13/05/2016
NEWS STORY
Pierre Gasly claimed first blood in today's free practice session in Barcelona, leading the timesheets throughout most of the 45 minute session to take the honours in the first live session of the 2016 GP2 Series season ahead of Alex Lynn and Artem Markelov.
Gasly and his 2015 teammate battled early in the session for the top spot, swapping it between them before the Red Bull test driver put a lock on the position with a time of 1:29.519: the Williams tester couldn't get closer than a tenth away and had to make do as the teams concentrated on setting up the cars for qualifying and the races to come.
Markelov joined the pair in the top three 15 minutes in, laying down a marker as he pipped through a very tight top ten. The remainder of the session passed without incident as the drivers concentrated on staying on the track: with qualifying just a few hours away no one wanted to give their mechanics and unwelcome present.
The top ten was split by just one second, with Norman Nato, Sergey Sirotkin, Jordan King, top rookie Antonio Giovinazzi, Nobuharu Matsushita, Oliver Rowland and Marvin Kirchhofer looking to overturn the top three in what promises to be a tight qualifying session this afternoon.
1. Pierre Gasly PREMA Racing 1:29.519
2. Alex Lynn DAMS 1:29.623
3. Artem Markelov RUSSIAN TIME 1:29.860
4. Norman Nato Racing Engineering 1:29.874
5. Sergey Sirotkin ART Grand Prix 1:29.960
6. Jordan King Racing Engineering 1:30.001
7. Antonio Giovinazzi PREMA Racing 1:30.057
8. Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 1:30.310
9. Oliver Rowland MP Motorsport 1:20.345
10. Marvin Kirchhöfer Carlin 1:30.470
11. Nicholas Latifi DAMS 1:30.542
12. Luca Ghiotto Trident 1:30.556
13. Raffaele Marciello RUSSIAN TIME 1:30.573
14. Daniël de Jong MP Motorsport 1:30.662
15. Mitch Evans Pertamina Campos Racing 1:30.720
16. Arthur Pic Rapax 1:30.722
17. Jimmy Eriksson Arden International 1:30.742
18. Gustav Malja Rapax 1:30.823
19. Sergio Canamasas Carlin 1:31.015
20. Sean Gelael Pertamina Campos Racing 1:31.304
21. Nabil Jeffri Arden International 1:31.577
22. Philo Paz Armand Trident 1:32.803
GP2 Media