Home Formula 2 Coletti ends pre-season tests on top spot

Coletti ends pre-season tests on top spot

by Peter Allen

?Photo: Alastair Staley/GP2 Series Media Service

Stefano Coletti will head to the GP2 Series season opener in Malaysia having posted the fastest time of the second and final pre-season test at Barcelona.

The Monegasque driver, who endured a disappointing 2012 with the Coloni before switching teams to Rapax, finished the morning session with a best time of 1m29.055s.

This put him 0.162s clear of Marcus Ericsson and 0.398s clear of compatriot Stephane Richelmi. Jolyon Palmer took P4 for Carlin ahead of Caterham?s Sergio Canamasas and ART?s James Calado.

Kevin Giovesi was seventh ahead of GP3 graduates Mitch Evans and Daniel Abt, while another rookie Adrian Quaife-Hobbs was tenth.

The teams enjoyed more dry running in the afternoon, with Felipe Nasr beating Coletti to the best time by a third of a tenth of a second, though he was still three tenths off Coletti?s morning benchmark.

Tom Dillmann finished a strong pre-season in third place with new team Russian Time as he chases a race seat, while Fabio Leimer was fourth for Racing Engineering. Next came Quaife-Hobbs and Robin Frijns, who moved across from Trident to Russian Time for the final day.

Calado finished in seventh place ahead of Giovesi and Evans, while Conor Daly rounded out the top ten after returning to action with Hilmer Motorsport in the afternoon in place of Riccardo Agostini.

Morning session

Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1. Stefano Coletti Rapax 1:29.055   30
2. Marcus Ericsson DAMS 1:29.217 0.162 35
3. St?phane Richelmi DAMS 1:29.453 0.398 39
4. Jolyon Palmer Carlin 1:29.467 0.412 28
5. Sergio Canamasas Caterham Racing 1:29.611 0.556 36
6. James Calado ART Grand Prix 1:29.624 0.569 33
7. Kevin Giovesi Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:29.812 0.757 32
8. Mitch Evans Arden International 1:29.902 0.847 34
9. Daniel Abt ART Grand Prix 1:29.994 0.939 30
10. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs MP Motorsport 1:30.012 0.957 23
11. Daniel De Jong MP Motorsport 1:30.037 0.982 26
12. Robin Frijns Russian Time 1:30.168 1.113 24
13. Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering 1:30.244 1.189 22
14. Pal Varhaug Hilmer Motorsport 1:30.300 1.245 26
15. Felipe Nasr Carlin 1:30.459 1.404 27
16. Rene Binder Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:30.484 1.429 19
17. Jake Rosenzweig Barwa Addax Team 1:30.620 1.565 16
18. Johnny Cecotto Arden International 1:30.635 1.580 31
19. Simon Trummer Rapax 1:30.667 1.612 28
20. Riccardo Agostini Hilmer Motorsport 1:30.724 1.669 35
21. Rio Haryanto Barwa Addax Team 1:30.813 1.758 29
22. Tom Dillmann Russian Time 1:30.855 1.800 27
23. Rodolfo Gonzalez Trident Racing 1:31.029 1.974 13
24. Ma Qing Hua Caterham Racing 1:31.035 1.980 32
25. Julian Leal Racing Engineering 1:31.220 2.165 14

 

Afternoon session

Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1. Felipe Nasr Carlin 1:29.381   46
2. Stefano Coletti Rapax 1:29.414 0.033 28
3. Tom Dillmann Russian Time 1:29.843 0.462 37
4. Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering 1:29.862 0.481 30
5. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs MP Motorsport 1:29.914 0.533 39
6. Robin Frijns Russian Time 1:30.053 0.672 29
7. James Calado ART Grand Prix 1:30.256 0.875 55
8. Kevin Giovesi Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:30.318 0.937 33
9. Mitch Evans Arden International 1:30.324 0.943 34
10. Conor Daly Hilmer Motorsport 1:30.417 1.036 37
11. Daniel De Jong MP Motorsport 1:30.441 1.060 29
12. Rene Binder Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:30.454 1.073 28
13. Pal Varhaug Hilmer Motorsport 1:30.554 1.173 41
14. Julian Leal Racing Engineering 1:30.601 1.220 36
15. St?phane Richelmi DAMS 1:30.643 1.262 40
16. Daniel Abt ART Grand Prix 1:30.721 1.340 52
17. Sergio Canamasas Caterham Racing 1:30.813 1.432 54
18. Johnny Cecotto Arden International 1:30.821 1.440 33
19. Marcus Ericsson DAMS 1:30.823 1.442 40
20. Simon Trummer Rapax 1:30.884 1.503 43
21. Jolyon Palmer Carlin 1:30.918 1.537 28
22. Rio Haryanto Barwa Addax Team 1:30.997 1.616 42
23. Jake Rosenzweig Barwa Addax Team 1:31.271 1.890 38
24. Rodolfo Gonzalez Trident Racing 1:31.368 1.987 37
25. Ma Qing Hua Caterham Racing 1:31.370 1.989 53