Fabio Leimer Tops First Day Of Jerez GP2 Test

Fabio Leimer posted the fastest times in both the morning and afternoon sessions of the first day of GP2 post-season testing at Jerez.

The Swiss driver, who was a race winner with Rapax in the Barcelona sprint race this year, was on track with the Racing Engineering squad and posted his fastest time in the morning session. He was half a second slower in the second session but that was still the fastest time from the afternoon.

2011 runner-up Luca Filippi was second fastest in the morning with regular team Coloni, before handing over to Kevin Ceccon in the afternoon – the youngster having won the test as the top Under 21 driver in Auto GP. He was 20^th of the 26 runners in that session.

Sam Bird was third fastest with his morning time with Rapax, just ahead of Johnny Cecotto with Addax and Auto GP driver Fabio Onidi in Coloni's second car.

Yelmer Buurman was sixth quickest in the first session on his return to the GP2 cockpit with Caterham Team AirAsia, and improved to second place behind Leimer in the afternoon.

Seven GP3 graduates took part in the test today, with Antonio Felix da Costa setting the best time of the lot with tenth in the first session for Caterham TeamAirAsia. Champion Valtteri Bottas was 16^th in the morning with Lotus ART but was one of only a few drivers to improve their times in the afternoon and ended up fourth. Runner-up James Calado was 14^th and 16^th in the two sessions with Ocean. Nigel Melker and Simon Trummer drove with Arden, with Dams fielding Nico Muller and Rio Haryanto.

Morning session
1. Fabio Leimer – Racing Engineering – 1:27.282 // 29 laps
2. Luca Filippi – Scuderia Coloni – 1:27.291 // 29 laps
3. Sam Bird – Rapax – 1:27.555 // 33 laps
4. Johnny Cecotto – Barwa Addax Team – 1:27.566 // 25 laps
5. Fabio Onidi – Scuderia Coloni – 1:27.587 // 32 laps
6. Yelmer Buurman – Caterham Team AirAsia – 1:27.786 // 32 laps
7. Jolyon Palmer-  iSport International – 1:27.801 // 31 laps
8. Dani Clos – Barwa Addax Team – 1:27.894 // 24 laps
9. Josef Kral – Trident Racing – 1:27.909 // 20 laps
10. Antonio Felix Da Costa – Caterham Team AirAsia – 1:28.090 // 32 laps
11. Adam Carroll – Super Nova Racing – 1:28.212 // 20 laps
12. Alvaro Parente – Carlin – 1:28.289 // 22 laps
13. Max Chilton – Carlin – 1:28.317 // 21 laps
14. James Calado – Ocean Racing Technology – 1:28.369 // 26 laps
15. Rodolfo Gonzalez – Racing Engineering – 1:28.443 // 25 laps
16. Valtteri Bottas – Lotus ART – 1:28.459 // 28 laps
17. Simon Trummer – Arden International – 1:28.597 // 33 laps
18. St̩phane Richelmi РOcean Racing Technology Р1:28.703 // 27 laps
19. Julian Leal – Trident Racing – 1:28.709 // 24 laps
20. Nigel Melker – Arden International – 1:28.779 // 34 laps
21. Javier Villa – Super Nova Racing – 1:28.907 // 14 laps
22. Daniele Zampieri – Rapax-  1:29.091 // 29 laps
23. Rio Haryanto – Dams – 1:29.097 // 26 laps
24. Nathanël Berthon – Lotus ART – 1:29.241 // 30 laps
25. Nico Muller – Dams – 1:29.288 // 25 laps
26. Carlos Iaconelli – iSport International – 1:30.029 // 23 laps

Afternoon Session
1. Fabio Leimer – Racing Engineering – 1:27.777 // 20 laps
2. Yelmer Buurman – Caterham Team AirAsia – 1:27.874 // 28 laps
3. Dani Clos – Barwa Addax Team – 1:28.049 // 17 laps
4. Valtteri Bottas – Lotus ART – 1:28.113 // 31 laps
5. Josef Kral – Trident Racing – 1:28.194 // 26 laps
6. Alvaro Parente – Carlin – 1:28.254 // 18 laps
7. Max Chilton – Carlin – 1:28.259 21 laps
8. Sam Bird – Rapax – 1:28.373 // 31 laps
9. Jolyon Palmer – iSport International  – 1:28.490 // 32 laps
10. Nigel Melker – Arden International – 1:28.574 // 26 laps
11. Nathanël Berthon – Lotus ART – 1:28.576 // 29 laps
12. Javier Villa – Super Nova Racing – 1:28.606 // 23 laps
13. Stéphane Richelmi – Ocean Racing Technology – 1:28.613 // 25 laps
14. Fabio Onidi – Scuderia Coloni – 1:28.648 // 18 laps
15. Johnny Cecotto – Barwa Addax Team – 1:28.727 // 27 laps
16. James Calado – Ocean Racing Technology – 1:28.731 // 28 laps
17. Rodolfo Gonzalez – Racing Engineering – 1:28.868 // 26 laps
18. Antonio Felix Da Costa – Caterham Team AirAsia – 1:28.875 // 32 laps
19. Daniele Zampieri – Rapax – 1:28.924 // 32 laps
20. Kevin Ceccon – Scuderia Coloni – 1:28.996 // 30 laps
21. Rio Haryanto – Dams – 1:29.160 // 28 laps
22. Simon Trummer – Arden International – 1:29.202 // 26 laps
23. Nico Muller – Dams – 1:29.678 // 28 laps
24. Julian Leal – Trident Racing – 1:29.823 // 8 laps
25. Carlos Iaconelli – iSport International – 1:30.253 // 24 laps
26. Adam Carroll – Super Nova Racing – 1:31.734 // 8 laps