Kovalainen On Top at Barcelona - Day One
Heikki Kovalainen reaffirmed his position as the GP2 pre-season favourite, by stealing the fastest time of the day in the final moments of an ultra-competitive Barcelona test
A total of 17 cars set a time within one second of the Finn, who rebounded from a mid-day engine change to set the fastest lap. He was immediately followed by BCN's Ernesto Viso, and Hitech Piquet Sport's Nelson Piquet Jr, who was not the only namesake present, as father and three-time World Driving Champion Nelson Sr. attended his first GP2 test.
Racing Engineering continued their impressive testing form as Borja Garcia and Neel Jani shadowed each other's times to finish 4th and 5th while regular pace setter and #1 holder Scott Speed was out of the wars in his iSport International entry, putting himself 19th.
With Super Nova confirming the lineup of Giorgio Pantano and Adam Carroll, the first test outside Paul Ricard also featured the first test session with the full 2005 grid. The doubt surrounding their drives seemed to have little effect, as they clocked in at 8th and 10th fatest, with first blood in what will be a closely watched duel going to Carroll.
Bridgestone used the final pre-season test to run their hard compound tyres and the action continues tomorrow at the Catalunya track, before the series moves to Imola for its Championship debut.
GP2 testing at Barcelona - day 1:
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Kovalainen Arden International 1:25.998 2. Viso BCN Competicion 1:26.033 + 0.035 3. Piquet Jr Hitech Piquet Sports 1:26.078 + 0.080 4. Garcia Racing Engineering 1:26.186 + 0.188 5. Jani Racing Engineering 1:26.220 + 0.222 6. Bruni Coloni Motorsport 1:26.267 + 0.269 7. Lopez Dams 1:26.313 + 0.315 8. Carroll Super Nova Int. 1:26.428 + 0.430 9. Premat ART Grand Prix 1:26.540 + 0.542 10. Pantano Super Nova Int. 1:26.541 + 0.543 11. Pla DPR 1:26.559 + 0.561 12. Rosberg ART Grand Prix 1:26.597 + 0.599 13. Lapierre Arden International 1:26.603 + 0.605 14. Hernandez Campos Racing 1:26.639 + 0.641 15. Yoshimoto BCN Competicion 1:26.740 + 0.742 16. Piccione Durango 1:26.939 + 0.941 17. Fauzy Dams 1:26.951 + 0.953 18. Alvarez Campos Racing 1:27.210 + 1.212 19. Speed iSport International 1:27.265 + 1.267 20. Negrão Hitech Piquet Sports 1:27.517 + 1.519 21. Artam iSport International 1:27.518 + 1.520 22. Sharp DPR 1:27.581 + 1.583 23. Monfardini Durango 1:27.637 + 1.639 24. Lauda Coloni Motorsport 1:29.247 + 3.249
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