Fabio Leimer set the pace on the first day of GP2 testing at Jerez, topping the times in both the morning and afternoon session for Racing Engineering.
The 22-year-old, who finished 14th in this year's championship with the Rapax squad, set his best time of 1m27.282s in the morning session. That was just nine thousandths of a second faster than 2011 GP2 runner-up Luca Filippi, who completed the morning for Scuderia Coloni before handing over to Auto GP prize winner Kevin Ceccon.
The afternoon session was slower and Leimer's best time was just under 0.5sec shy of his morning benchmark, but it was enough to again top the board, this time from Caterham Team AirAsia's Yelmer Buurman.
Sam Bird posted the third-fastest time of the day – again in the morning – as he completed 33 laps for the Rapax squad, with Johnny Cecotto (Barwa Addax) ahead of Fabio Onidi in the second Coloni machine.
2011 GP3 champion Valtteri Bottas, one of seven GP3 graduates in the test, was one of the few drivers to improve his times in the afternoon, as he got down to a 1m28.113s in the Lotus ART. He will hand over to his GP3 rival and runner-up James Calado for the final day of testing tomorrow, the Briton having finished in the midfield for Ocean Racing on day one.
Morning session
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering 1:27.282 29
2. Luca Filippi Scuderia Coloni 1:27.291 29
3. Sam Bird Rapax 1:27.555 33
4. Johnny Cecotto Barwa Addax Team 1:27.566 25
5. Fabio Onidi Scuderia Coloni 1:27.587 32
6. Yelmer Buurman Caterham Team AirAsia 1:27.786 32
7. Jolyon Palmer iSport International 1:27.801 31
8. Dani Clos Barwa Addax Team 1:27.894 24
9. Josef Kral Trident Racing 1:27.909 20
10. Antonio Felix Da Costa Caterham Team AirAsia 1:28.090 32
11. Adam Carroll Super Nova Racing 1:28.212 20
12. Alvaro Parente Carlin 1:28.289 22
13. Max Chilton Carlin 1:28.317 21
14. James Calado Ocean Racing Technology 1:28.369 26
15. Rodolfo Gonzalez Racing Engineering 1:28.443 25
16. Valtteri Bottas Lotus ART 1:28.459 28
17. Simon Trummer Arden International 1:28.597 33
18. Stéphane Richelmi Ocean Racing Technology 1:28.7-3 27
19. Julian Leal Trident Racing 1:28.709 24
20. Nigel Melker Arden International 1:28.779 34
21. Javier Villa Super Nova Racing 1:28.907 14
22. Daniele Zampieri Rapax 1:29.091 29
23. Rio Haryanto Dams 1:29.097 26
24. Nathanël Berthon Lotus ART 1:29.241 30
25. Nico Muller Dams 1:29.288 25
26. Carlos Iaconelli iSport International 1:30.029 23
Afternoon session
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering 1:27.777 20
2. Yelmer Buurman Caterham Team AirAsia 1:27.874 28
3. Dani Clos Barwa Addax Team 1:28.049 17
4. Valtteri Bottas Lotus ART 1:28.113 31
5. Josef Kral Trident Racing 1:28.194 26
6. Alvaro Parente Carlin 1:28.254 18
7. Max Chilton Carlin 1:28.259 21
8. Sam Bird Rapax 1:28.373 31
9. Jolyon Palmer iSport International 1:28.490 32
10. Nigel Melker Arden International 1:28.574 26
11. Nathanël Berthon Lotus ART 1:28.576 29
12. Javier Villa Super Nova Racing 1:28.606 23
13. Stéphane Richelmi Ocean Racing Technology 1:28.613 25
14. Fabio Onidi Scuderia Coloni 1:28.648 18
15. Johnny Cecotto Barwa Addax Team 1:28.727 27
16. James Calado Ocean Racing Technology 1:28.731 28
17. Rodolfo Gonzalez Racing Engineering 1:28.868 26
18. Antonio Felix Da Costa Caterham Team AirAsia 1:28.875 32
19. Daniele Zampieri Rapax 1:28.924 32
20. Kevin Ceccon Scuderia Coloni 1:28.996 30
21. Rio Haryanto Dams 1:29.160 28
22. Simon Trummer Arden International 1:29.202 26
23. Nico Muller Dams 1:29.678 28
24. Julian Leal Trident Racing 1:29.823 8
25. Carlos Iaconelli iSport International 1:30.253 24
26. Adam Carroll Super Nova Racing 1:31.734 8