Racing Engineering’s Alexander Rossi topped the time sheets during the morning session of the opening pre-season GP2 Series test in Abu Dhabi.
The former Formula One reserve driver set the fastest time with eight minutes left on the clock with a 1m50.845.
The American was followed by the DAMS’ pairing of Pierre Gasly and Alex Lynn who set a 1m51.298 and a 1m51.544 respectively.
In windy conditions most teams were focused on strenuous aero testing and getting to grips with the brand new DRS system. The system had previously been tested on the GP2 development car by Lynn in Bahrain as part of his GP3 Series Championship prize.
During the quiet session teams mainly completed installation laps to gather data and with one hour left on the clock the session was suspended for thirty minutes for software adjustments.
When the session resumed Rossi’s team-mate Jordan King went quickest, but was quickly beaten by the Trident of Rene Binder.
The session was red flagged late on after Marlon Stockinger (Status Grand Prix) stopped on track at turn 5. When the session resumed the times began to drop as the cars enjoyed a cleaner track with improving conditions.
Ferrari Driver Academy graduate Raffaele Marciello finished the session fourth fastest for his new team Trident, completing 19 laps in the process.
Marciello was closely followed by Daniel De Jong (MP Motorsport), Mitch Evans (Russian Time) and his Trident team-mate Binder.
King, Nathanael Berthon (Lazarus) and Arthur Pic (Campos Racing) completed the top ten.
2014 runner-up Stoffel Vandoorne (ART) was 17 seconds off the pace in 23rd place with a 2m08.142. The Belgian did however complete 30 laps which was the equal most for the session with Andre Negrao (Arden).
Morning session results
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Alexander Rossi Racing Engineering 1:50.845 8
2 Pierre Gasly DAMS 1:51.298 0.453 12
3 Alex Lynn DAMS 1:51.544 0.699 13
4 Raffaele Marciello Trident 1:51.605 0.760 19
5 Daniel De Jong MP Motorsport 1:51.665 0.820 17
6 Mitch Evans Russian Time 1:51.670 0.825 10
7 Rene Binder Trident 1:51.779 0.934 9
8 Jordan King Racing Engineering 1:51.822 0.977 10
9 Nathanael Berthon Lazarus 1:52.001 1.156 10
10 Arthur Pic Campos Racing 1:52.020 1.175 13
11 Julian Leal Carlin 1:52.074 1.229 15
12 Sergey Sirotkin Rapax 1:52.103 1.258 15
13 Richie Stanaway Status Grand Prix 1:52.261 1.416 14
14 Rio Haryanto Campos Racing 1:52.273 1.428 15
15 Artem Markelov Russian Time 1:53.059 2.214 16
16 Robert Visoiu Rapax 1:53.338 2.493 17
17 Sergio Canamasas Hilmer Motorsport 1:53.340 2.495 12
18 Marco Sorensen Carlin 1:53.366 2.521 6
19 Zoel Amberg Lazarus 1:53.565 2.720 15
20 Marlon Stockinger Status Grand Prix 1:53.7012.856 15
21 Vittorio Ghirelli MP Motorsport 1:54.451 3.606 15
22 Andre Negrao Arden International 1:54.645 3.800 21
23 Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 2:08.142 17.297 30
24 Norman Nato Arden International 2:15.901 25.056 30
25 Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 2:25.398 34.553 23
26 Axcil Jefferies Hilmer Motorsport No time 0