.725s + 1.116s 17 13. Stefano Coletti Trident 1m37.809s + 1.200s 27 14. Julian Leal Rapax 1m37.814s + 1.205s 24 15. Andrea Caldarelli Ocean 1m37.822s + 1.213s 36 16. Davide Valsecchi AirAsia 1m37.846s + 1.237s 21 17. Nathanael Berthon Racing Engineering 1m37.876s + 1.267s 32 18. Oliver Turvey Ocean 1m37.961s + 1.352s 40 19. Fabio Leimer Rapax 1m38.077s + 1.468s 20 20. Luiz Razia AirAsia 1m38.095s + 1.486s 24 21. Mikhail Aleshin Carlin 1m38.098s + 1.489s 24 22. Fairuz Fauzy Super Nova 1m38.226s + 1.617s 11 23. Romain Grosjean DAMS 1m38.421s + 1.812s 24 24. James Jakes Coloni 1m38.622s + 2.013s 14 25. Pal Varhaug DAMS 1m39.438s + 2.829s 30 26. Johnny Cecotto Super Nova 1m40.006s + 3.397s 6 Session two: Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps 1. Michael Herck Coloni 1m36.467s 27 2. Davide Valsecchi AirAsia 1m36.477s + 0.010s 27 3. Marcus Ericsson iSport 1m36.477s + 0.010s 22 4. Jules Bianchi ART 1m36.592s + 0.125s 28 5. Dani Clos Racing Engineering 1m36.655s + 0.188s 24 6. Rodolfo Gonzalez Trident 1m36.826s + 0.359s 19 7. Josef Kral Arden 1m36.834s + 0.367s 28 8. Esteban Gutierrez ART 1m36.907s + 0.440s 35 9. Max Chilton Carlin 1m36.908s + 0.441s 16 10. James Jakes Coloni 1m37.022s + 0.555s 22 11. Sam Bird iSport 1m37.030s + 0.563s 32 12. Romain Grosjean DAMS 1m37.076s + 0.609s 36 13. Luiz Razia AirAsia 1m37.147s + 0.680s 27 14. Andrea Caldarelli Ocean 1m37.155s + 0.688s 21 15. Johnny Cecotto Super Nova 1m37.226s + 0.759s 27 16. Fairuz Fauzy Super Nova 1m37.231s + 0.764s 28 17. Fabio Leimer Rapax 1m37.304s + 0.837s 32 18. Oliver Turvey Ocean 1m37.305s + 0.838s 16 19. Stefano Coletti Trident 1m37.331s + 0.864s 26 20. Mikhail Aleshin Carlin 1m37.419s + 0.952s 24 21. Pal Varhaug DAMS 1m37.734s + 1.267s 36 22. Jolyon Palmer Arden 1m37.912s + 1.445s 9 23. Julian Leal Rapax 1m38.059s + 1.592s 23 24. Nathanael Berthon Racing Engineering 1m38.523s + 2.056s 24 25. Giedo van der Garde Addax 1m39.176s + 2.709s 31 26. Charles Pic Addax 1m39.495s + 3.028s 36
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