Filippi and Valsecchi quickest in pre-season first testing day

The  third  GP2  Asia  Series  will  open  next  weekend  as  Formula  One  inaugural  Abu  Dhabi  Grand Prix support race.

Prior to this grand event, the GP2 Asia field gathered this week for a two-day test session held at the Yas Marina circuit. It is the first time that the much-anticipated venue welcomes racing cars and its beautiful layout has already procured good sensations for the drivers.

The morning session was all about learning the 5.555km long track, but on a very dirty track and high temperature, many racers chose to go for installation laps and then patiently wait for the most daring  to  put  rubber  on  the  track.  Davide  Valsecchi  at  iSport  topped  the  timing  sheet  ahead  of veteran Luca Filippi at Meritus while rookie Christian Vietoris at Dams rounded up the Top 3.

Other rookies  Alexander  Rossi  (Ocean  Racing  Technology),  Sam  Bird  (ART  Grand  Prix  and  Daniel Zampieri (Piquet GP) all finished in the Top 10. Davide Valsecchi (iSport International): “We were fastest this morning and we had a great pace again  this  afternoon.  But  the  track  conditions  between  the morning  and   afternoon  changed drastically,  especially  with  the  temperatures  dropping  10degC.  During the  morning,  the  track  was  not  that dirty, but it lacked a lot of grip. When I went out on new tyres this afternoon, the sun was already down and the track was a little bit colder so it was much quicker. We should see again slower times tomorrow morning. It’s  a  beautiful  setting  here.  Yesterday,  when  I  was  running  around  the  track  I  saw  grandstands everywhere. It’s very impressive: you have one every corner and I really hope that it will be full for the race. My favourite part of the track is in sector 1, after the start/finish line. The corners there are really fast. The end of the very long straight in sector 3 with the big braking point is also extremely important because I think this is where you can overtake. And I have to say that the track lightning system is excellent: we can even see clearer than during the day!”

Abu Dhabi – Test session Day 1 – Morning session

Driver Team Time Laps

1. Davide Valsecchi iSport International 1:57.504 16 2. Luca Filippi Meritus 1:57.539 17 3. Christian Vietoris DAMS 1:57.632 8 4. Luiz Razia Barwa Addax Team 1:57.706 17 5. Alexander Rossi Ocean Racing Technology 1:57.877 10 6. Diego Nunes Meritus 1:57.907 14 7. Sam Bird ART Grand Prix 1:58.087 8 8. James Jakes Super Nova Racing 1:58.577 11 9. Johnny Cecotto Trident Racing 1:59.266 11 10. Daniel Zampieri Piquet GP 1:59.504 8 11. Max Chilton Barwa Addax Team 2:00.142 11 12. Marcus Ericsson ART Grand Prix 2:00.407 9 13. Edoardo Piscopo DAMS 2:00.782 10 14. Pablo Sanchez Arden International 2:01.111 9 15. Josef Kral Super Nova Racing 2:01.127 7 16. Will Bratt Scuderia Coloni 2:01.308 11 17. Michael Herck DPR 2:01.333 13 18. Rodolfo Gonzalez Arden International 2:01.516 7 19. Fabio Leimer Ocean Racing Technology 2:01.683 5 20 Vladimir Arabadzhiev Piquet GP 2:03.842 8 21. Plamen Kralev Trident Racing 2:04.288 29 22. Roldan Rodriguez Scuderia Coloni -- --

The afternoon session started at 4pm local time in order to finish at night time and test the lightning system of the track since the Formula One Grand Prix next week will be held at sunset. The track conditions improved of course improved a bit and the experience of Filippi and Roldan Rodriguez at  Scuderia  Coloni  paid  off  with  the  Italian  setting  of  the  quickest  laptime  as  the  temperature decreased  and  the  sky  darkened.  Meritus  showed  great  pace  today  with  second  driver  Diego Nunes  completing  the  top  3.  Bird,  Vietoris,  Zampieri  and  Max  Chilton  (Barwa  Addax)  were  the quickest rookies of the day.

Luca  Filippi  (Meritus):  “I  have  to  say  that  we  are  very  proud  to  be  the  first  ones  to test on this track. It is a long circuit with many corners and it’s not so easy to remember at the beginning. We did a really good job today. And you have to remember that Meritus is only racing in GP2 Asia, so for  the  car  to  be  set-up  perfectly  from  the get go is quite the accomplishment. We wanted to be really fast this afternoon because we knew that in cooler conditions and with more rubber on the circuit,  the  track  would  get  faster  and  we  wanted  to  be  the  quickest.  This  result  gives  us  great confidence  for  tomorrow  and  next  week’s  race  weekend.  Tomorrow,  we  will  do  a  lot  of  pitstop practice and maybe some race distance to see how our pace is. “In terms of layout, the first thing you see is the facilities – which are amazing. Here, there are two great fast corners. My favourite parts are the first three corners and then the last two. It’s where all the fun happens and where you can prove your driver’s skills. Overall, it’s a really nice circuit.”

Saturday’s second testing day will start at 11am, local time and end at 7pm.

Abu Dhabi – Test session Day 1 – Afternoon session

Driver Team Time Laps

1. Luca Filippi Meritus 1:52.842 23 2. Roldan Rodriguez Scuderia Coloni 1:53.091 26 3. Diego Nunes Meritus 1:53.188 28 4. Davide Valsecchi iSport International 1:53.279 18 5. Luiz Razia Barwa Addax Team 1:53.486 26 6. Sam Bird ART Grand Prix 1:53.572 27 7. Johnny Cecotto Trident Racing 1:53.681 35 8. Christian Vietoris DAMS 1:53.682 26 9. Daniel Zampieri Piquet GP 1:53.916 26 10. Max Chilton Barwa Addax Team 1:54.022 23 11. William Bratt Scuderia Coloni 1:54.060 25 12. Michael Herck DPR 1:54.086 20 13. Edoardo Piscopo DAMS 1:54.297 25 14. Josef Kral Super Nova Racing 1:54.494 25 15. Fabio Leimer Ocean Racing Technology 1:54.494 20 16. Alexander Rossi Ocean Racing Technology 1:54.516 16 17. Vladimir Arabadzhiev Piquet GP 1:54.661 19 18. Marcus Ericsson ART Grand Prix 1:54.740 20 19. James Jakes Super Nova Racing 1:55.714 16 20 Rodolfo Gonzalez Arden International 1:55.758 10 21. Plamen Kralev Trident Racing 1:59.411 22 22. Giacomo Ricci DPR