Alexander Rossi began the penultimate weekend of the GP2 Series in the best possible fashion by topping the practice timesheets in Bahrain, beating 2015 champion Stoffel Vandoorne by 0.03s.
The Californian, who has dovetailed his campaign with an F1 role with Manor in recent months, set a time of 1:41.180 to finish marginally ahead of Vandoorne and DAMS’ early session pace-setter Pierre Gasly.
From the green light, it seemed clear that the battle between Vandoorne and Rossi would be hot from the beginning. The two traded fastest lap times in the opening ten minutes, before Rossi found some extra pace to end the session on top.
Testament to just how close the weekend promises to be is the fact that the top 18 drivers were separated by just under one second, with the top four covered by an even tighter gap of 0.073s.
Rossi will no doubt be hoping to convert strong practice pace into results in this weekend’s two races. The 2015 Series runner-up registered a third and fourth place in the championship’s opening round at the same venue in April.
Qualifying for the feature race in a weekend that supports the World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Bahrain begins at 14:20 local time (11:20 GMT).
