Esteban Gutierrez - Photo Credit: GP2 Media Service
Esteban Gutierrez was half a second quicker than anyone else in free practice ahead of the GP2 Final at Abu Dhabi.
Post-season testing pacesetter Fabio Leimer was the closest to the Mexican ART driver for Racing Engineering, just ahead of GP2 debutant Tom Dillmann who was an impressive third fastest.
Max Chilton was fourth for Carlin, ahead of Dani Clos and Luiz Razia of Rapax and Caterham AirAsia. Nathanael Berthon was seventh in the second Racing Engineering car, ahead of two of the event favourites Marcus Ericsson and Stefano Coletti. Giacomo Ricci was tenth on his GP2 return for Super Nova, but was found guilty of ignoring yellow flags and received a ten place grid penalty. Nicolas Marroc, who was 23rd, was also penalised for the same offence.
Other than Dillmann, Nigel Melker was the next best GP3 graduate in 13th, just ahead of Alexander Rossi, Simon Trummer and Rio Haryanto. James Calado was 19th, with Antonio Felix da Costa in 20th.
Free practice times:
|
Pos |
Driver |
Team |
Laps |
Time |
Gap |
| 1 | Esteban Gutiérrez | Lotus ART | 16 | 1:50.442 | |
| 2 | Fabio Leimer | Racing Engineering | 17 | 1:50.957 | 0.515 |
| 3 | Tom Dillmann | iSport International | 16 | 1:50.999 | 0.557 |
| 4 | Max Chilton | Carlin | 15 | 1:51.018 | 0.576 |
| 5 | Dani Clos | Rapax | 17 | 1:51.093 | 0.651 |
| 6 | Luiz Razia | Caterham Team AirAsia | 13 | 1:51.288 | 0.846 |
| 7 | Nathanael Berthon | Racing Engineering | 14 | 1:51.411 | 0.969 |
| 8 | Marcus Ericsson | iSport International | 14 | 1:51.527 | 1.085 |
| 9 | Stefano Coletti | Scuderia Coloni | 15 | 1:51.746 | 1.304 |
| 10 | Giacomo Ricci | Super Nova Racing | 17 | 1:51.847 | 1.405 |
| 11 | Kevin Ceccon | Scuderia Coloni | 17 | 1:51.917 | 1.475 |
| 12 | Jolyon Palmer | Barwa Addax Team | 17 | 1:51.932 | 1.490 |
| 13 | Nigel Melker | DAMS | 17 | 1:52.137 | 1.695 |
| 14 | Alexader Rossi | Caterham Team AirAsia | 11 | 1:52.258 | 1.816 |
| 15 | Simon Trummer | Arden International | 18 | 1:52.287 | 1.845 |
| 16 | Rio Haryanto | DAMS | 19 | 1:52.350 | 1.908 |
| 17 | Josef Král | Arden International | 16 | 1:52.585 | 2.143 |
| 18 | Stephane Richelmi | Trident Racing | 18 | 1:52.646 | 2.204 |
| 19 | James Calado | Lotus ART | 17 | 1:52.665 | 2.223 |
| 20 | Antonio Felix Da Costa | Ocean Racing Technology | 21 | 1:52.674 | 2.232 |
| 21 | Jake Rosenzweig | Barwa Addax Team | 16 | 1:52.779 | 2.337 |
| 22 | Jan Charouz | Carlin | 11 | 1:52.856 | 2.414 |
| 23 | Nicolas Marroc | Ocean Racing Technology | 17 | 1:53.042 | 2.600 |
| 24 | Fabio Onidi | Super Nova Racing | 16 | 1:53.130 | 2.688 |
| 25 | Mihai Marinescu | Rapax | 18 | 1:53.446 | 3.004 |
| 26 | Julian Leal | Trident Racing | 3 | 2:02.583 | 12.141 |
