Honda's Matsushita fastest on opening day of GP2 Abu Dhabi test
Honda protege Nobuharu Matsushita topped the first day of GP2 post-season testing in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday
The Japanese racer, staying with his 2015 team ART, topped both the morning and evening sessions at Yas Marina, ending the day more than half a second clear of his nearest challenger.
After leading the morning session with a lap set early on, Matsushita then moved again to the top of the standings when the evening running began.
While his lap was beaten by Richie Stanaway's Carlin entry soon after, Matsushita then moved back to the head of the times, before lowering the benchmark even further with a quarter of an hour to go.
Nicholas Latifi led the chase with DAMS, while 2015 DAMS driver Pierre Gasly put GP2 newcomer Prema Racing third on its first day of testing.
Formula Renault 3.5 champion Oliver Rowland was fourth quickest in the second ART entry, while Artem Markelov, Nick Yelloly and Norman Nato all managed to shuffle early pacesetter Stanaway down to eighth.
DTM champion Pascal Wehrlein, pictured, had a quiet day with Prema, setting the 18th fastest time in both sessions and ending the day two seconds off the pace.
MORNING TIMES:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nobuharu Matsushita | ART Grand Prix | 1m49.180s | - | 25 |
| 2 | Alex Lynn | DAMS | 1m49.304s | 0.124s | 9 |
| 3 | Norman Nato | Arden International | 1m49.479s | 0.299s | 17 |
| 4 | Oliver Rowland | ART Grand Prix | 1m49.501s | 0.321s | 12 |
| 5 | Pierre Gasly | Prema Racing | 1m49.508s | 0.328s | 16 |
| 6 | Nicholas Latifi | DAMS | 1m49.792s | 0.612s | 15 |
| 7 | Tio Ellinas | RUSSIAN TIME | 1m49.816s | 0.636s | 27 |
| 8 | Andre Negrao | Rapax | 1m49.821s | 0.641s | 18 |
| 9 | Richie Stanaway | Carlin | 1m49.837s | 0.657s | 17 |
| 10 | Nick Yelloly | MP Motorsport | 1m50.067s | 0.887s | 23 |
| 11 | Jordan King | Racing Engineering | 1m50.078s | 0.898s | 20 |
| 12 | Sergey Sirotkin | Racing Engineering | 1m50.200s | 1.020s | 15 |
| 13 | Dean Stoneman | Carlin | 1m50.244s | 1.064s | 18 |
| 14 | Felix Rosenqvist | Status Grand Prix | 1m50.264s | 1.084s | 21 |
| 15 | Luca Ghiotto | Trident | 1m50.429s | 1.249s | 21 |
| 16 | Artem Markelov | RUSSIAN TIME | 1m50.543s | 1.363s | 23 |
| 17 | Jimmy Eriksson | Trident | 1m50.739s | 1.559s | 20 |
| 18 | Pascal Wehrlein | Prema Racing | 1m51.022s | 1.842s | 18 |
| 19 | Gustav Malja | Arden International | 1m51.032s | 1.852s | 23 |
| 20 | Konstantin Tereschenko | Campos Racing | 1m51.257s | 2.077s | 17 |
| 21 | Alex Fontana | Rapax | 1m51.309s | 2.129s | 16 |
| 22 | Richard Gonda | MP Motorsport | 1m51.745s | 2.565s | 25 |
| 23 | Sean Gelael | Campos Racing | 1m52.340s | 3.160s | 7 |
| 24 | Philo Paz Armand | Status Grand Prix | 1m54.167s | 4.987s | 20 |
AFTERNOON TIMES:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nobuharu Matsushita | ART Grand Prix | 1m47.903s | - | 29 |
| 2 | Nicholas Latifi | DAMS | 1m48.418s | 0.515s | 35 |
| 3 | Pierre Gasly | Prema Racing | 1m48.437s | 0.534s | 23 |
| 4 | Oliver Rowland | ART Grand Prix | 1m48.454s | 0.551s | 30 |
| 5 | Artem Markelov | RUSSIAN TIME | 1m48.581s | 0.678s | 18 |
| 6 | Nick Yelloly | MP Motorsport | 1m48.744s | 0.841s | 10 |
| 7 | Norman Nato | Arden International | 1m48.780s | 0.877s | 27 |
| 8 | Richie Stanaway | Carlin | 1m48.791s | 0.888s | 23 |
| 9 | Dean Stoneman | Carlin | 1m48.865s | 0.962s | 25 |
| 10 | Andre Negrao | Rapax | 1m48.875s | 0.972s | 25 |
| 11 | Jordan King | Racing Engineering | 1m48.943s | 1.040s | 29 |
| 12 | Tio Ellinas | RUSSIAN TIME | 1m48.997s | 1.094s | 35 |
| 13 | Felix Rosenqvist | Status Grand Prix | 1m49.165s | 1.262s | 29 |
| 14 | Luca Ghiotto | Trident | 1m49.213s | 1.310s | 26 |
| 15 | Sergey Sirotkin | Racing Engineering | 1m49.223s | 1.320s | 32 |
| 16 | Gustav Malja | Arden International | 1m49.423s | 1.520s | 29 |
| 17 | Alex Fontana | Rapax | 1m49.747s | 1.844s | 35 |
| 18 | Pascal Wehrlein | Prema Racing | 1m50.030s | 2.127s | 17 |
| 19 | Jimmy Eriksson | Trident | 1m50.110s | 2.207s | 32 |
| 20 | Sean Gelael | Campos Racing | 1m50.491s | 2.588s | 34 |
| 21 | Richard Gonda | MP Motorsport | 1m50.536s | 2.633s | 27 |
| 22 | Philo Paz Armand | Status Grand Prix | 1m51.558s | 3.655s | 27 |
| 23 | Konstantin Tereschenko | Campos Racing | 1m51.607s | 3.704s | 5 |
| 24 | Alex Lynn | DAMS | 1m52.515s | 4.612s | 29 |
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