British driver Jolyon Palmer topped the first day of GP2 pre-season testing in Abu Dhabi. The DAMS driver’s lap of 1:49.126s was the fastest of the day, and he beat Russian Time driver Mitch Evans into second place by 0.166 seconds, while Palmer’s team-mate Stephane Richelmi completed the top three.
The morning session was headed by the EQ8 Caterham Racing pair of Rio Haryanto and Alexander Rossi, but the track evolved as the day wore on, and the fastest times in the afternoon saw them fall down the order, with Rossi ninth and Haryanto thirteenth.
Daniel Abt had a reasonable day for Hilmer Motorsport, finishing fourth fastest, just ahead of McLaren F1 junior driver Stoffel Vandoorne in his ART Grand Prix car. New Trident Racing signing Johnny Cecotto was sixth, ahead of two of 2013’s championship contenders, Felipe Nasr for Carlin and Stefano Coletti for Racing Engineering. Arthur Pic completed the top ten in his Campos Racing machine, finishing just behind Rossi’s Caterham.
Highly rated Ferrari junior driver Raffaele Marciello finished the day in fourteenth place in the second Racing Engineering machine.
Of the three drivers not confirmed to drives so far, Jon Lancaster finished in seventeenth for MP Motorsport, Conor Daly was 21st for Venezuela GP Lazarus, while Zimbabwean Axcil Jefferies was 24th for Trident Racing.
There were four red flags during the day, with Jefferies, Russian Time’s Artem Markelov, Hilmer Motorsport’s Facu Regalia and Carlin’s Julian Leal stopping on track, causing delays in running.
Abu Dhabi Day 1 Pre-Season Test Times
| POS | NAME | NAT | TEAM | TIME |
| 1 | Jolyon Palmer | GBR | DAMS | 1:49.126 |
| 2 | Mitch Evans | NZL | Russian Time | 1:49.292 |
| 3 | Stephane Richelmi | MON | DAMS | 1:49.756 |
| 4 | Daniel Abt | GER | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:49.777 |
| 5 | Stoffel Vandoorne | BEL | ART Grand Prix | 1:49.790 |
| 6 | Johnny Cecotto | VEN | Trident Racing | 1:49.892 |
| 7 | Felipe Nasr | BRZ | Carlin | 1:49.896 |
| 8 | Stefano Coletti | MON | Racing Engineering | 1:49.963 |
| 9 | Alexander Rossi | USA | EQ8 Caterham Racing | 1:50.018 |
| 10 | Arthur Pic | FRA | Campos Racing | 1:50.204 |
| 11 | Takuya Izawa | JAP | ART Grand Prix | 1:50.219 |
| 12 | Andre Negrao | BRZ | Arden International | 1:50.241 |
| 13 | Rio Haryanto | INO | EQ8 Caterham Racing | 1:50.256 |
| 14 | Raffaele Marciello | ITA | Racing Engineering | 1:50.261 |
| 15 | Daniel de Jong | NED | MP Motorsport | 1:50.265 |
| 16 | Facu Regalia | ARG | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:50.289 |
| 17 | Jon Lancaster | GBR | MP Motorsport | 1:50.434 |
| 18 | Rene Binder | AUT | Arden International | 1:50.496 |
| 19 | Julian Leal | COL | Carlin | 1:50.541 |
| 20 | Artem Markelov | RUS | Russian Time | 1:50.925 |
| 21 | Conor Daly | USA | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 1:50.933 |
| 22 | Nathanael Berthon | FRA | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 1:51.026 |
| 23 | Simon Trummer | SUI | Rapax | 1:51.043 |
| 24 | Axcil Jefferies | ZIM | Trident Racing | 1:51.300 |
| 25 | Kimiya Sato | JAP | Campos Racing | 1:51.331 |
| 26 | Adrian Quaife-Hobbs | GBR | Rapax | 1:51.437 |
