Posted on 19th March 2013
The GP2 winter tests are now over, the season kicks off in Malaysia this weekend, with the first practice session on March 22nd. There will be lots to see during the new season, testing was very close indeed. First, the teams tested at Jerez from 26th to 28th of February, and had another 3 days at Barcelona from 5th to 7th of March. Drivers now have some experience behind for this year's cars, and especially with the new, softer Pirelli tyres.
At Jerez, it was sunny during first two testing days and a new team Hilmer Motorsport made a surprisingly good start by topping the timesheets on both Tuesday and Wednesday, thanks to Tom Dillmann who was testing for the newcomer team. On Thursday, drivers started testing with a drying track after rain over night, it was a tricky time for the drivers. James Calado topped the last testing day in Jerez.
Next up it was Barcelona. It was rainy and wet for the first two days. On Thursday it was finally a dry day and drivers got some laps with slick tyres. During the 3 days at the technical and demanding Catalunya circuit, it seemed that a trio Felipe Nasr, James Calado and Stefano Coletti had the most consistent pace by being on the top of the time sheets in both wet and dry conditions. Tom Dillmann moved from Hilmer Motorsport to Russian Time, and continued with a good pace, too. On the dry morning session, Coletti was the quickest with DAMS drivers Marcus Ericsson and Stéphane Richelmi behind. Felipe Nasr on meanwhile topped last day's afternoon session, but Coletti kept the fastest time of the whole day from morning's session.
On testing results it was a nice mix of different teams and drivers on the top. Of course everyone was testing different things with different amounts of fuel, but it seems to be very close on the grid. It will be very interesting to see at Malaysia how things will turn out. DAMS, ART GP and Arden Motorsport have been the most successful teams on the series in the past few years, but now it seems that the Carlin team is getting to the top too, and to stay there. Their consistent pace on testing with both Felipe Nasr and Jolyon Palmer was impressing.
It's hard to predict yet how things will turn out, but last year's rookies Nasr and Calado seem to be big favourites to fight for the title this year. Not to forget Coletti with his consistent test pace, and Ericsson with his experience. Dillmann could also be one to fight for the title, as he seems to be very quick even though Russian Time is a newcomer to the series. Not to forget the GP3 champion Mitch Evans and the vice champion Daniel Abt who moved to the GP2 series for this season. What can these young talents do? There are many questions on the air and we will find out more when the new season kick's off this weekend.
For a guide on the Sepang circuit in Malaysia, read Tom Wilkinson's Malaysian Grand Prix preview. He will cover all the F1 action this weekend.
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