Dams driver set the quickest laptime of Day 1 GP2 Asia Series pre-season testToday marked the beginning of GP2 Asia Series pre-season testing at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi with all thirteen teams - including newcomers Carlin and Team AirAsia. The twenty-six drivers had their first taste of the new GP2/11 car - the third generation machine since the Series' inception- and of the Pirelli tires.The session opened under blue skies and on a very dusty track following yesterday's sandstorm, and with strong winds sweeping every curb and straight of the 5.555km long layout. It was thus a slow morning with drivers going out mainly for installation laps. Davide Valsecchi at the wheel of the Team AirAsia car was the first one to take to the track with teammate Luiz Razia in tow. The main focus of the first three hours for the teams was to gather valuable data, rather than setting fast laptimes. It was GP3 Series graduate Stefano Coletti at Trident Racing who set the pace ahead of Carlin's Max Chilton and Arden's Rodolfo Gonzalez. But the session was cut short, thirty minutes before the scheduled time after it was decided that more time was needed to clean the track before the afternoon session.The track conditions became a bit trickier as the afternoon session opened with raindrops dampening the track. During the first hour, only eight cars took to the track with Jules Bianchi at Lotus ART leading Coloni's Michael Herck and Dams' Romain Grosjean. As the track dried down, the laptimes dropped slowly but surely, with Sam Bird at iSport International moving up to the top of the timesheet ahead of Grosjean.The session was extended by one hour and drivers went out for their runs. Sophomore Bianchi went quicker than his countryman, but not for long as the Dams ace improved the best laptime by four tenths. In the last hour, Bianchi reclaimed top spot in a 1:50.212- bettering Grosjean's time by... four tenths. Soon enough, Addax's Charles Pic joined in the battle and slipped intp P2, two tenths behind the Lotus ART youngster, while Giedo van der Garde moved up to P4 ahead of Chilton.With thirty minutes left on the clock, Coletti pushed hard to make his way up to P2 with Herck moving up to P4 ahead of Grosjean and GP3 Series Champion Esteban Gutierrez. Addax's van der Garde climbed into P3 in the dying minutes of the session, but Grosjean moved back to P2, a shy tenth away from Bianchi. In a very last effort, the Dams racer became the only driver who went under 1m50s setting a best laptime of 1:49.768 on the chequered flag.The session will continue Thursday at 9am local time.

Morning Session

 Driver/Team/ Laptime/ Laps1. Stefano Coletti Trident Racing 1:54.161 82. Max Chilton Carlin 1:54.810 53. Rodolfo Gonzalez Trident Racing 1:55.347 84. Giedo van der Garde Barwa Addax Team 1:55.496 55. Nathanael Berthon Racing Engineering 1:55.803 66. Dani Clos Racing Engineering 1:56.654 77. Oliver Turvey Ocean Racing Technology 1:57.134 68. Charles Pic Barwa Addax Team 1:57.408 59. Andrea Caldarelli Ocean Racing Technology 1:58.195 710. Pal Varhaug Dams 1:59.827 811. Fairuz Fauzy Super Nova Racing 2:00.373 412. James Jakes Scuderia Coloni 2:01.180 313. Johnny Cecotto Super Nova Racing 2:02.287 514. Esteban Gutierrez Lotus ART 2:07.039 415 Luiz Razia Team AirAsia 2:19.672 1016. Michael Herck Scuderia Coloni -- 217. Marcus Ericsson iSport International -- 118. Sam Bird iSport International -- 119. Josef KralArdent International -- 120. Jolyon Palmer Arden International -- 121. Romain Grosjean Dams -- 122. Julian Leal Rapax -- 123. Mikhail Aleshin Carlin -- 124. Davide Valsecchi Team AirAsia -- 125. Fabio Leimer Rapax -- 026. Jules Bianchi Lotus ART -- 0

Afternoon Session

1. Romain Grosjean Dams 1:49.768 392. Jules Bianchi  Lotus ART 1:50.212 303. Stefano Coletti Trident Racing 1:50.388 94. Giedo van der Garde Barwa Addax Team 1:50.474 215. Charles Pic Barwa Addax Team 1:50.477 206. Michael Herck Scuderia Coloni 1:50.526 297. Marcus Ericsson iSport International 1:50.580 168. Esteban Gutierrez Lotus ART 1:50.727 319. Josef Kral Arden International 1:50.820 1710. Oliver Turvey Ocean Racing Technology 1:50.992 1911. Davide Valsecchi Team AirAsia 1:51.004 2112. Nathanael Berthon Racing Engineering 1:51.046 2213. Max Chilton Carlin 1:51.111 1714. Julian Leal Rapax 1:51.127 1915. Rodolfo Gonzalez Trident Racing 1:51.169 2916. Pal Varhaug Dams 1:51.362 3017. Andrea Caldarelli Ocean Racing Technology 1:51.396 2618. Luiz Razia Team AirAsia 1:51.505 3219. Fabio Leimer Rapax 1:51.636 2120. Jolyon Palmer Arden International 1:51.662 2521. Mikhail Aleshin Carlin 1:51.765 1722. Fairuz Fauzy Super Nova Racing 1:52.021 2323. Johnny Cecotto Super Nova Racing 1:52.206 3024. James Jakes Scuderia Coloni 1:52.587 925. Sam Bird iSport International 1:52.616 426. Dani Clos Racing Engineering 2:05.096 21