UpdateF1 >> Formula 1 News > GP2 Testing: Paul Ricard 12/11/08

Rodriquez tops last day

On a wet and slippery track, Durango Davide Valsecchi driver signed the quickest lap time of the morning session.
The fog replaced the rain this morning for the last day of GP2 testing in 2008. The session was interrupted by many red flags as the French circuit remained wet all morning and a number of cars spun off the slippery track. Davide Valsecchi once again set the pace in a 1:27.826 ahead of GP2 Asia Series’ leader Roldan Rodriguez at Piquet.
They were followed by the always quick Kamui Kobayashi, rookie Dani Clos at Racing Engineering, Vitaly Petrov at Campos, Jérôme D’Ambrosio on the second Dams car, Alvaro Parente at Arden, and rookies Nico Hulkenberg at ART and Koudai Tsukakoshi on the other Campos car. Italian Fabio Crestani at the wheel of the DPR car completed the Top 10.
Even though lap times have not been impressive this morning, the teams still gathered valuable data thanks to the GP2/08 car’s excellent reliability.
Roldan Rodriquez the Piquet GP driver clocked a best time of the day with 1:27.038 in the afternoon session.
The track conditions were difficult today at Paul Ricard. On a consistently wet circuit, the GP2 drivers had to be extremely careful. However, many red flags once again interrupted the afternoon work and one even closed the session.
Roldan Rodriguez at Piquet signed the quickest lap time of the day in a 1:27.038 ahead of Dams’ Kobayashi. The Japanese driver was almost half a second clear from Campos’ Petrov. The Top 3 was followed by three rookies with Luiz Razia at ART, Dani Clos at Racing Engineering and Julien Jousse at FMS. Karun Chandhok at iSport finished 7th ahead of his teammate for the day Mike Conway, Nico Hulkenberg on the second ART car and Sergio Perez on the other Piquet car.
This concluded the testing season for 2008. The next test session will take place at Paul Ricard from March 11th to March 13th 2009.
The GP2 circus will now fly to Dubai for the second round of the GP2 Asia Series which will take place on December 5 and 6.

Morning session
Driver Team Time Laps
1. Davide Valsecchi Durango 1:27.826 46
2. Roldan Rodriguez Piquet Sports 1:27.850 47
3. Kamui Kobayashi Dams 1:28.213 50
4. Dani Clos Racing Engineering 1:28.247 45
5. Vitaly Petrov Barwa Int Campos Team 1:28.332 50
6. Jérôme D Ambrosio Dams 1:28.344 55
7. Alvaro Parente Trust Team Arden 1:28.395 49
8. Nico Hulkenberg ART Grand Prix 1:28.423 54
9. Koudai Tsukakoshi Barwa Int Campos Team 1:28.697 44
10. Fabrizio Crestani DPR 1:28.757 61
11. Luiz Razia ART Grand Prix 1:28.852 45
12. Michael Herck DPR 1:28.895 49
13. Karun Chandhok iSport International 1:28.972 24
14. Mike Conway iSport International 1:29.010 20
15. Sergio Perez Piquet Sports 1:29.244 25
16. Fabio Onidi Super Nova Racing 1:29.598 40
17. Christian Ebbesvik Fisichella Motor Sport Int 1:29.600 47
18. Charles Pic Super Nova Racing 1:29.626 37
19. Nelson Panciatici Trident Racing 1:29.830 48
20 Sten Pentus Racing Engineering 1:30.406 17
21. Diego Nunes Trust Team Arden 1:30.582 47
22. Marcello Puglisi Trident Racing 1:31.215 36
23. Michael Dalle Stelle Durango 1:36.497 34
24. Julien Jousse Fisichella Motor Sport Int 1:37.736 3

Afternoon session
Driver Team Time Laps
1. Roldan Rodriguez Piquet Sports 1:27.038 32
2. Kamui Kobayashi Dams 1:27.259 48
3. Vitaly Petrov Barwa Int Campos Team 1:27.718 57
4. Luiz Razia ART Grand Prix 1:27.775 52
5. Dani Clos Racing Engineering 1:27.813 31
6. Julien Jousse Fisichella Motor Sport Int 1:27.822 53
7. Karun Chandhok iSport International 1:27.858 39
8. Mike Conway iSport International 1:27.922 37
9. Nico Hulkenberg ART Grand Prix 1:27.955 41
10. Sergio Perez Piquet Sports 1:28.006 41
11. Fabio Onidi Super Nova Racing 1:28.077 46
12. Marcello Puglisi Durango 1:28.232 59
13. Koudai Tsukakoshi Barwa Int Campos Team 1:28.313 50
14. Charles Pic Super Nova Racing 1:28.400 23
15. Jerome D Ambrosio Dams 1:28.425 38
16. Davide Valsecchi Durango 1:28.448 43
17. Diego Nunes Trust Team Arden 1:28.536 48
18. Michael Herck DPR 1:28.692 37
19. Nelson Panciatici Trident Racing 1:29.066 48
20 Sten Pentus Racing Engineering 1:29.098 44
21. Alvaro Parente Trust Team Arden 1:29.127 35
22. Fabrizio Crestani DPR 1:29.786 19
23. Christian Ebbesvik Fisichella Motor Sport Int 1:29.806 34
24. Carlos Iaconelli Trident Racing 1:30.689 33

Written: Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:44:05