Fabrizio Crestani set a surprise fastest time for GP2 newcomer Lazarus on day one of this week's Catalunya test.
The Auto GP graduate lapped in 1m29.420s in the morning session, and his time stood as the quickest of the day. Max Chilton was fastest for Carlin in the slightly slower afternoon session.
iSport's Jolyon Palmer was Crestani's closest challenger in the morning, 0.2sec behind, and ahead of Stephane Richelmi (Trident), Rio Haryanto (Carlin) and Stefano Coletti (Coloni).
Trident's Julian Leal got within 0.015sec of Chilton in the afternoon, with Marcus Ericsson third for iSport, and Coletti next up ahead of James Calado (Lotus). Last week's Jerez pacesetter Davide Valsecchi was sixth and seventh in the two sessions for DAMS.
Valsecchi's teammate Felipe Nasr caused one of three stoppages when he went into the gravel this afternoon. The morning had ended slightly early when both recent Racing Engineering re-signing Nathanael Berthon and Leal stopped on course, while the afternoon's second red flag came when Fabio Onidi spun his Coloni car.
Lazarus tried Venezuela's Giancarlo Serenelli in its second car today, while Rapax – which has yet to confirm any drivers for 2012 – ran GP2 returnee Ricardo Teixeira and former Formula Renault 3.5 driver Sergio Canamasas.
Jon Lancaster confirmed a deal with Ocean today, and joined the field for the afternoon, when he was 18th.
Arden's Luiz Razia sat out the sessions due to illness.
Morning session:
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Fabrizio Crestani Lazarus 1m29.420s
2. Jolyon Palmer iSport 1m29.645s + 0.225s
3. Stephane Richelmi Trident 1m29.658s + 0.238s
4. Rio Haryanto Carlin 1m29.673s + 0.253s
5. Stefano Coletti Coloni 1m29.713s + 0.293s
6. Davide Valsecchi DAMS 1m29.726s + 0.306s
7. Julian Leal Trident 1m29.743s + 0.323s
8. Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1m29.750s + 0.330s
9. Max Chilton Carlin 1m29.774s + 0.354s
10. Simon Trummer Arden 1m29.892s + 0.472s
11. Esteban Gutierrez Lotus 1m29.932s + 0.512s
12. Marcus Ericsson iSport 1m29.994s + 0.574s
13. James Calado Lotus 1m30.245s + 0.825s
14. Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering 1m30.356s + 0.936s
15. Fabio Onidi Coloni 1m30.366s + 0.946s
16. Nigel Melker Ocean 1m30.703s + 1.283s
17. Johnny Cecotto Addax 1m30.726s + 1.306s
18. Nathanael Berthon Racing Engineering 1m30.861s + 1.441s
19. Felipe Nasr DAMS 1m30.907s + 1.487s
20. Josef Kral Addax 1m31.606s + 2.186s
21. Rodolfo Gonzalez Caterham 1m32.472s + 3.052s
22. Sergio Canamasas Rapax 1m32.662s + 3.242s
23. Ricardo Teixeira Rapax 1m33.189s + 3.769s
24. Giancarlo Serenelli Lazarus 1m35.588s + 6.168s
Afternoon session:
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Max Chilton Carlin 1m29.479s
2. Julian Leal Trident 1m29.494s + 0.015s
3. Marcus Ericsson iSport 1m29.605s + 0.126s
4. Stefano Coletti Coloni 1m29.687s + 0.208s
5. James Calado Lotus 1m29.740s + 0.261s
6. Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1m29.769s + 0.290s
7. Davide Valsecchi DAMS 1m29.877s + 0.398s
8. Esteban Gutierrez Lotus 1m29.902s + 0.423s
9. Johnny Cecotto Addax 1m29.947s + 0.468s
10. Simon Trummer Arden 1m29.980s + 0.501s
11. Nathanael Berthon Racing Engineering 1m30.014s + 0.535s
12. Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering 1m30.053s + 0.574s
13. Fabio Onidi Coloni 1m30.311s + 0.832s
14. Jolyon Palmer iSport 1m30.323s + 0.844s
15. Felipe Nasr DAMS 1m30.393s + 0.914s
16. Stephane Richelmi Trident 1m30.577s + 1.098s
17. Nigel Melker Ocean 1m30.603s + 1.124s
18. Jon Lancaster Ocean 1m30.715s + 1.236s
19. Sergio Canamasas Rapax 1m31.468s + 1.989s
20. Rio Haryanto Carlin 1m31.646s + 2.167s
21. Josef Kral Addax 1m31.696s + 2.217s
22. Rodolfo Gonzalez Caterham 1m31.967s + 2.488s
23. Ricardo Teixeira Rapax 1m32.613s + 3.134s
24. Fabrizio Crestani Lazarus 1m33.456s + 3.977s
25. Giancarlo Serenelli Lazarus 1m35.420s + 5.941s