Jules Bianchi set the fastest time on the fourth and final day of pre-season testing for GP2 Asia at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina Circuit.
It was Bianchi's ART teammate Esteban Gutierrez who set the initial pace in the morning session, but Frenchman Bianchi soon took his place at the head of the timing screens. He improved that time further still to end the morning eight hundreds of a second quicker than nearest man to him Davide Valsecchi, of Team AirAsia. iSport teammates Sam Bird and Marcus Ericsson were third and fourth, with Gutierrez rounding out the top five.
In the afternoon session, many teams focussed on competing race simulations, which meant that nobody bettered Bianchi's benchmark time from the morning session. An early lap time from Dani Clos kept the Racing Engineering driver in first place for much of the session. In the final hour, Luiz Razia took first place from Clos, with his AirAsia teammate Valsecchi moving up into P2. The Italian went on to snatch top spot from Razia, before improving his time further on the next lap. Behind the AirAsia pairing, Bird and Ericsson were third and fourth quickest again for iSport, with Charles Pic fifth quickest for Addax.
Morning Session
Driver | Team | Laptime | Laps | |
1. | Jules Bianchi | Lotus ART | 1:35.940 | 34 |
2. | Davide Valsecchi | Team AirAsia | 1:36.025 | 37 |
3. | Sam Bird | iSport International | 1:36.154 | 30 |
4. | Marcus Ericsson | iSport International | 1:36.175 | 26 |
5. | Esteban Gutierrez | Lotus ART | 1:36.366 | 30 |
6. | Josef Kral | Arden International | 1:36.403 | 32 |
7. | Max Chilton | Carlin | 1:36.413 | 24 |
8. | Dani Clos | Racing Engineering | 1:36.430 | 23 |
9. | Charles Pic | Barwa Addax Team | 1:36.491 | 37 |
10. | Andrea Caldarelli | Ocean Racing Technology | 1:36.609 | 31 |
11. | Giedo van der Garde | Barwa Addax Team | 1:36.613 | 26 |
12. | Luiz Razia | Team AirAsia | 1:36.739 | 27 |
13. | Jolyon Palmer | Arden International | 1:36.751 | 44 |
14. | Rodolfo Gonzalez | Trident Racing | 1:36.771 | 26 |
15. | Stefano Coletti | Trident Racing | 1:36.832 | 25 |
16. | Michael Herck | Scuderia Coloni | 1:36.835 | 19 |
17. | Fairuz Fauzy | Super Nova Racing | 1:36.914 | 28 |
18. | Romain Grosjean | Dams | 1:36.983 | 28 |
19. | Fabio Leimer | Rapax | 1:37.009 | 38 |
20. | Julian Leal | Rapax | 1:37.055 | 35 |
21. | Mikhail Aleshin | Carlin | 1:37.082 | 14 |
22. | Oliver Turvey | Ocean Racing Technology | 1:37.244 | 24 |
23. | James Jakes | Scuderia Coloni | 1:37.326 | 32 |
24. | Johnny Cecotto | Super Nova Racing | 1:37.415 | 20 |
25. | Nathanael Berthon | Racing Engineering | 1:37.521 | 22 |
26. | PÃ¥l Varhaug | Dams | 1:37.540 | 32 |
Afternoon Session
Driver | Team | Laptime | Laps | |
1. | Davide Valsecchi | Team AirAsia | 1:36.159 | 21 |
2. | Luiz Razia | Team AirAsia | 1:36.172 | 31 |
3. | Sam Bird | iSport International | 1:36.277 | 31 |
4. | Marcus Ericsson | iSport International | 1:36.464 | 26 |
5. | Charles Pic | Barwa Addax Team | 1:36.493 | 20 |
6. | Rodolfo Gonzalez | Trident Racing | 1:36.527 | 26 |
7. | Josef Kral | Arden International | 1:36.541 | 35 |
8. | Max Chilton | Carlin | 1:36.568 | 37 |
9. | Stefano Coletti | Trident Racing | 1:36.575 | 24 |
10. | Dani Clos | Racing Engineering | 1:36.619 | 38 |
11. | Fabio Leimer | Rapax | 1:36.670 | 22 |
12. | Julian Leal | Rapax | 1:36.700 | 25 |
13. | Michael Herck | Scuderia Coloni | 1:36.716 | 28 |
14. | Johnny Cecotto | Super Nova Racing | 1:36.721 | 32 |
15. | Andrea Caldarelli | Ocean Racing Technology | 1:36.727 | 35 |
16. | Fairuz Fauzy | Super Nova Racing | 1:36.845 | 24 |
17. | Giedo van der Garde | Barwa Addax Team | 1:36.918 | 16 |
18. | Mikhail Aleshin | Carlin | 1:37.054 | 24 |
19. | Oliver Turvey | Ocean Racing Technology | 1:37.201 | 29 |
20. | Romain Grosjean | Dams | 1:37.219 | 20 |
21. | PÃ¥l Varhaug | Dams | 1:37.311 | 35 |
22. | Jolyon Palmer | Arden International | 1:37.554 | 30 |
23. | James Jakes | Scuderia Coloni | 1:37.632 | 14 |
24. | Esteban Gutierrez | Lotus ART | 1:38.548 | 42 |
25. | Nathanael Berthon | Racing Engineering | 1:38.683 | 24 |
26. | Jules Bianchi | Lotus ART | 1:38.707 | 34 |