Pierre Gasly tops Day 1 at Yas Marina

Pierre Gasly tops Day 1 at Yas Marina

Frenchman quickest on first day of post-season testing in Abu Dhabi

The 2014 GP2 Series post-season testing opened today at Yas Marina Circuit for three days with many new faces joining some more familiar ones. Each team have been provided with seven sets of Medium Pirelli tyres for the three days.

When the track went live, Arthur Pic (who has already been confirmed with Campos Racing for the 2015 season) took to the track and set the early pace to top the timesheet just as a first red flag stopped the proceedings: F3 European Champion Esteban Ocon had stopped his DAMS car at Turn 11. At the re-start, 2014 GP2 Vice Champion Stoffel Vandoorne became the first man to dip under 1m50s: the ART man went top with a laptime of 1:49.445, half a second quicker than Pic. A second red flag halted the proceedings briefly when Zoel Amberg stopped his Trident car.

At the halfway point, Mitch Evans found some extra pace to break the 1m50s barrier and moved up to P2. The remainder of the session was trouble-free and, in the final stages, Pierre Gasly put his DAMS car in P3 just ahead of Pic. Rio Haryanto, Julian Leal, André Negrao, Jazeman Jaafar, Ocon and Nicholas Latifi completed the top ten. Rene Binder did not take part in the morning session as he did not feel well enough to drive.

The afternoon session opened under the lights of the Yas Marina Circuit with Vandoorne once again setting the pace with a laptime of 1:49.004, five tenths quicker than Gasly in P2. Forty-five minutes into the session, the Frenchman found some extra pace to dip under 1m49s and went top, one tenth better than Vandoorne.

With one hour left on the clock, the session was red flagged after Evans stopped at Turn 18 following a gearbox failure. In the closing minutes, most drivers pushed to improve on their personal best time, but nobody could better Gasly's laptime who with a laptime of 1:48.948 topped the day. The session concluded on a final red flag, courtesy of Sergio Campana who stopped on track. Vandoorne finished the afternoon session P2 ahead of Jordan King, Pic, Negrao, Evans, Richie Stanaway, Rio Haryanto, Ocon, Nathanaël Berthon.

Tomorrow's morning session will start at 12.00, local time.

Morning results

Driver Team Laptime

1.Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 1:49.445
2.Mitch Evans RT RUSSIAN TIME 1:49.824
3.Pierre Gasly DAMS 1:49.949
4.Arthur Pic Campos Racing 1:50.044
5.Rio Haryanto Status Grand Prix 1:50.192
6.Julian Leal Carlin 1:50.240
7.André Negrao Arden International 1:50.336
8.Jazeman Jaafar Campos Racing 1:50.386
9.Esteban Ocon DAMS 1:50.410
10.Nicholas Latifi Racing Engineering 1:50.431
11.Richie Stanaway Status Grand Prix 1:50.461
12.Daniel Abt Hilmer Motorsport 1:50.476
13.Jordan King Arden International 1:50.592
14.Marvin Kirchhofer Hilmer Motorsport 1:50.903
15.Nathanaël Berthon Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:50.906
16.Emil Bernstorff Rapax 1:51.054
17.Artem Markelov RT RUSSIAN TIME 1:51.133
18. Norman Nato Racing Engineering 1:51.272
19.Sergio Campana Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:51.501
20.Daniel De Jong MP Motorsport 1:51.554
21.Zoel Amberg Trident 1:51.630
22.Luis Sa Silva Carlin 1:51.777
23.Sandy Stuvik Rapax 1:52.035
24.Marlon Stockinger MP Motorsport 1:52.069
25.Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 1:52.304

Afternoon results

Driver Team Laptime

1.Pierre Gasly DAMS 1:48.948
2.Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 1:49.004
3.Jordan King Arden International 1:49.314
4.Arthur Pic Campos Racing 1:49.383
5.André Negrao Arden International 1:49.396
6.Mitch Evans RT RUSSIAN TIME 1:49.442
7.Richie Stanaway Status Grand Prix 1:49.589
8.Rio Haryanto Status Grand Prix 1:49.689
9.Esteban Ocon DAMS 1:49.892
10.Nathanaël Berthon Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:49.941
11.Rene Binder Trident 1:50.016
12.Daniel Abt Hilmer Motorsport 1:50.084
13.Emil Bernstorff Rapax 1:50.118
14.Nicholas Latifi Racing Engineering 1:50.155
15.Daniel De Jong MP Motorsport 1:50.263
16.Jazeman Jaafar Campos Racing 1:50.338
17.Koudai Tsukakoshi ART Grand Prix 1:50.352
18.Marvin Kirchhofer Hilmer Motorsport 1:50.372
19.Julian Leal Carlin 1:50.488
20.Zoel Amberg Trident 1:50.782
21.Artem Markelov RT RUSSIAN TIME 1:50.871
22.Sergio Campana Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:51.147
23.Norman Nato Racing Engineering 1:51.318
24.Sandy Stuvik Rapax 1:51.403
25.Marlon Stockinger MP Motorsport 1:51.420
26.Luis Sa Silva Carlin 1:51.529