GP2 Winter Test (Yas Marina, November 28th)

In their final GP2 run, DPR’s Michael Herck was quickest in both sessions at the Yas Marina circuit following today’s final day of testing. 

The Romanian driver has shown flashes of speed all week long; however it remains to be seen whether he can repeat this form when he joins Coloni for the 2011 season. Initially Herck was shy of Rapax driver Fabio Leimer in the morning, the Swiss driver had his times disqualified after it was discovered the Swiss driver was underweight. Leimer would return in the afternoon to register the 2nd quickest lap.

Once again Josef Král continued to show some quick times, as he made good use of his iSport machine – indeed Král was 2nd quickest in the morning, before dropping to 3rd later in the day. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs (Coloni) and Kevin Ceccon (DPR) also ran well today, while Sauber reserve Esteban Gutierrez (ART Grand Prix) rediscovered some of the speed that deserted him during yesterday’s outing.
Arden’s Rio Haryanto suffered an off during the morning, damaging the tub in the process and prematurely ending his day early.

This was a day of lasts. As the chequered flag waved, Bridgestone dropped out of the Series as next year, Italian company Pirelli take on the role of sole tyre supplier. Today also marked the final running of the GP2/08 chassis – it is to be replaced for the 2011 season by a new car; one that will be similar to the modern Formula 1 designs.

GP2 now breaks for the winter, to reconvene at the beginning of February for two short testing periods, before embarking on a startlingly short GP2 Asia series.

Morning session:

Pos  Driver               Team                Time        Gap
 1.  Michael Herck        DPR                 1m47.909s
 2.  Josef Kral           iSport              1m47.941s  + 0.032s
 3.  Adrian Quaife-Hobbs  Coloni              1m47.961s  + 0.052s
 4.  Kevin Ceccon         DPR                 1m48.169s  + 0.260s
 5.  Esteban Gutierrez    ART                 1m48.171s  + 0.262s
 6.  Marcus Ericsson      iSport              1m48.229s  + 0.320s
 7.  Brendon Hartley      Ocean               1m48.322s  + 0.413s
 8.  Alexander Rossi      Racing Engineering  1m48.340s  + 0.431s
 9.  Luiz Razia           Addax               1m48.549s  + 0.640s
10.  Rodolfo Gonzalez     Trident             1m48.603s  + 0.694s
11.  Sam Bird             Super Nova          1m48.622s  + 0.713s
12.  Roberto Merhi        Addax               1m48.643s  + 0.734s
13.  Adrian Zaugg         Trident             1m48.764s  + 0.855s
14.  Alexander Sims       Racing Engineering  1m48.793s  + 0.884s
15.  Karun Chandhok       Coloni              1m48.903s  + 0.994s
16.  Oliver Turvey        Arden               1m49.197s  + 1.288s
17.  Charles Pic          Rapax               1m49.205s  + 1.296s
18.  Rio Haryanto         Arden               1m49.397s  + 1.488s
19.  Jolyon Palmer        ART                 1m49.491s  + 1.582s
20.  Jan Charouz          DAMS                1m49.894s  + 1.985s
21.  James Jakes          Super Nova          1m50.027s  + 2.118s
22.  Pal Varhaug          DAMS                1m50.113s  + 2.204s
23.  Armaan Ebrahim       Ocean               1m50.247s  + 2.338s
24.  Fabio Leimer         Rapax

Afternoon session:

Pos  Driver               Team                Time        Gap
 1.  Michael Herck        DPR                 1m47.138s
 2.  Fabio Leimer         Rapax               1m47.158s  + 0.020s
 3.  Josef Kral           iSport              1m47.227s  + 0.089s
 4.  Alexander Rossi      Racing Engineering  1m47.280s  + 0.142s
 5.  Rodolfo Gonzalez     Trident             1m47.425s  + 0.287s
 6.  Brendon Hartley      Ocean               1m47.456s  + 0.318s
 7.  Luiz Razia           Addax               1m47.667s  + 0.529s
 8.  Alexander Sims       Racing Engineering  1m47.744s  + 0.606s
 9.  Roberto Merhi        Addax               1m47.779s  + 0.641s
10.  Charles Pic          Rapax               1m47.797s  + 0.659s
11.  Marcus Ericsson      iSport              1m47.820s  + 0.682s
12.  Oliver Turvey        Arden               1m47.884s  + 0.746s
13.  Kevin Ceccon         DPR                 1m47.888s  + 0.750s
14.  Adrian Quaife-Hobbs  Coloni              1m47.925s  + 0.787s
15.  Pal Varhaug          DAMS                1m48.156s  + 1.018s
16.  Sam Bird             Super Nova          1m48.239s  + 1.101s
17.  Adrian Zaugg         Trident             1m48.362s  + 1.224s
18.  Karun Chandhok       Coloni              1m48.535s  + 1.397s
19.  James Jakes          Super Nova          1m48.761s  + 1.623s
20.  Jolyon Palmer        ART                 1m48.998s  + 1.860s
21.  Jan Charouz          DAMS                1m49.430s  + 2.292s
22.  Armaan Ebrahim       Ocean               1m49.537s  + 2.399s
23.  Esteban Gutierrez    ART                 1m49.978s  + 2.840s

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