BIC, Sakhir – Jon Lancaster topped the timesheet today as GP2 pre-season testing wrapped up at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir.
Lancaster was the day’s fastest man with a best lap of one minute 39.647 seconds. He clocked his mark during the morning session, when the top 16 of the 26 drivers were all within a second of one another as they fine-tuned their race set-ups.
Lancaster completed 15 laps of work in the morning en route to putting MP Motorsport in the lead for the first time in Bahrain.
EQ8 Caterham Racing pair of Alexander Rossi and Rio Haryanto had earlier set the pace on the first two days, respectively. Haryanto’s 1:39.129 on day two turned out to be the best of the three days in Bahrain.
Daniel Abt of Hilmer Motorsport was fastest during today’s three-hour afternoon session, when the lap times were slower and the gaps larger.
Abt had a fastest mark of 1:41.061, as the teams and drivers continued to focus on race simulation.
The Bahrain tests were the last of the GP2 pre-season. The 2014 championship soon gets underway when the field will be back at BIC for the 2014 Formula One Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix on April 4-5-6.
GP2 will be one of two supporting events in the Formula One weekend. The other is the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East.
GP2 held only two pre-season test sessions this year. The other took place earlier this month in Abu Dhabi.
Lancaster was followed on today’s best times by a hard-charging Rossi, who was a mere 0.046 seconds behind.
Felipe Nasr of Carlin was only 0.182s back, while Stoffel Vandoorne of ART Grand Prix finished with a 0.273s gap.Abt was fifth-fastest 0.284s behind, while Jolyon Palmer of DAMS was 0.356s adrift. Julian Leal (+0.384s) of Carlin and Raffaele Marciello (+0.510s) rounded out the top eight.
In the afternoon, Abt was closely followed by Mitch Evans who was 0.211s behind while Lancaster dropped to 14th on the timesheet more than two-and-a-half seconds slower.
Johnny Cecotto of Trident was 0.229s back, while Adrian Quaife-Hobbs of Rapax finished 0.457s off the pace.
Palmer (+0.461s) and Simon Trummer (+0.523s) of Rapax followed, while Facu Regalia (+1.130s) of Hilmer and Stephane Richelmi (+1.601s) of DAMS were seventh and eighth on the timesheet, respectively.
The 2014 GP2 Series championship is scheduled to get underway in Bahrain with two races. The feature race, to be held on the Saturday (April 5) of the Grand Prix weekend, will be over 32 laps or a total of 173.184 kilometres. The 23-lap sprint race follows on Sunday (April 6). It will cover 124.476km.
The Grand Prix will be marking the landmark 10th anniversary of BIC and of the Bahrain Formula One race.
The 2014 GP2 season features a total of 11 meetings. After Bahrain, the next nine will be held in Europe between May and October, while the season-finale will be back in the Middle East in Abu Dhabi in November.
Those wishing to catch all the GP2 action at the Bahrain Grand Prix are advised to purchase their tickets at the earliest in order to avoid disappointment.
Tickets are still available but are selling fast. They can be purchased at the BIC stands in Bahrain City Centre and Seef Mall; online at www.bahraingp.com or on BIC’s official page on Facebook; or by calling the BIC Hotline on +973-17-450000.
FINAL DAY TIMES (driver, team, best lap, total laps)
MORNING SESSION
1 Jon Lancaster MP Motorsport 1:39.647 15
2 Alexander Rossi EQ8 Caterham Racing 1:39.693 16
3 Felipe Nasr Carlin 1:39.829 22
4 Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 1:39.920 26
5 Daniel Abt Hilmer Motorsport 1:39.931 26
6 Jolyon Palmer DAMS 1:40.003 30
7 Julian Leal Carlin 1:40.031 15
8 Raffaele Marciello Racing Engineering 1:40.157 25
9 Mitch Evans RT Russian Time 1:40.233 17
10 Rio Haryanto EQ8 Caterham Racing 1:40.377 21
11 Stephane Richelmi DAMS 1:40.397 33
12 Facu Regalia Hilmer Motorsport 1:40.446 28
13 Simon Trummer Rapax 1:40.474 35
14 Nathanael Berthon Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:40.511 17
15 Stefano Coletti Racing Engineering 1:40.529 18
16 Rene Binder Arden International 1:40.550 18
17 Kimiya Sato Campos Racing 1:40.659 15
18 Daniel de Jong MP Motorsport 1:40.668 17
19 Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Rapax 1:40.743 27
20 Andre Negrao Arden International 1:40.965 25
21 Takuya Izawa ART Grand Prix 1:41.019 18
22 Arthur Pic Campos Racing 1:41.054 16
23 Artem Markelov RT Russian Time 1:41.139 22
24 Johnny Cecotto Trident 1:41.722 20
25 Conor Daly Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:41.766 25
26 Axcil Jefferies Trident 1:43.522 20
AFTERNOON SESSION
1 Daniel Abt Hilmer Motorsport 1:41.061 20
2 Mitch Evans RT Russian Time 1:41.272 36
3 Johnny Cecotto Trident 1:41.290 30
4 Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Rapax 1:41.518 22
5 Jolyon Palmer DAMS 1:41.522 29
6 Simon Trummer Rapax 1:41.584 31
7 Facu Regalia Hilmer Motorsport 1:42.191 20
8 Stephane Richelmi DAMS 1:42.662 37
9 Axcil Jefferies Trident 1:42.670 24
10 Artem Markelov RT Russian Time 1:42.944 44
11 Felipe Nasr Carlin 1:43.498 39
12 Rene Binder Arden International 1:43.598 38
13 Conor Daly Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:43.639 40
14 Jon Lancaster MP Motorsport 1:43.650 40
15 Arthur Pic Campos Racing 1:43.651 39
16 Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 1:44.549 48
17 Takuya Izawa ART Grand Prix 1:44.642 52
18 Julian Leal Carlin 1:45.300 51
19 Raffaele Marciello Racing Engineering 1:45.395 39
20 Kimiya Sato Campos Racing 1:45.395 42
21 Stefano Coletti Racing Engineering 1:45.516 32
22 Alexander Rossi EQ8 Caterham Racing 1:45.565 51
23 Nathanael Berthon Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:45.596 30
24 Rio Haryanto EQ8 Caterham Racing 1:46.47742
25 Andre Negrao Arden International 1:46.492 33
26 Daniel de Jong MP Motorsport No Time 1
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