GP2 Asia Pre-Season Testing (Yas Marina, February 3rd)

Sometimes when time is precious, it often slips from our fingertips, whittled away by circumstances beyond our control.

Yesterday, at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi, the lingering effects of a sandstorm halted running for long periods, before rain showers interfered further with track time. During a period when the new GP2/11 cars needed to be on track to gain valuable information, fog set in.

One hour had passed before any cars could venture out and when they did, it was Ferrari-junior driver, Jules Bianchi that set the fastest pace of the morning (1:50.007). The Frenchman in his Lotus-ART machine found himself only marginally quicker than the Barwa Addax pilot, Giedo van der Garde, with Sam Bird (3rd, 1:50.120) and Charles Pic (4th, 1:50.166) shadowing.
The loss of time severely limited running for much of the field, with Bianchi banking the highest number of laps before lunch (27); however most of the entrants completed between 14 and 19 tours of the circuit. Three red flags during the morning did not help matters as the field endured a stuttered session.

The afternoon stint was a much cleaner affair; however the top-four from morning repeated this feat later in the day, albeit in a slightly different order. This time around van der Garde led the way with a 1:48.499 – a clear three-tenths ahead of iSport’s Sam Bird. Again, neither driver held out for significant stints (17 and 14 laps respectively); however they did secure more track time than 3rd place Bianchi – the Frenchman completed only 12 laps.

Pic was next up, as he notched up 23 laps with a best time of 1:49.156 in his Barwa Addax machine. Romain Grosjean (DAMS) and Max Chilton (Carlin) were the busiest during the afternoon; both completed 25 laps as they attempt to understand the new GP2 car – the pair finished approximately one second off of van der Garde’s pace in 7th and 8th places respectively.

The day was cut 15 minutes early when Scuderia Coloni driver, James Jakes damaged the barriers in an accident. By the time the GP2 cars fire up at the next test on Sunday, hopefully all the poor weather and bad luck will have dissipated.