Photo: Alastair Staley / GP2 Media Service
Caterham Racing driver Alexander Rossi, who recently took his first GP2 series victory in the series finale at Yas Marina, has topped the first session of the post-season test at the very same track.
Johnny Cecotto, testing for Venezuela GP, was the pacesetter in the early stages of the session, before being ousted from the top spot by Rossi an hour into the run. The American would then remain at the top, improving on his benchmark lap a number of times.
A late-lap effort allowed Daniel Abt to take second, narrowly overhauling Cecotto, who wound up third.
Mitch Evans took fourth, while Raffaele Marciello in fifth ended up being the top GP2 rookie of the session.
Daniel de Jong took sixth ahead of Formula Renault 3.5 frontrunner Nico Muller. Stephane Richelmi, Will Stevens and Rene Binder rounded out the top ten.
FR3.5 champion Kevin Magnussen opted not to run following a last-minute decision, the reasons for which have not been disclosed.
Session results
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Alexander Rossi | Caterham Racing | 1:49.958 | 22 | |
| 2 | Daniel Abt | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:50.608 | +0.650 | 20 |
| 3 | Johnny Cecotto | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 1:50.643 | +0.685 | 12 |
| 4 | Mitch Evans | Russian Time | 1:50.722 | +0.764 | 20 |
| 5 | Raffaele Marciello | Trident Racing | 1:50.812 | +0.854 | 20 |
| 6 | Daniel de Jong | MP Motorsport | 1:51.038 | +1.080 | 15 |
| 7 | Nico Muller | Arden International | 1:51.144 | +1.186 | 23 |
| 8 | Stephane Richelmi | DAMS | 1:51.152 | +1.194 | 20 |
| 9 | Will Stevens | MP Motorsport | 1:51.210 | +1.252 | 21 |
| 10 | Rene Binder | Arden International | 1:51.234 | +1.276 | 25 |
| 11 | Simon Trummer | Rapax | 1:51.515 | +1.557 | 23 |
| 12 | Carlos Sainz | Carlin | 1:51.536 | +1.578 | 20 |
| 13 | Jazeman Jaafar | Carlin | 1:51.620 | +1.662 | 27 |
| 14 | Julian Leal | Trident Racing | 1:51.627 | +1.669 | 13 |
| 15 | Andre Negrao | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:51.734 | +1.776 | 21 |
| 16 | Rio Haryanto | Racing Engineering | 1:51.779 | +1.821 | 24 |
| 17 | Jolyon Palmer | Racing Engineering | 1:51.966 | +2.008 | 21 |
| 18 | Rodolfo Gonzalez | Barwa Addax Team | 1:52.056 | +2.098 | 13 |
| 19 | Stoffel Vandoorne | ART Grand Prix | 1:52.357 | +2.399 | 28 |
| 20 | Arthur Pic | ART Grand Prix | 1:52.422 | +2.464 | 28 |
| 21 | Artem Markelov | Russian Time | 1:52.763 | +2.805 | 17 |
| 22 | Sandy Stuvik | Rapax | 1:52.772 | +2.814 | 20 |
| 23 | Nikolay Martsenko | Barwa Addax Team | 1:53.419 | +3.461 | 18 |
| 24 | Denis Nagulin | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 1:55.231 | +5.273 | 20 |
| 25 | Facu Regalia | Caterham Racing | No Time | 1 | |
| DNP | Kevin Magnussen | DAMS | No Time |