Copyright GP2 Media Services
Nobuharu Matsushita was fastest ahead of Arthur Pic and Raffaele Marciello in today’s session of pre-season testing.
After a heavy sand storm had hit the Sakhir international Circuit during the night, the morning session of the second day of pre-season testing had to be delayed by an hour in order to can the track and the pit lane.
At 10:00am the lights went green and yesterday’s fastest man, Jordan King, was the first one out of the garage, followed by Arthur Pic. Alexander Rossi was the early pacesetter, but as the track was still dusty and grip levels were low most drivers practised pit stops as well as starts during the first part of the session.
With one hour left to run, the fight for the fastest laptime began. Alex Lynn led until his time was beaten by King, who turn was soon afterwards bettered by Pic. As more drivers lapped the sandy circuit, track conditions improved and Rio Haryanto occupied the top spot until Sergey Sirotkin found some extra speed to break the 1m42s barrier and become the fastest man of the morning session.
In the afternoon, the track conditions had improved further, and teams and drivers practised race simulations. Marco Sorensen was the first driver to dip under 1m42s. Halfway through the session it was Rossi’s and Stanaway’s turn on top: The Racing Engineering driver beat his rival by only four thousands of a second, but Stanaway struck back soon afterwards and took the lead back, creeping closer to the 1m41s barrier.
The action heated up in the final fifteen minutes of the session as drivers switched to the quicker Soft tyre. On fresh and fast rubber, Raffaele Marciello was the first to lap faster than 1m41s. The Trident driver sat unchallenged at the top of the time sheets while other drivers improved but could not get close, until ART GP’s Nobuharu Matsushita as able to beat the Italian by three tenths of a second. Arthur Pic was also able to beat Marciello, but had to settle for P2, two tenths behind the Japanese. Sirotkin finished the session in fourth place ahead of Sorensen, Stoffel Vandoorne, Daniel de Jong, Sergio Canamasas, Rio Haryanto, and Artem Markelov.
Morning Session Result
| Driver | Team | Laptime | Laps | |
| 1. | Sergey Sirotkin | Rapax | 1:41.797 | 10 |
| 2. | Jordan King | Racing Engineering | 1:42.289 | 10 |
| 3. | Alex Lynn | DAMS | 1:42.427 | 9 |
| 4. | Rio Haryanto | Campos Racing | 1:42.437 | 15 |
| 5. | Arthur Pic | Campos Racing | 1:42.483 | 21 |
| 6. | Stoffel Vandoorne | ART Grand Prix | 1:42.557 | 12 |
| 7. | Nobuharu Matsushita | ART Grand Prix | 1:42.588 | 14 |
| 8. | Julian Leal | Carlin | 1:42.736 | 5 |
| 9. | Rene Binder | Trident | 1:43.104 | 16 |
| 10. | Alexander Rossi | Racing Engineering | 1:43.390 | 15 |
| 11. | Robert Visoiu | Rapax | 1:43.580 | 12 |
| 12. | Raffaele Marciello | Trident | 1:43.749 | 4 |
| 13. | Nathanaël Berthon | Lazarus | 1:43.868 | 8 |
| 14. | Nick Yelloly* | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:43.877 | 9 |
| 15. | Pierre Gasly | DAMS | 1:43.963 | 4 |
| 16. | Marco Sorensen | Carlin | 1:44.511 | 4 |
| 17. | Sergio Canamasas* | MP Motorsport | 1:44.954 | 6 |
| 18. | Zoel Amberg | Lazarus | 1:45.070 | 8 |
| 19. | Richie Stanaway* | Status Grand Prix | 0 | 0 |
Afternoon Session Result
| Driver | Team | Laptime | Laps | |
| 1. | Nobuharu Matsushita | ART Grand Prix | 1:40.191 | 31 |
| 2. | Arthur Pic | Campos Racing | 1:40.350 | 27 |
| 3. | Raffaele Marciello | Trident | 1:40.446 | 16 |
| 4. | Sergey Sirotkin | Rapax | 1:40.561 | 24 |
| 5. | Marco Sorensen | Carlin | 1:40.658 | 25 |
| 6. | Stoffel Vandoorne | ART Grand Prix | 1:40.666 | 26 |
| 7. | Daniel De Jong | MP Motorsport | 1:40.927 | 20 |
| 8. | Sergio Canamasas* | MP Motorsport | 1:40.958 | 33 |
| 9. | Rio Haryanto | Campos Racing | 1:40.981 | 29 |
| 10. | Artem Markelov | RUSSIAN TIME | 1:41.034 | 24 |
| 11. | Richie Stanaway* | Status Grand Prix | 1:41.086 | 21 |
| 12. | Rene Binder | Trident | 1:41.097 | 25 |
| 13. | Robert Visoiu | Rapax | 1:41.128 | 27 |
| 14. | Norman Nato | Arden International | 1:41.183 | 32 |
| 15. | Nick Yelloly* | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:41.227 | 22 |
| 16. | Alexander Rossi | Racing Engineering | 1:41.341 | 21 |
| 17. | Alex Lynn | DAMS | 1:41.352 | 22 |
| 18. | Mitch Evans | RUSSIAN TIME | 1:41.372 | 16 |
| 19. | Zoel Amberg | Lazarus | 1:41.440 | 35 |
| 20. | Julian Leal | Carlin | 1:41.497 | 21 |
| 21. | Pierre Gasly | DAMS | 1:41.606 | 31 |
| 22. | Marlon Stockinger | Status Grand Prix | 1:41.669 | 33 |
| 23. | Nathanaël Berthon | Lazarus | 1:42.467 | 5 |
| 24. | André Negrao | Arden International | 1:42.509 | 23 |
| 25. | Nigel Melker* | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:43.631 | 13 |
| 26. | Jordan King | Racing Engineering | 1:44.181 | 34 |
*Drivers not confirmed for 2015
