Photo: Sam Bloxham/GP2 Series Media Service
Nobuharu Matsushita was quickest again for ART Grand Prix in the evening session on day one of GP2 post-season testing in Abu Dhabi.
DAMS tester Nicholas Latifi had occupied top spot before Matsushita went over half a second clear inside the final hour under the lights at Yas Marina.
The Honda protege, who finished ninth in the GP2 standings in his rookie season in Europe, was over a second quicker than he had gone when he topped the morning session.
Latifi held on to second place ahead of the man whose car he’s driving this week, Pierre Gasly, who gave the Prema team third on its first day in GP2.
Like his team-mate for the day Matsushita, Oliver Rowland repeated his fourth place from the morning, within 36 thousandths of second place.
Russian Time regular Artem Markelov was fifth ahead of MP Motorsport tester Nick Yelloly and Arden racer Norman Nato.
Carlin drivers Richie Stanaway and Dean Stoneman were closely matched in eighth and ninth with Andre Negrao 10th for Rapax.
As in the morning, European Formula 3 champion Felix Rosenqvist (Status) edged out GP3 runner-up Luca Ghiotto (Trident) to be the top GP2 debutant, 13th overall.
Matsushita will step aside on Thursday as Nato and Marlon Stockinger test for ART, with Rowland heading with Rosenqvist to Prema and Gasly switching to Russian Time.
Ghiotto will sample Racing Engineering in place of Sergey Sirotkin who returns to Rapax, with Ghiotto’s GP3 team-mate Artur Janosz to make his GP2 bow for Trident alongside Zoel Amberg, returning after health issues ruled him out during 2015.
Two drivers will arrive at the test fresh from trying Audi DTM machinery at Jerez: Mitch Evans teams up with Sean Gelael at Campos in the team’s expected 2016 line-up, while Antonio Giovinazzi will take over from Stanaway at Carlin for the evening running.
Jimmy Eriksson moves to Trident to join fellow Swede Gustav Malja at Arden, while Alex Fontana heads from Rapax to his GP3 squad Status.
Wednesday evening session results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Nobuharu Matsushita | ART Grand Prix | 1:47.903 | 29 | |
| 2 | Nicholas Latifi | DAMS | 1:48.418 | 0.515 | 35 |
| 3 | Pierre Gasly | Prema Racing | 1:48.437 | 0.534 | 23 |
| 4 | Oliver Rowland | ART Grand Prix | 1:48.454 | 0.551 | 30 |
| 5 | Artem Markelov | Russian Time | 1:48.581 | 0.678 | 18 |
| 6 | Nick Yelloly | MP Motorsport | 1:48.744 | 0.841 | 10 |
| 7 | Norman Nato | Arden International | 1:48.780 | 0.877 | 27 |
| 8 | Richie Stanaway | Carlin | 1:48.791 | 0.888 | 23 |
| 9 | Dean Stoneman | Carlin | 1:48.865 | 0.962 | 25 |
| 10 | Andre Negrao | Rapax | 1:48.875 | 0.972 | 25 |
| 11 | Jordan King | Racing Engineering | 1:48.943 | 1.040 | 29 |
| 12 | Tio Ellinas | Russian Time | 1:48.997 | 1.094 | 35 |
| 13 | Felix Rosenqvist | Status Grand Prix | 1:49.165 | 1.262 | 29 |
| 14 | Luca Ghiotto | Trident | 1:49.213 | 1.310 | 26 |
| 15 | Sergey Sirotkin | Racing Engineering | 1:49.223 | 1.320 | 32 |
| 16 | Gustav Malja | Arden International | 1:49.423 | 1.520 | 29 |
| 17 | Alex Fontana | Rapax | 1:49.747 | 1.844 | 35 |
| 18 | Pascal Wehrlein | Prema Racing | 1:50.030 | 2.127 | 17 |
| 19 | Jimmy Eriksson | Trident | 1:50.110 | 2.207 | 32 |
| 20 | Sean Gelael | Campos Racing | 1:50.491 | 2.588 | 34 |
| 21 | Richard Gonda | MP Motorsport | 1:50.536 | 2.633 | 27 |
| 22 | Philo Armand | Status Grand Prix | 1:51.558 | 3.655 | 27 |
| 23 | Konstantin Tereshchenko | Campos Racing | 1:51.607 | 3.704 | 5 |
| 24 | Alex Lynn | DAMS | 1:52.515 | 4.612 | 29 |
Thursday GP2 test entry list
| Team | Drivers | |
| DAMS | 1. Nicholas Latifi | 2. Alex Lynn |
| Carlin | 3. Dean Stoneman | 4. Richie Stanaway/Antonio Giovinazzi |
| ART Grand Prix | 5. Marlon Stockinger | 6. Norman Nato |
| Racing Engineering | 7. Jordan King | 8. Luca Ghiotto |
| Russian Time | 9. Pierre Gasly | 10. Artem Markelov |
| Trident | 11. Artur Janosz | 12. Zoel Amberg |
| Campos Racing | 14. Sean Gelael | 15. Mitch Evans |
| MP Motorsport | 16. Richard Gonda | 17. Nick Yelloly |
| Rapax | 18. Sergey Sirotkin | 19. Andre Negrao |
| Arden International | 20. Gustav Malja | 21. Jimmy Eriksson |
| Status Grand Prix | 22. Philo Armand | 23. Alex Fontana |
| Prema Racing | 26. Oliver Rowland | 27. Felix Rosenqvist |