The Venezuelan from Rapax sets the pace in a 1:27.457 in GP2 collective tests

The  GP2  Series  paddock  gathered  this  week  for  the  last  three-day  pre-season  test  session  in Barcelona. And once again, it was Pastor Maldonado who set the pace at the end of the day in a 1:27.457, but rookies did not falter with four of them finishing in the Top 5, ART’s Sam Bird leading Racing Engineering’s Christian Vietoris, Arden’s Charles Pic and Super Nova’s Ericsson. In the  morning, the track activity was pretty slow for most of the first two hours, with Ocean’s Max Chilton  and  Vietoris  successively  topping  the  timing  sheet.  In  the  last  sixty  minutes  of  the  three- hour session, the German’s best laptime was bettered by Addax’ Giedo van der Garde who would then stay on top until the chequered flag. He was closely followed by Bird while the Brit’s teammate Jules Bianchi moved up to P4 ahead of Pic.

The session was red flagged once after Ho-Pin Tung at Dams touched the barriers at Turn 5. At the restart, Maldonado improved to claim the fourth best laptime. Behind the Top 5, Jérôme d’Ambrosio placed his Dams car in sixth place ahead of iSport’s Oliver Turvey, Pic, Trident’s Adrian Zaugg and Josef Kral at Super Nova. After the lunch break, Bianchi took charge and rapidly topped the timing sheet with teammate Bird in tow. Soon enough, it was d’Ambrosio’s turn to shine until Maldonado moved up to P1.

With the arrival of light rain, Bird claimed top spot ahead of Bianchi, Kral and Dani Clos. But the raindrops soon  vanished and Davide Valsecchi moved up to P4 while Ericsson clocked in the second best laptime. With fifteen minutes left on the clock, Maldonado climbed back to the top of the timesheet ahead of Bird and Vietoris. Pic swooped in fourth with Ericsson in tow. Bianchi was the fifth rookie to follow while Michael Herck climbed to P7 ahead of Valsecchi, Luiz Razia, and Kral. The session  started again today at 9am, local time.

Morning results

Driver License Team Time Laps

1. Giedo Van der Garde NED Barwa Addax Team 1:28.145 19 2. Sam Bird GBR ART Grand Prix 1:28.283 15 3. Christian Vietoris GER Racing Engineering 1:28.323 23 4. Pastor Maldonado VEN Rapax 1:28.669 14 5. Jules Bianchi FRA ART Grand Prix 1:28.814 22 6. Jerome d'Ambrosio BEL Dams 1:28.855 18 7. Oliver Turvey GBR iSport International 1:28.874 22 8. Charles Pic FRA Arden International 1:28.962 18 9. Adrian Zaugg RSA Trident Racing 1:29.018 20 10. Josef Kral CZE Super Nova Racing 1:29.020 25 11. Michael Herck ROU DPR 1:29.076 18 12. Dani Clos ESP Racing Engineering 1:29.093 22 13. Luiz Razia BRA Rapax 1:29.126 12 14. Fabio Leimer SUI Ocean Racing Technology     1:29.258 10 15. Giacomo Ricci ITA DPR 1:29.265 14 16. Sergio Perez MEX Barwa Addax Team 1:29.318 17 17. Johnny Cecotto VEN Trident Racing 1:29.376 19 18. Marcus Ericsson SWE Super Nova Racing 1:29.439 25 19. Max Chilton GBR Ocean Racing Technology     1:29.627 24 20 Vladimir Arabadzhiev BUL Scuderia Coloni 1:29.727 22 21. Davide Valsecchi ITA iSport International 1:29.755 23 22. Alberto Valerio BRA Scuderia Coloni 1:29.868 15 23. Ho-Pin Tung CHN Dams 1:30.599 10 24. Rodolfo Gonzalez VEN Arden International 1:30.625 20

Afternoon results

Driver License Team Time Laps 1. Pastor Maldonado VEN Rapax 1:27.457 23 2. Sam Bird GBR ART Grand Prix 1:27.473 26 3. Christian Vietoris GER Racing Engineering 1:27.531 14 4. Charles Pic FRA Arden International 1:27.661 23 5. Marcus Ericsson SWE Super Nova Racing 1:27.705 27 6. Jules Bianchi FRA ART Grand Prix 1:27.851 29 7. Michael Herck ROU DPR 1:27.946 24 8. Davide Valsecchi ITA iSport International 1:27.969 33 9. Luiz Razia BRA Rapax 1:28.043 28 10. Josef Kral CZE Super Nova Racing 1:28.058 30 11. Dani Close ESP Racing Engineering 1:28.107 21 12. Giedo van der Garde NED Barwa Addax Team 1:28.278 32 13. Sergio Perez MEX Barwa Addax Team 1:28.296 33 14. Oliver Turvey GBR iSport International 1:28.431 25 15. Alberto Valerio BRA Scuderia Coloni 1:28.471 26 16. Jérôme d’Ambrosio BEL Dams 1:28.630 10 17. Fabio Leimer SUI Ocean Racing Technology 1:28.715 13 18. Max Chilton GBR Ocean Racing Technology 1:28.803 20 19. Adrian Zaugg RSA Trident Racing 1:28.818 20 20 Vladimir Arabadzhiev BUL Scuderia Coloni 1:29.123 30 21. Ho-Pin Tung CHN Dams 1:29.136 36 22. Rodolfo Gonzalez VEN Arden International 1:29.508 27 23. Johnny Cecotto VEN Trident Racing 1:29.933 10 24. Giacomo Ricci ITA DPR  ENDS