GP2 news

Jerez Day 2: Van der Garde moves ahead

Giedo van der Garde moved to the top of the timesheets as testing continued at Jerez on Wednesday. On his first appearance for Barwa Addax, having raced with iSport throughout the season, the Dutchman led the way from Alberto Valerio's Coloni with Toyota F1 test driver Kamui Kobayashi back from Japan to complete the top three for Racing Engineering.

Morning session

This morning's cooler temperatures improved both track conditions and lap times in Jerez de la Frontera. The second day of GP2 Series winter testing saw a shuffle on the grid as only nine drivers ran in the same car as they did yesterday, namely Oliver Turvey (iSport), Luiz Razia (Piquet GP), Rodolfo Gonzalez (Arden), Ricardo Teixeira and James Jakes (Super Nova), Sam Bird (DAMS), Francesco Castellacci (Durango), Philip Eng (Ocean Racing) and Michael Herck (DPR).

Ten new racers entered the entry list for today's session with some names well-known to the GP2 circus (Kamui Kobayashi, Dani Clos and Alberto Valerio) and some rookies (Marcus Ericsson, Sten Pentus, Jan Charouz, Filip Salaquarda, William Bratt, Fabio Leimer and Vladimir Arabadzhiev).

But it was the more experienced drivers who set the pace this morning, lead by Giedo van der Garde at Barwa Addax Team clocking in the best lap time of a 1:25.291 and over a tenth clear of Valerio driving for Party Poker Racing.com SC. Behind the pair, Kobayashi - freshly back from running with Toyota F1 in Suzuka last Friday during Formula One Practice sessions 1 and 2, at the wheel of Fat Burner Racing Engineering was also in good form and completed the Top three.


Afternoon session

Once again, the temperature rose in Spain in the afternoon and this morning's lap times could not be improved. In a trouble free session, Kobayashi at Racing Engineering topped the times two tenths ahead of Jérôme d'Ambrosio who joined ART Grand Prix today and five tenths clear of this morning's quickest man on track van der Garde. The Dutch tops the combined times for the day.

With a lap time of a 1:25.575 set this morning, German Christian Vietoris at DAMS was the fastest rookie of the day.

The three-day test session will conclude tomorrow with five times Rally World Champion Sébastien Loeb joining DPR.

more news

• 18 Nov.
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• 12 Nov.
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  • Photos: Thursday at Paul Ricard
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• 11 Nov.
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  • Photos: Wednesday at Paul Ricard
• 10 Nov.
  • Herck fastest at Paul Ricard
  • Photos: Tuesday at Paul Ricard
• 09 Nov.
  • Arden confirms five drivers for Paul Ricard
• 07 Nov.
  • Racing Engineering to welcome six drivers at Paul Ricard
• 02 Nov.
  • Williams confirms Barrichello and Hülkenberg for 2010
• 01 Nov.
  • Photos: Sunday in Abu Dhabi
  • Vietoris clinches first GP2 Asia win
• 31 Oct.
  • Photos: Saturday in Abu Dhabi
  • Valsecchi wins from pole in Abu Dhabi opener
• 30 Oct.
  • Valsecchi: The best moment ever!
  • Photos: Friday in Abu Dhabi
  • Valsecchi grabs Abu Dhabi pole
  • Valsecchi dominates Friday's free practice
• 26 Oct.
  • Hülkenberg to partner Barrichello at Williams?
• 24 Oct.
  • Filippi also fastest on second day at Abu Dhabi
• 23 Oct.
  • Valsecchi leads Abu Dhabi Friday test
  • Filippi returns to Meritus for Asia Series
  • Pic and Gonzalez join Arden
  • Kral joins Super Nova in GP2 Asia Series
• 22 Oct.
  • Durango pulls out of Asia Series
• 21 Oct.
  • Trident signs Kralev and Cecotto
• 20 Oct.
  • Piquet GP reveals Asia Series drivers
  • DAMS confirms Vietoris and Piscopo
  • Ocean confirms Leimer and Rossi for Abu Dhabi
• 19 Oct.
  • Valsecchi joins iSport for Abu Dhabi opener
  • Bratt to compete in Asia Series with Coloni
• 17 Oct.
  • Bird joins ART for GP2 Asia Series
• 15 Oct.
  • Félix da Costa to test with Ocean
• 14 Oct.
  • iSport signs Oliver Turvey
• 13 Oct.
  • Bianchi joins GP2 with ART
• 10 Oct.
  • GP2 test no F1 warm-up, says Loeb
• 08 Oct.
  • Jerez Day 3: Ericsson fastest

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