A second two-day testing session began this Sunday at the Yas Marina Circuit but on a shortened track configuration of 4.730 kms that will also be the configuration for the fourth GP2 Asia Series season’s opening round next Thursday. And with the opening round just around the corner, today’s focus for most of the field was on race simulations and finding the right set up for this new layout.

Lotus ART’s Jules Bianchi set the early pace this morning, and by the hour mark Josef Kral at Arden went top in a 1:37.804 ahead of last session’s quickest man Giedo van der Garde at Addax. The Czech dominated the rest of the field for most of the session which was briefly interrupted by three red flags -  courtesy of Julian Leal, Mikhail Aleshin and Oliver Turvey. But with less than an hour left on the clock, Carlin’s Max Chilton briefly moved to P1 until Bianchi clocked in a best laptime of 1:37.365. He then improved his time by two tenths with Max Chilton at Carlin and Kral in tow. Michael Herck at scuderia Coloni slipped into P2, a shy tenth away from the Frenchman, but in the dying minutes of the session iSport’s Marcus Ericsson went under the 1m37s barrier in a 1:36.912 while Dani Clos at Racing Engineering moved to P2. Things seemed to be over for the morning, but Kral put his head down one last time and clocked in a best laptime of 1:36.609, three tenths clear of Ericsson.

When the afternoon session opened, it was Davide Valsecchi who was the first one to go under the 1m37s barrier at the wheel of his Team AirAsia car, but soon after, Kral bettered the Italian’s laptime by one tenth to top the timing sheet again. On the two-hour mark Bianchi proved once more that he is in top form by going quickest in a 1:36.592 while his rookie teammate Esteban Gutierrez moved up to P3, just three tenths behind. The order at the top remained the same for most of the session until Coloni’s Herck improved his personal best laptime and moved up to P2 ahead of Gutierrez and Kral. The afternoon session was red flagged three times, the last interruption happening with just fifteen minutes left on the clock. In the dying moments, Valsecchi improved once more and went top with a laptime of a 1:36.477, but was ultimately edged out from the top spot by Herck – the Romanian just one hundredth of a second quicker.

This two-day test session will conclude tomorrow on the same track configuration.

Morning session

     Driver    Team    Laptime    Laps

1.    Josef Kral    Arden International    1:36.609    26

2.    Marcus Ericsson    iSport International    1:36.912    21

3.    Dani Clos    Rcaing Engineering    1:37.000    32

4.    Jules Bianchi    Lotus ART    1:37.114    23

5.    Michael Herck    scuderia Coloni    1:37.240    25

6.    Jolyon Palmer    Arden International    1:37.389    29

7.    Rodolfo Gonzalez    Trident Racing    1:37.484    22

8.    Max Chilton    Carlin    1:37.495    18

9.    Charles Pic    Barwa Addax Team    1:37.503    30

10.    Giedo van der Garde    Barwa Addax Team    1:37.592    21

11.    Esteban Gutierrez    Lotus ART    1:37.715    21

12.    Sam Bird    iSport International    1:37.725    17

13.    Stefano Coletti    Trident Racing    1:37.809    27

14.    Julian Leal    Rapax    1:37.814    24

15.    Andrea Caldarelli    Ocean Racing Technology    1:37.822    36

16.    Davide Valsecchi    Team AirAsia    1:37.846    21

17.    Nathanael Berthon    Racing Engineering    1:37.876    32

18.    Oliver Turvey    Ocean Racing Technology    1:37.961    40

19.    Fabio Leimer    Rapax    1:38.077    20

20.    Luiz Razia    Team AirAsia    1:38.095    24

21.    Mikhail Aleshin    Carlin    1:38.098    24

22.    Fairuz Fauzy    Super Nova Racing    1:38.226    11

23.    Romain Grosjean    DAMS    1:38.421    24

24.    James Jakes    scuderia Coloni    1:38.622    14

25.    Pål Varhaug    DAMS    1:39.438    30

26.    Johnny Cecotto    Super Nova Racing    1:40.006    6

Afternoon Session

     Driver    Team    Laptime    Laps

1.    Michael Herck    scuderia Coloni    1:36.467    27

2.    Davide Valsecchi    Team AirAsia    1:36.477    27

3.    Marcus Ericsson    iSport International    1:36.477    22

4.    Jules Bianchi    Lotus ART    1:36.592    28

5.    Dani Clos    Racing Engineering    1:36.655    24

6.    Rodolfo Gonzalez    Trident Racing    1:36.826    19

7.    Josef Kral    Arden International    1:36.834    28

8.    Esteban Gutierrez    Lotus ART    1:36.907    35

9.    Max Chilton    Carlin    1:36.908    16

10.    James Jakes    scuderia Coloni    1:37.022    22

11.    Sam Bird    iSport International    1:37.030    32

12.    Romain Grosjean    DAMS    1:37.076    36

13.    Luiz Razia    Team AirAsia    1:37.147    27

14.    Andrea Caldarelli    Ocean Racing Technology    1:37.155    21

15.    Johnny Cecotto    Super Nova Racing    1:37.226    27

16.    Fairuz Fauzy    Super Nova Racing    1:37.231    28

17.    Fabio Leimer    Rapax    1:37.304    32

18.    Oliver Turvey    Ocean Racing Technology    1:37.305    16

19.    Stefano Coletti    Trident Racing    1:37. 331    26

20.    Mikhail Aleshin    Carlin    1:37.419    24

21.    Pål Varhaug    DAMS    1:37.734    36

22.    Jolyon Palmer    Arden International    1:37.912    9

23.    Julian Leal    Rapax    1:38.059    23

24.    Nathanael Berthon    Racing Engineering    1:38.523    24

25.    Giedo van der Garde    Barwa Addax Team    1:39.176    31

26.    Charles Pic    Barwa Addax Team    1:39.495    36