Home Formula 2 Abt tops first session of Bahrain test with last minute flyer

Abt tops first session of Bahrain test with last minute flyer

by Peter Allen
Daniel Abt

Photo: Sam Bloxham/GP2 Media Service

Daniel Abt finished up more than half a second clear of the GP2 field in the first session of the Bahrain pre-season test.

The German driver put in a time of 1m40.676s after the chequered flag, putting him 0.516s clear of Arthur Pic who had nearly continued his time-topping form from the final Abu Dhabi session last week.

Facu Regalia, Abt’s team-mate in the Force India-backed Hilmer Motorsport team, had led into the final minutes of the session but ended up third.

Felipe Nasr was fourth for Carlin ahead of the Caterham duo of Rio Haryanto and Alexander Rossi.

Stephane Richelmi was seventh for DAMS ahead of Russian Time’s Mitch Evans, Trident’s Johnny Cecotto and MP Motorsport tester Jon Lancaster.

Morning session results
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Daniel Abt Hilmer Motorsport 1:40.676 17
2 Arthur Pic Campos Racing 1:41.192 0.516 17
3 Facu Regalia Hilmer Motorsport 1:41.327 0.651 15
4 Felipe Nasr Carlin 1:41.352 0.676 12
5 Rio Haryanto Caterham Racing 1:41.400 0.724 13
6 Alexander Rossi Caterham Racing 1:41.460 0.784 13
7 Stephane Richelmi DAMS 1:41.631 0.955 14
8 Mitch Evans Russian Time 1:41.663 0.987 16
9 Johnny Cecotto Trident 1:41.671 0.995 12
10 Jon Lancaster MP Motorsport 1:41.711 1.035 12
11 Kimiya Sato Campos Racing 1:41.739 1.063 27
12 Andre Negrao Arden International 1:41.849 1.173 15
13 Julian Leal Carlin 1:41.986 1.310 15
14 Jolyon Palmer DAMS 1:41.995 1.319 15
15 Nathaneal Berthon Lazarus 1:42.122 1.446 17
16 Simon Trummer Rapax 1:42.189 1.513 13
17 Raffaele Marciello Racing Engineering 1:42.231 1.555 17
18 Rene Binder Arden International 1:42.286 1.610 14
19 Daniel de Jong MP Motorsport 1:42.348 1.672 15
20 Artem Markelov Russian Time 1:42.375 1.699 18
21 Stefano Coletti Racing Engineering 1:42.405 1.729 6
22 Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Rapax 1:42.600 1.924 12
23 Conor Daly Lazarus 1:42.614 1.938 19
24 Vittorio Ghirelli Trident 1:43.294 2.618 14
25 Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 2:05.004 24.328 34
26 Takuya Izawa ART Grand Prix 2:08.207 27.531 32