Photo: Sam Bloxham/GP2 Media Service
Alexander Rossi posted the quickest time of the opening day of the GP2 test in Bahrain during the afternoon session.
With a fastest lap of 1m40.604s, the Caterham driver narrowly bettered the morning benchmark of his Force India-backed Hilmer counterpart Daniel Abt by seven hundredths of a second.
Abt’s afternoon time was even closer to that of the American, falling just 0.012s short.?Mitch Evans improved after a red flag with ten minutes remaining to take third for Russian Time.
Lazarus tryout Conor Daly was fourth ahead of DAMS driver Jolyon Palmer and another late improver Johnny Cecotto (Trident).
Raffaele Marciello was seventh for Racing Engineering ahead of fellow Italian Vittorio Ghirelli, who has taken the vacant Trident seat for this test.
The top ten was completed by Carlin’s Felipe Nasr and ART ace Stoffel Vandoorne.
The test – the second and last pre-season running before the opening round in Bahrain on 5-6 April – continues on Thursday and Friday.
Afternoon session times
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Alexander Rossi | EQ8 Caterham Racing | 1:40.604 | 30 | |
| 2 | Daniel Abt | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:40.616 | 0.012 | 26 |
| 3 | Mitch Evans | Russian Time | 1:40.680 | 0.076 | 25 |
| 4 | Conor Daly | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 1:40.734 | 0.130 | 20 |
| 5 | Jolyon Palmer | DAMS | 1:40.769 | 0.165 | 23 |
| 6 | Johnny Cecotto | Trident | 1:40.829 | 0.225 | 13 |
| 7 | Raffaele Marciello | Racing Engineering | 1:40.932 | 0.328 | 25 |
| 8 | Vittorio Ghirelli | Trident | 1:40.976 | 0.372 | 21 |
| 9 | Felipe Nasr | Carlin | 1:41.022 | 0.418 | 23 |
| 10 | Stoffel Vandoorne | ART Grand Prix | 1:41.041 | 0.437 | 28 |
| 11 | Jon Lancaster | MP Motorsport | 1:41.045 | 0.441 | 22 |
| 12 | Nathanael Berthon | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 1:41.065 | 0.461 | 21 |
| 13 | Facu Regalia | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:41.131 | 0.527 | 28 |
| 14 | Julian Leal | Carlin | 1:41.195 | 0.591 | 17 |
| 15 | Rio Haryanto | EQ8 Caterham Racing | 1:41.275 | 0.671 | 23 |
| 16 | Stephane Richelmi | DAMS | 1:41.359 | 0.755 | 23 |
| 17 | Arthur Pic | Campos Racing | 1:41.368 | 0.764 | 21 |
| 18 | Stefano Coletti | Racing Engineering | 1:41.394 | 0.790 | 23 |
| 19 | Rene Binder | Arden International | 1:41.426 | 0.822 | 21 |
| 20 | Andre Negrao | Arden International | 1:41.438 | 0.834 | 18 |
| 21 | Adrian Quaife-Hobbs | Rapax | 1:41.548 | 0.944 | 23 |
| 22 | Simon Trummer | Rapax | 1:41.709 | 1.105 | 18 |
| 23 | Artem Markelov | Russian Time | 1:41.726 | 1.122 | 25 |
| 24 | Takuya Izawa | ART Grand Prix | 1:42.013 | 1.409 | 29 |
| 25 | Kimiya Sato | Campos Racing | 1:42.204 | 1.600 | 23 |
| 26 | Daniel De Jong | MP Motorsport | 1:42.282 | 1.678 | 19 |