Home Formula 2 Arthur Pic heads GP2 practice at Monza

Arthur Pic heads GP2 practice at Monza

by Peter Allen
Arthur Pic

Photo: Sam Bloxham/GP2 Series Media Service

Arthur Pic set the pace in the GP2 free practice session at Monza.

The Campos Racing driver was already at the top of the times when he set an improved lap inside the final minute to secure first place.

Stoffel Vandoorne was second, 0.178 seconds away from his fellow Formula Renault 3.5 convert. Championship leader Jolyon Palmer was third, just ahead of Mitch Evans.

Stefano Coletti was fifth fastest but suffered the ignominy of becoming the first driver to find the now-smaller gravel trap on the outside of the Parabolica, beyond the controversial new asphalt run-off, ending his session with 20 minutes left on the clock.

Simon Trummer took sixth ahead of Felipe Nasr, who arrives in Italy with a 32-point deficit to Palmer. Italian hope Raffaele Marciello got himself up to eighth after spending much of the session down the order, but stopped after the second Lesmo after the chequered flag, meaning that Racing Engineering ended practice with both of their cars stranded out on the circuit.

Stephane Richelmi was ninth while Jon Lancaster enjoyed a competitive showing for Hilmer with tenth.

The top 20 were covered by less than a second, while Pierre Gasly was 22nd in his first drive of a GP2 car with Caterham and Sergio Campana was 25th of the 26 runners on his first appearance with Lazarus.

Daniel Abt was slowest, two seconds off the pace, after breaking off part of his floor when he spun over the kerbs at the first chicane early on.

Practice results
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Arthur Pic Campos Racing 1:32.256 19
2 Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 1:32.434 0.178 18
3 Jolyon Palmer DAMS 1:32.535 0.279 20
4 Mitch Evans Russian Time 1:32.545 0.289 19
5 Stefano Coletti Racing Engineering 1:32.598 0.342 10
6 Simon Trummer Rapax 1:32.651 0.395 19
7 Felipe Nasr Carlin 1:32.676 0.420 21
8 Raffaele Marciello Racing Engineering 1:32.697 0.441 19
9 Stephane Richelmi DAMS 1:32.712 0.456 20
10 Jon Lancaster Hilmer Motorsport 1:32.787 0.531 20
11 Johnny Cecotto Trident 1:32.827 0.571 20
12 Julian Leal Carlin 1:32.855 0.599 18
13 Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Rapax 1:32.872 0.616 19
14 Rene Binder Arden International 1:32.905 0.649 20
15 Marco Sorensen MP Motorsport 1:33.017 0.761 17
16 Andre Negrao Arden International 1:33.078 0.822 20
17 Rio Haryanto EQ8 Caterham Racing 1:33.136 0.880 15
18 Daniel de Jong MP Motorsport 1:33.169 0.913 18
19 Nathanael Berthon Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:33.188 0.932 16
20 Sergio Canamasas Trident 1:33.214 0.958 19
21 Kimiya Sato Campos Racing 1:33.309 1.053 19
22 Pierre Gasly EQ8 Caterham Racing 1:33.520 1.264 19
23 Takuya Izawa ART Grand Prix 1:33.521 1.265 20
24 Artem Markelov Russian Time 1:33.641 1.385 16
25 Sergio Campana Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:33.832 1.576 20
26 Daniel Abt Hilmer Motorsport 1:34.281 2.025 20