GP2 & GP3 Abu Dhabi test: Matsushita and Leclerc fastest on Day 1

At first day of GP2 and GP3 post-season testing at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi Japanese driver Nobuharu Matsushita was fastest among GP2 drivers, while Monegasque rookie Charles Leclerc topped the classification of GP3 drivers.

Matsushita dominated day 1 of testing with quickest times in both morning and afternoon sessions.At the wheel of his ART Grand Prix car he set the fastest lap-time of 1.47.903. Nicholas Latifi (DAMS) made a lap for 1.48.418, while Pierre Gasly (Prema Racing) was 19 thousands of a second slower than Latifi.

Twenty four drivers were on the track in both sessions. Driving on Pirelli Medium tyres Matsushita set the best laptime 1:49.180. Alex Lynn (DAMS) and Norman Nato (Arden International) completed the top 3 in the morning session. It was night time when the pitlane went green again. Matsushita was fastest again, with lap-time about 1.2s faster than in the morning. Test will continue today, again with two runs, first scheduled for 12.00 and second for 18.00.

Another ART Grand Prix driver was fastest in GP3 Series testing. Charles Leclerc set the overall fastest lap of  1.55.209, almost half a second clear of his nearest opposition Antonio Fuoco (Trident). Jake Dennis (Arden International) was third in the afternoon session and third overall with lap-time 1.55.760.

Matthew Parry in Trident’s car was fastest in the morning sesson, with lap-time 1.55.800, which was fourth time overall. Twenty one drivers participated in both sessions. Morning session was stopped twice because of techical difficulties of Brazilian rookie Pedro Cardoso and Colombian Tatiana Calderon. Fortunately, there were no serious incidents. Testing will be continued with the similar schedule today.