BIC, Al Sakhir: Pierre Gasly showed off his blistering pace on Friday as he topped the timesheets on the third and final day of GP2 pre-season testing at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir.
The Frenchman steered his DAMS challenger to a fastest lap of 1min 39.632secs. In a first for the Bahrain tests, the best time of the day was set during a highly competitive morning session when Gasly led six drivers below the 1min 40sec mark.
Only nine-hundredths-of-a-second separated the fastest five, illustrating the high level of talent in Formula One’s chief feeder series.
Gasly is a Red Bull junior driver and he was recently called up by Formula One outfit Toro Rosso to get into their car for in-season tests in Barcelona.
Gasly was followed on the classification by Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne of ART Grand Prix. Vandoorne was just a narrow 0.014secs behind Gasly.
Finishing third was Russian Time’s Kiwi driver Mitch Evans, who had another 0.047sec gap.
American Alexander Rossi of Racing Engineering was ranked fourth 0.083secs behind the leader, while Italian Raffaele Marciello of Trident was 0.088secs back in fifth.
Gasly’s British teammate Alex Lynn finished in sixth 0.252secs from first, while day one leader Jordan King (+0.370secs) of Racing Engineering and Russian Sergey Sirotkin (+0.375secs) of RAPAX rounded out the top eight.
The afternoon featured slower times with Nigel Melker of Hilmer Motorsport leading the way. The Dutchman had a best time of 1min 41.566secs.
Sirotkin was only 0.067secs behind being second-fastest while Rio Haryanto was third for Campos Racing 0.141secs back. Gasly ranked fourth 0.171secs off Melker’s pace.
The final day of testing was held under blue skies and in hot temperatures. Teams and drivers focused mainly on race simulations and different car set-ups, and all 26 cars were in action.
Today’s runs marked an end to the pre-season tests of the GP2 Series. It was their second for the winter, having earlier tested in Abu Dhabi last month.
The GP2 Series is gearing up for the start of its 2015 season. The championship will be back in Bahrain for the season-opener later this month in support of this year’s Formula One Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix.
There are 10 rounds for the 2015 GP2 season. Each event will be supporting a Formula One Grand Prix.
GP2 is highly regarded as the chief feeder series to Formula One.
More than 60 drivers have over the years received the chance to drive a Formula One car as a result of their time in GP2. Eight drivers from this season’s Formula One grid are GP2 graduates, including five former GP2 champions in Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Nico Hulkenberg, Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean.
Tickets to the Bahrain Grand Prix are selling fast and race fans are advised to purchase theirs today to avoid any disappointment. Tickets can be purchased at the BIC sales outlets in Bahrain City Centre and Seef Mall, online at www.bahraingp.com or by calling the BIC Hotline on +973-17-450000.
The 2015 Formula One Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix is the fourth round of this year’s FIA Formula One World Championship. The big night race will be complemented by plenty of fun family entertainment off the track.