Scuderia  Coloni  driver  quickest  on  Day  1  of  GP2  Series  post-season  test  at  Yas  Marina Circuit

Less than two weeks after the conclusion of the 2010 season, the GP2 Series paddock flew back to  Abu  Dhabi  to  conduct  four  days  of  post-season  testing. 

 A  mix  of  old  and  new  faces  were behind the wheels of the twenty four cars, with six drivers coming from GP3 Series, namely Champion  Esteban  Gutierrez  at  ART  Grand  Prix,  Vice  Champion  Robert  Wickens  at  iSport, Roberto  Merhi  and  Simon  Trummer  at  Arden,  James  Jakes  at  Scuderia  Coloni  and  Stefano Coletti  at  Trident.  Both  Gutierrez  and  Coletti  have  already  been  confirmed  as  GP2  drivers  for 2011.

As  the  pitlane  opened  this  morning,  Rodolfo  Gonzalez  at  Racing  Engineering  took  to  the  track first,  but  it  was  Charles  Pic  at  Barwa  Addax  who  set  the  early  pace  with  a  1:49.379  lap  before Super Nova's Marcus Ericsson bettered the Frenchman's laptime by one tenth of a second.

With one hour left on the clock, Jakes moved up to P1 but only temporarily as Michael Herck at DPR claimed the top spot a few minutes later - his fastest laptime of 1:48.447 (one tenth faster than Oliver  Turvey's  pole  position  in  this  season's  last  round)  was  never  beaten. 

The  session  was briefly  red  flagged  four  times  as  less  experienced  drivers  span  on  track without damaging their cars.

The afternoon session started off slowly with Fabio Leimer taking to the track first at the wheel of Champions' Rapax car. Coletti set the early pace ahead of newcomer Andrea Caldarelli at Racing Engineering, with Herck hot on their tail. Mid-session saw Gutierrez moving up to P1 and staying at  the  top  of  the  timing  sheets  until  Joylon  Palmer  at  iSport  improved  the  Mexican's  fastest laptime.  

 The   last   ten   minutes   of   the   session   felt   like   a   qualifying   session   with   Racing Engineering's   Rodolfo   Gonzalez   snatching   top   spot   while   Caldarelli,   iSport's   Wickens   and newcomer Kevin Ceccon at Coloni all moved up to the Top 5. A short red flag did not tame the field and in the dying minutes Ceccon's teammate for the day Jakes clocked in a blazing laptime of a 1:47.790. Gutierrez's last efforts could only land him 0.4 seconds behind the Brit while Pic's very last attempt could not get him higher than P3.

 Today's   session   will   start   at   9am   local   time.  

Day 1 - morning session

Driver Team Time Laps

1. Michael Herck DPR 1:48.447 28 2. James Jakes Scuderia Coloni 1:48.530 21 3. Robert Wickens iSport International 1:48.761 19 4. Andrea Caldarelli Racing Engineering 1:48.869 25 5. Josef Kral Barwa Addax Team 1:48.889 27 6. Esteban Gutierrez ART Grand Prix 1:48.955 20 7. Sam Bird Ocean Racing Technology 1:49.106 18 8. Stefano Coletti Trident Racing 1:49.137 15 9. Roberto Mehri Arden International 1:49.164 19 10. Rodolfo Gonzalez Racing Engineering 1:49.194 25 11. Marcus Ericsson Super Nova Racing 1:49.217 19 12. Charles Pic Barwa Addax Team 1:49.288 13 13. Joylon Palmer iSport International 1:49.764 25 14. Jan Charouz ART Grand Prix 1:49.970 27 15. Kevin Ceccon Scuderia Coloni 1:49.981 30 16. Fabio Leimer Rapax 1:50.112 10 17. Nathanael Berthon Dams 1:50.254 25 18. Ivan Samarin Dams 1:50.470 30 19. Julian Leal Trident Racing 1:50.684 12 20 Nicolas Marroc Ocean Racing Technology 1:50.757 25 21. Jake Rosenzweig Super Nova Racing 1:51.440 20 22. Simon Trummer Arden International 1:51.593 20 23. Armaan Ebrahim Rapax 1:53.914 28 24. Camilo Zurcher DPR 2:33.817 1

 Day 1 - Afternoon session

Driver Team Time Laps

1. James Jakes Scuderia Coloni 1:47.790 19 2. Esteban Gutierrez ART Grand Prix 1:48.209 27 3. Charles Pic Barwa Addax Team 1:48.302 36 4. Rodolfo Gonzalez Racing Engineering 1:48.302 20 5. Robert Wickens iSport International 1:48.408 20 6. Stefano Coletti Trident Racing 1:48.413 27 7. Josef Kral Barwa Addax Team 1:48.426 24 8. Michael Herck DPR 1:48.555 19 9. Andrea Caldarelli Racing Engineering 1:48.635 26 10. Marcus Ericsson Super Nova Racing 1:48.657 16 11. Joylon Palmer iSport International 1:48.836 21 12. Sam Bird Ocean Racing Technology 1:48.849 19 13. Kevin Ceccon Scuderia Coloni 1:48.870 13 14. Roberto Merhi Arden International 1:48.947 27 15. Jan Charouz ART Grand Prix 1:49.575 28 16. Nathanael Berthon Dams 1:49.767 31 17. Ivan Samarin Dams 1:49.950 25 18. Julian Leal Trident Racing 1:50.050 8 19. Simon Trummer Arden International 1:50.056 29 20 Nicolas Marroc Ocean Racing Technology 1:50.651 15 21. Armaan Ebrahim Rapax 1:51.073 23 22. Jake Rosenzweig Super Nova Racing 1:51.419 8 23. Fabio Leimer Rapax 1:51.605 3 24. Camilo Zurcher DPR -- --