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
