Esteban Gutierrez rose to the top of the time sheets as the second day of GP2 testing at the Circuit de Catalunya closed.
The Lotus GP pilot made the best of the cold morning conditions to set a best of 1:28.740 – a mere four-thousandths quicker than Caterham rival Giedo van der Garde. Carlin’s Max Chilton finished a further four-thousandths adrift in 3rd position.
It had been a very busy day for the Mexican, who had registered 83 laps by the time the evening chequered flag flew – only teammate James Calado (86 laps) and Arden’s Simon Trummer (85 laps) logged more miles than Gutierrez.
Davide Valsecchi spent part of the morning 3rd on the timing sheets, before van der Garde dropped the Italian one place on the sheets thanks to a quick late run.
In 5th spot, Scuderia Coloni’s Stefano Coletti was the first driver to not break the ‘1:29’ barrier, while Arden’s Luiz Razia lined-up 6th, as he made up for missing Tuesday’s sessions. Calado had been quickest in the early hours, but fell behind as the track conditions warmed amidst qualifying simulations during the lead up to lunch.
Having been quickest on the opening day, Fabrizio Crestani dropped to 8th after only managing 43 laps in the new Venezuela GP Lazarus machine, while Jolyon Palmer (iSport, 9th) and Fabio Onidi (Scuderia Coloni, 10th) rounded out the top ten.
Trident’s Julian Leal ran quickest in the slower afternoon session. The Colombian headed Ocean Racing Technology’s Nigel Melker; however having fallen far short of the mileage completed by Gutierrez (etc), both drivers may be somewhat disappointed.
Much of the afternoon running was dedicated to race simulations and pit stop practice – a vital component in the big paying Feature Race that leads every GP2 race weekend.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Esteban Gutierrez Lotus GP 1:28.740 83 2. Giedo van der Garde Caterham Racing 1:28.744 78 3. Max Chilton Carlin 1:28.748 66 4. Davide Valsecchi DAMS 1:28.785 57 5. Stefano Coletti Scuderia Coloni 1:29.047 54 6. Luiz Razia Arden International 1:29.065 65 7. James Calado Lotus GP 1:29.100 86 8. Fabrizio Crestani Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:29.150 43 9. Jolyon Palmer iSport International 1:29.195 62 10. Fabio Onidi Scuderia Coloni 1:29.198 60 11. Tom Dillmann Rapax 1:29.289 49 12. Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering 1:29.339 64 13. Nathanael Berthon Racing Engineering 1:29.397 74 14. Rio Haryanto Carlin 1:29.515 56 15. Jon Lancaster Ocean Racing Technology 1:29.533 64 16. Nigel Melker Ocean Racing Technology 1:29.540 44 17. Marcus Ericsson iSport International 1:29.547 64 18. Josef Kral Barwa Addax Team 1:29.621 59 19. Julian Leal Trident Racing 1:29.653 48 20. Felipe Nasr DAMS 1:29.865 67 21. Stephane Richelmi Trident Racing 1:29.860 61 22. Simon Trummer Arden International 1:29.881 85 23. Rodolfo Gonzalez Caterham Racing 1:30.169 83 24. Johnny Cecotto Barwa Addax Team 1:30.200 62 25. Ricardo Teixeira Rapax 1:31.220 50 26. Giancarlo Serenelli Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:32.740 61
