Jordan King tops first GP2 pre-season test day at Sakhir

Jordan King quickest in Day 1

Racing Engineering man tops first pre-season test day at Sakhir

The second GP2 Series pre-season test session opened today at Bahrain International Circuit on a dusty track and in hot temperatures. This week, the teams and drivers will be busy preparing for the 2015 season which sees the introduction of the DRS. Pirelli have selected the Hard and Soft compounds for the three days.

The field remains mostly unchanged with only two new faces joining Hilmer Motorsport this week: GP3 graduate Nick Yelloly partners GP2 returnee Nigel Melker. The last change compared to the first pre-season test session line up sees Sergio Canamasas move to MP Motorsport.

When the pitlane went green, the cars fed onto the track for installation laps. It was rookie Nobuharu Matsushita who set the early pace until André Negrao topped the timing sheets one hour into the session. His laptime was bettered by one tenth by Sergio Canamasas (who moved to MP Motorsport for this week's session). It was a rather quiet morning as the temperatures kept on rising. With one hour left on the clock, Nathanaël Berthon moved up to P1, but Marco Sorensen went two hundredths quicker to take the top spot. In the final thirty minutes, rookie Norman Nato edged the Carlin man out, but Mitch Evans improved further and topped the timesheet with a laptime of 1:42.479, one tenth better than the Frenchman. At the chequered flag, behind Evans and Nato, Sorensen finished third ahead of Berthon, Julian Leal, Stoffel Vandoorne, Canamasas, Alexander Rossi, Negrao and Pierre Gasly.

The afternoon session kicked off in scorching heat and with Vandoorne first out on track. Arthur Pic set the early pace before Lynn went quickest. At the one hour mark, Jordan King claimed the top spot going four tenths faster than fellow countryman Lynn. With one hour left on the clock, Nato dipped under 1m42s, but Sorensen improved further and went top before Nato found some extra pace to reclaim P1. Thirty minutes before the chequered flag, King was back on top with a laptime of 1:41.494 – two tenths better than the Arden man. In the dying minutes, the proceedings were halted after Evans stopped at Turn 3. The session was not restarted and King ended up on top ahead of Evans, Sergey Sirotkin (who moved up to third on his last attempt), Nato, Vandoorne, Sorensen, Leal, Berthon, Gasly and Artem Markelov.

Tomorrow's morning session will start at 09.00, local time.

Morning results

Driver Team Laptime

1.Mitch Evans RUSSIAN TIME 1:42.479
2.Norman Nato Arden International 1:42.653
3.Marco Sorensen Carlin 1:42.689
4.Nathanaël Berthon Lazarus 1:42.712
5.Julian Leal Carlin 1:42.728
6.Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 1:42.779
7.Sergio Canamasas MP Motorsport 1:42.800
8.Alexander Rossi Racing Engineering 1:42.801
9.Andre Negrao Arden International 1:42.953
10.Pierre Gasly DAMS 1:43.015
11.Daniel De Jong MP Motorsport 1:43.016
12.Nick Yelloly Hilmer Motorsport 1:43.042
13.Jordan King Racing Engineering 1:43.101
14.Arthur Pic Campos Racing 1:43.226
15.Rio Haryanto Campos Racing 1:43.347
16.Sergey Sirotkin Rapax 1:43.357
17.Richie Stanaway Status Grand Prix 1:43.391
18.Artem Markelov RUSSIAN TIME 1:43.455
19.Raffaele Marciello Trident 1:43.766
20.Robert Visoiu Rapax 1:43.826
21.Marlon Stockinger Status Grand Prix 1:43.876
22.Alex Lynn DAMS 1:44.022
23 Zoel Amberg Lazarus 1:44.333
24.Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 1:44.392
25.Rene Binder Trident 1:44.416

Afternoon results

Driver Team Laptime

1.Jordan King Racing Engineering 1:41.494
2.Mitch Evans RUSSIAN TIME 1:41.608
3.Sergey Sirotkin Rapax 1:41.636
4.Norman Nato Arden International 1:41.755
5.Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 1:41.851
6.Marco Sorensen Carlin 1:41.861
7.Julian Leal Carlin 1:41.985
8.Nathanaël Berthon Lazarus 1:42.004
9.Pierre Gasly DAMS 1:42.015
10.Artem Markelov RUSSIAN TIME 1:42.038
11.Alexander Rossi Racing Engineering 1:42.201
12.Daniel De Jong MP Motorsport 1:42.301
13.Arthur Pic Campos Racing 1:42.301
14.Richie Stanaway Status Grand Prix 1:42.365
15.Raffaele Marciello Trident 1:42.431
16.Alex Lynn DAMS 1:42.461
17.Nick Yelloly Hilmer Motorsport 1:42.608
18.Robert Visoiu Rapax 1:42.628
19.André Negrao Arden International 1:42.700
20.Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 1:43.181
21.Rio Haryanto Campos Racing 1:43.207
22.Zoel Amberg Lazarus 1:43.383
23.Marlon Stockinger Status Grand Prix 1:43.398
24.Rene Binder Trident 1:43.902
25.Sergio Canamasas MP Motorsport 1:44.630

Nigel Melker is expected to test for Hilmer Motorsport on Days 2 and 3.