Italian Davide Valsecchi set the pace on the opening day of GP2 testing at the Jerez circuit in Spain on Tuesday.
Valsecchi, driving for Scuderia Coloni team, posted a best time of 1:26.408 in the morning session to finish fastest overall. The Italian was over nearly three tenths of a second quicker than Spaniard Roldan Rogriguez, who joined the Racing Engineering team for the test.
F3 Euro Series champion Jules Bianchi was an impressive third quickest on his GP2 debut, the Frenchman also topping the times in the afternoon session with the ART team. Bianchi was one of ten newcomers in today's test.
The morning session was red-flagged briefly when Max Chilton went off at last corner and broke his front wing early in the day. The after session was also interrupted, first when Rodolfo Gonzales spun his Arden car at the chicane, and later when Edoardo Piscopo crashed his Trident machine on the final corner.
The Jerez test continues for two more days.
Morning times:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Davide Valsecchi Party Poker Racing.com SC 1:26.408 19
2. Roldan Rodriguez Fat Burner Racing Eng. 1:26.707 22
3. Jules Bianchi ART Grand Prix 1:27.184 26
4. Diego Nunes Fat Burner Racing Eng. 1:27.187 28
5. Jerome d'Ambrosio iSport International 1:27.322 22
6. Charles Pic Telmex Arden International 1:27.380 16
7. Christian Vietoris Barwa Addax Team 1:27.413 24
8. Luiz Razia Piquet GP 1:27.635 18
9. Stefano Coletti DAMS 1:27.728 23
10. Sam Bird DAMS 1:27.767 27
11. Esteban Gutierrez ART Grand Prix 1:27.987 23
12. Michael Herck DPR 1:28.196 10
13. James Jakes Super Nova Racing 1:28.251 23
14. Oliver Turvey iSport International 1:28.260 25
15. Alexander Rossi Piquet GP 1:28.480 29
16. Edoardo Piscopo Trident Racing 1:28.489 27
17. Rodolfo Gonzalez Telmex Arden International 1:28.509 25
18. Philip Eng Ocean Racing Technology 1:28.551 31
19. Johnny Cecotto Trident Racing 1:28.907 19
20. Fabio Onidi Party Poker Racing.com SC 1:28.924 23
21. Ricardo Teixeira Super Nova Racing 1:29.111 22
22. Josef Kral Ocean Racing Technology 1:29.901 30
23. Victor Garcia DPR 1:29.941 21
24. Max Chilton Barwa Addax Team 1:31.968 7
All Timing Unofficial
Afternoon times:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Jules Bianchi ART Grand Prix 1:26.919 23
2. Jerome d'Ambrosio iSport International 1:26.938 25
3. Diego Nunes Fat Burner Racing Eng. 1:26.967 21
4. Roldan Rodriguez Fat Burner Racing Eng. 1:27.087 20
5. Christian Vietoris Barwa Addax Team 1:27.299 25
6. Esteban Gutierrez ART Grand Prix 1:27.403 20
7. Johnny Cecotto Trident Racing 1:27.503 29
8. Charles Pic Telmex Arden International 1:27.638 28
9. Sam Bird DAMS 1:27.787 20
10. Oliver Turvey iSport International 1:27.849 21
11. Ricardo Teixeira Super Nova Racing 1:28.004 19
12. Alexander Rossi Piquet GP 1:28.005 21
13. Fabio Onidi Party Poker Racing.com SC 1:28.369 27
14. Philip Eng Ocean Racing Technology 1:28.371 18
15. Victor Garcia DPR 1:28.476 16
16. Josef Kral Ocean Racing Technology 1:28.636 20
17. Michael Herck DPR 1:28.700 12
18. Luiz Razia Piquet GP 1:28.744 13
19. Edoardo Piscopo Trident Racing 1:28.872 26
20. Rodolfo Gonzalez Telmex Arden International 1:29.169 23
21. James Jakes Super Nova Racing 1:29.472 12
22. Stefano Coletti DAMS 1:29.529 13
23. Davide Valsecchi Party Poker Racing.com SC 1:30.675 12
24. Max Chilton Barwa Addax Team 1:31.870 6
25. Francesco Castellaci Durango 1:37.504 10
All Timing Unofficial