Home Formula 2 Haryanto quickest as Caterham duo head first pre-season session

Haryanto quickest as Caterham duo head first pre-season session

by Peter Allen
Rio Haryanto

Photo: Sam Bloxham/GP2 Media Service

Caterham drivers Rio Haryanto and Alexander Rossi finished first and second in the opening GP2 pre-season test session in Abu Dhabi.

Haryanto, who topped a session on his debut with the team in November’s test at the Yas Marinia Circuit, managed a best time of 1m50.862s.

That put him 0.273s ahead of team-mate Rossi, who claimed his maiden GP2 victory at the 2013 season finale at the same circuit.

Behind the two Caterhams were the two DAMS cars, with Jolyon Palmer leading Stephane Richelmi. Felipe Nasr was fifth for Carlin, closely followed by Trident’s Johnny Cecotto and his own new team-mate Julian Leal.

Jon Lancaster took P8 for MP Motorsport ahead of Arden’s Rene Binder and Russian Time new boy Mitch Evans.

Kimiya Sato finished 12th in his first session in a GP2 car, and on the Campos team’s return to the series. Other debutants were Axcil Jefferies in 21st for Trident and Honda-backed Takuya Izawa 23rd for ART, one spot ahead of team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne as they racked up more laps than anybody else but set best times 32 seconds off the pace.

Morning session results
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Rio Haryanto Caterham Racing 1:50.862   13
2 Alexander Rossi Caterham Racing 1:51.135 0.273 12
3 Jolyon Palmer DAMS 1:51.232 0.370 11
4 Stephane Richelmi DAMS 1:51.479 0.617 11
5 Felipe Nasr Cariln 1:51.590 0.728 16
6 Johnny Cecotto Trident 1:51.599 0.737 9
7 Julian Leal Carlin 1:51.609 0.747 12
8 Jon Lancaster MP Motorsport 1:51.765 0.903 13
9 Rene Binder Arden International 1:51.893 1.031 9
10 Mitch Evans Russian Time 1:51.928 1.066 17
11 Stefano Coletti Racing Engineering 1:52.121 1.259 10
12 Kimiya Sato Campos Racing 1:52.179 1.317 24
13 Daniel Abt Hilmer Motorsport 1:52.259 1.397 18
14 Facu Regalia Hilmer Motorsport 1:52.398 1.536 10
15 Nathanael Berthon Lazarus 1:52.586 1.724 12
16 Raffaele Marciello Racing Engineering 1:52.621 1.759 16
17 Arthur Pic Campos Racing 1:52.820 1.958 23
18 Conor Daly Lazarus 1:53.022 2.160 16
19 Simon Trummer Rapax 1:53.041 2.179 8
20 Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Rapax 1:53.163 2.301 10
21 Axcil Jefferies Trident 1:53.686 2.824 20
22 Artem Markelov Russian Time 1:53.807 2.945 12
23 Takuya Izawa ART Grand Prix 2:23.231 32.369 27
24 Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 2:23.750 32.888 28
25 Andre Negrao Arden International No time   0
26 Daniiel De Jong MP Motorsport No time   0