Former GP2 Asia champion Davide Valsecchi topped the opening GP2 test of the year at Jerez on Tuesday.
Over the winter, the Italian moved from the former AirAsia (now Caterham) squad to the DAMS team that took Romain Grosjean to the 2011 crown. Valsecchi set a 1m26.014s lap in the morning session, which stood as the best of the day.
GP2 newcomer Fabio Onidi made a strong start for Coloni with second place, 0.2sec down on Valsecci, and ahead of iSport duo Jolyon Palmer and Marcus Ericsson, and Lotus teammates Esteban Gutierrez and James Calado.
Ericsson led the Lotus duo in the slower afternoon session, with Fabio Leimer (Racing Engineering) and Stephane Richelmi (Trident) completing the top five. Valsecchi was seventh.
The new Lazarus team got up to 14th with signed driver Fabrizio Crestani in the afternoon. Vittorio Ghirelli was driving its other car today and caused a brief red flag when he stopped on track in the second session. Tom Dillmann prompted a stoppage in the morning when he crashed his Ocean machine.
Morning session:
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Davide Valsecchi DAMS 1m26.014s
2. Fabio Onidi Coloni 1m26.217s + 0.203s
3. Jolyon Palmer iSport 1m26.219s + 0.205s
4. Marcus Ericsson iSport 1m26.266s + 0.252s
5. Esteban Gutierrez Lotus 1m26.408s + 0.394s
6. James Calado Lotus 1m26.649s + 0.635s
7. Stéphane Richelmi Trident 1m26.888s + 0.874s
8. Stefano Coletti Coletti 1m26.891s + 0.877s
9. Dani Clos Rapax 1m26.944s + 0.930s
10. Nigel Melker Ocean 1m26.944s + 0.930s
11. Rodolfo Gonzalez Caterham 1m26.971s + 0.957s
12. Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1m26.990s + 0.976s
13. Johnny Cecotto Addax 1m27.013s + 0.999s
14. Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering 1m27.124s + 1.110s
15. Max Chilton Carlin 1m27.187s + 1.173s
16. Simon Trummer Arden 1m27.408s + 1.394s
17. Luiz Razia Arden 1m27.437s + 1.423s
18. Josef Kral Addax 1m27.519s + 1.505s
19. Rio Haryanto Carlin 1m27.842s + 1.828s
20. Nathanael Berthon Racing Engineering 1m27.917s + 1.903s
21. Julian Leal Trident 1m28.018s + 2.004s
22. Felipe Nasr DAMS 1m28.076s + 2.062s
23. Fabrizio Crestani Lazarus 1m28.385s + 2.371s
24. Daniel De Jong Rapax 1m28.438s + 2.424s
25. Tom Dillmann Ocean 1m28.985s + 2.971s
26. Vittorio Ghirelli Lazarus 1m29.642s + 3.628s
Afternoon session:
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Marcus Ericsson iSport 1m26.407s
2. Esteban Gutierrez Lotus 1m26.496s + 0.089s
3. James Calado Lotus 1m26.586s + 0.179s
4. Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering 1m26.776s + 0.369s
5. Stéphane Richelmi Trident 1m27.017s + 0.610s
6. Johnny Cecotto Addax 1m27.138s + 0.731s
7. Davide Valsecchi DAMS 1m27.179s + 0.772s
8. Nathanael Berthon Racing Engineering 1m27.205s + 0.798s
9. Josef Kral Addax 1m27.236s + 0.829s
10. Max Chilton Carlin 1m27.237s + 0.830s
11. Nigel Melker Ocean 1m27.238s + 0.831s
12. Dani Clos Rapax 1m27.243s + 0.836s
13. Jolyon Palmer iSport 1m27.253s + 0.846s
14. Fabrizio Crestani Lazarus 1m27.496s + 1.089s
15. Stefano Coletti Coloni 1m27.543s + 1.136s
16. Rio Haryanto Carlin 1m27.580s + 1.173s
17. Julian Leal Trident 1m27.799s + 1.392s
18. Simon Trummer Arden 1m27.838s + 1.431s
19. Luiz Razia Arden 1m27.867s + 1.460s
20. Tom Dillmann Ocean 1m27.871s + 1.464s
21. Daniel de Jong Rapax 1m27.914s + 1.507s
22. Felipe Nasr DAMS 1m28.096s + 1.689s
23. Vittorio Ghirelli Lazarus 1m29.117s + 2.710s
24. Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1m29.472s + 3.065s
25. Fabio Onidi Coloni 1m29.492s + 3.085s
26. Rodolfo Gonzalez Caterham 1m31.159s + 4.752s