Russian driver Sergey Sirotkin (right) made a good start to his 2016 season by setting the best laptime in today's pre-season test. The ART ace lapped the Spanish track in a 1:29.141 during the morning session ahead of Pierre Gasly and Alex Lynn.

The 2016 GP2 Series season officially kicked off this morning with the opening of the first pre-season test session at Circuit de Catalunya. The paddock was greeted by grey skies and cold temperatures for the afternoon session. When the pitlane turned green, it was Philo Paz Armand who fed onto the track first but he was closely followed by the rest of the pack. Twenty minutes into the session all cars had completed at least one installation lap.

The first three hours of the morning session were studious. Carlin's William Buller set the early pace with a lap time of 1:30.752 but his laptime was bettered by Sean Gelael who went quickest in a 1:30.464. There was a first red flag period halfway through the session after Nabil Jeffri hit the tyre barrier and stopped in the gravel bed at Turn five. The proceedings were briefly halted ten minutes later after MP Motorsports' Oliver Rowland stopped on track at Turn two.

Jordan King was the first man to dip under 1m30s. However, Mitch Evans found some extra pace to sit pretty at the top of the timesheets. With thirty minutes left on the clock, Sergey Sirotkin went top in a 1:29.072 ahead of PREMA's Pierre Gasly and DAMS' Alex Lynn.

At the chequered flag, the top three remained unchallenged. Norman Nato, Evans, King, Arthur Pic, Antonio Giovinazzi, Gelael, and Nobuharu Matsushita completed the top ten.

In the afternoon, it was Gustav Malja who got a first taste of the wet conditions but Luca Ghiotto topped the timesheets in the opening hour and was the first man to break the 1m49s barrier. Then Gasly went quickest in a 1:48.683 – 0.7s ahead of the Italian Trident driver. Midway through the session, there was a third red flag period courtesy of Malja who stopped in the gravel bed at Turn five. Once the session resumed, Gasly found some extra pace to lap the circuit in a 1:48.260. Evans also improved and clocked in a laptime of 1:47.649 to take the top honours.

In the final hour, Gasly retook P1 in a 1:45.559 and was 1.725s ahead of Matsushita. Thirty minutes before the end of the session, as the track slowly dried, slick tyres eventually made an appearance on some cars, namely Raffaele Marciello (right) who took full advantage of them and went quickest in a 1:41.863 to top the afternoon session.

At the chequered flag, Marciello headed Nicholas Latifi by 1.6s with Ghiotto in P3. Lynn, Malja, King, Sirotkin, Evans, Gasly and Rowland completed the top ten.

Morning results

1. Sergey Sirotkin ART Grand Prix 1:29.072
2. Pierre Gasly PREMA Racing 1:29.141
3. Alex Lynn DAMS 1:29.171
4. Norman Nato Racing Engineering 1:29.542
5. Mitch Evans Jagonya Ayam Campos Racing 1:29.655
6. Jordan King Racing Engineering 1:29.686
7. Arthur Pic Rapax 1:29.737
8. Antonio Giovinazzi PREMA Racing 1:29.771
9. Sean Gelael Jagonya Ayam Campos Racing 1:29.784
10. Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 1:29.934
11. Luca Ghiotto Trident 1:29.967
12. Danïel De Jong MP Motorsport 1:30.004
13. Nicholas Latifi DAMS 1:30.072
14. Artem Markelov Russian Time 1:30.139
15. Raffaele Marciello Russian Time 1:30.289
16. Marvin Kirchhöfer Carlin 1:30.317
17. Gustav Malja Rapax 1:30.396
18. William Buller Carlin 1:30.752
19. Oliver Rowland MP Motorsport 1:31.274
20. Philo Paz Armand Trident 1:31.583
21. Jimmy Eriksson Arden International 1:32.195
22. Nabil Jeffri Arden International 1:32.773

Afternoon results

1. Raffaele Marciello Russian Time 1:41.863
2. Nicholas Latifi DAMS 1:43.500
3. Luca Ghiotto Trident 1:43.758
4. Alex Lynn DAMS 1:43.909
5. Gustav Malja Rapax 1:44.176
6. Jordan King Racing Engineering 1:44.888
7. Sergey Sirotkin ART Grand Prix 1:44.905
8. Mitch Evans Jagonya Ayam Campos Racing 1:45.274
9. Pierre Gasly PREMA Racing 1:45.559
10. Oliver Rowland MP Motorsport 1:45.889
11. Marvin Kirchhöfer Carlin 1:45.986
12. Jimmy Eriksson Arden International 1:46.043
13. William Buller Carlin 1:46.257
14. Antonio Giovinazzi PREMA Racing 1:46.455
15. Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 1:46.675
16. Philo Paz Armand Trident 1:47.345
17. Nabil Jeffri Arden International 1:47.692
18. Norman Nato Racing Engineering 1:48.174
19. Sean Gelael Jagonya Ayam Campos Racing 1:48.513
20. Artem Markelov Russian Time 1:48.686
21. Arthur Pic Rapax 1:49.035
22. Danïel de Jong MP Motorsport 1:50.630
23. Sergio Canamasas Status Grand Prix No Time