Team AirAsia showed promising pace during the second day of GP2 Asia pre-season testing in Abu Dhabi. After spending the opening day getting accustomed to the GP2/11 car and Pirelli tyres, the team switched its focus to car performance, race starts and pit-stop practice for Day 2.
Davide Valsecchi completed 37 laps, with his best time of 1m49.18 good enough to put him fifth fastest overall. “We had a good day today,” said Valsecchi. “We did a lot of preparation work ahead of the race and our aim is to qualify in the top five. We were competitive on track and finished the session confident that we can still go faster and achieve our goals in the race. With another two days testing left I feel confident we will be well prepared.”
Luiz Razia did 40 laps in the sister car, ending up 11th fastest with a best laptime of 1m49.591. “Today was really good,” said Razia. “Although we didn't get to use our second set of tyres we were still very competitive compared to the other teams and we have learnt a lot about the car and how to optimise the set up. Overall we made a lot progress today and will continue to do so next week.”
Team Manager Phil Spencer said: “Another strong day today. The team were faultless and the cars performed very well indeed. Overall I am really pleased with how the first two days have gone, and am confident with another two days testing we will be ready for the race here next weekend.”
Chief Engineer Humphrey Corbett added: “I am very pleased with how things went today. P5 and P11 at the end of today is not bad, considering we didn't get a chance to use our second set of tyres. But we have two more days of testing still to go. Today we focused on pit lane runs, pit stop practice & full tank runs and gained a lot of information. Once again everyone has worked really well together, so all in all I'm very happy.”
