Kamui Kobayashi signalled his intent by lapping quickest in both the morning and afternoon sessions for DAMS on day two of GP2 testing at Jerez in southern Spain – sending out a warning for the Asian campaign that he will be very much one of the leading contenders.
The Japanese ace was fastest by just over a tenth of a second in the dry and sunny morning running and by little over a hundredth in the afternoon, which conversely saw rain 20 minutes before the end and produced lap times generally around a second slower.
Day one morning pace-setter Davide Valsecchi posted the second-quickest time overall for Durango (third earlier on), with impressive rookie Koudai Tsukakoshi leaping eight positions up the order from eleventh place in the morning to end the day third for Piquet Sports.
Charles Pic finished both sessions fourth-quickest behind the wheel of the leading ART Grand Prix entry, narrowly ahead of the sister machine of F3 Euroseries Champion Nico Hülkenberg, the pair separated by just over two hundredths of a second at the close.
Experienced Shanghai feature race winner Roldan Rodriguez concluded sixth-fastest in the second Piquet car, just under six tenths away from the leading pace, with seasoned series veterans Luca Filippi (Racing Engineering) and Pastor Maldonado (iSport International) seventh and eighth respectively, and Jérôme d'Ambrosio (DAMS) and Diego Nunes (Campos) rounding out the top ten.
ART Grand Prix and DAMS were the only two teams to get both of their cars into the top ten in the afternoon, whilst another driver to show well was newcomer Edoardo Mortara for Arden (seventh in the morning).
Double GP2 Series race-winner Karun Chandhok set the 16th-quickest time of the 25 competitors despite completing just five laps for FMSI in the morning, before handing over to Dutch ace Carlo van Dam in the afternoon, whilst Bertrand Baguette similarly took over from Chris van der Drift at Trident.
The teams will gather again in two weeks' time at Le Castellet in France, for the final testing outing of the year on 11-12 November.
Leading performances - AM session:1.
Kamui Kobayashi DAMS
1m 24.262s 32 laps
2.
Davide Valsecchi Durango
1m 24.367s 30 laps
3.
Koudai Tsukakoshi Piquet
1m 24.371s 33 laps
4.
Charles Pic ART GP
1m 24.756s 22 laps
5.
Nico Hülkenberg ART GP
1m 24.781s 40 laps
6.
Roldan Rodriguez Piquet
1m 24.841s 41 laps
7.
Luca Filippi Racing Engineering
1m 24.898s 35 laps
8.
Pastor Maldonado iSport
1m 24.925s 42 laps
9.
Jerome D'Ambrosio DAMS
1m 25.136s 31 laps
10.
Diego Nunes Campos
1m 25.206s 36 laps
11.
Andreas Zuber Super Nova
1m 25.340s 37 laps
12.
Chris van der Drift Trident
1m 25.425s 30 laps
13.
Carlos Iaconelli Durango
1m 25.440s 34 laps
14.
Christian Ebbesvik Fisichella
1m 25.590s 32 laps
15.
James Jakes Super Nova
1m 25.590s 29 laps
16.
Karun Chandhok Fisichella
1m 25.662s 5 laps
17.
Vitaly Petrov Racing Engineering
1m 25.730s 18 laps
18.
Michael Herck DPR
1m 25.790s 39 laps
19.
Edoardo Mortara Arden
1m 25.892s 34 laps
20.
Carlo van Dam Fisichella
1m 26.025s 23 laps
21.
Sten Pentus DPR
1m 26.028s 19 laps
22.
Alberto Valerio Trident
1m 26.137s 30 laps
23.
Luis Razia Arden
1m 26.141s 38 laps
24.
Sergio Perez Campos
1m 26.153s 41 laps
25.
Jaime Alguersuari iSport
1m 26.710s 35 laps
Leading performances - PM session:1.
Kamui Kobayashi DAMS
1m 25.071s 30 laps
2.
Nico Hülkenberg ART GP
1m 25.084s 26 laps
3.
Davide Valsecchi Durango
1m 25.283s 27 laps
4.
Charles Pic ART GP
1m 25.329s 20 laps
5.
Roldan Rodriguez Piquet
1m 25.637s 28 laps
6.
Jerome D'Ambrosio DAMS
1m 25.640s 32 laps
7.
Edoardo Mortara Arden
1m 25.885s 35 laps
8.
Diego Nunes Campos
1m 25.895s 31 laps
9.
Luca Filippi Racing Engineering
1m 25.897s 30 laps
10.
Andreas Zuber Super Nova
1m 26.016s 39 laps
11.
Koudai Tsukakoshi Piquet
1m 26.076s 26 laps
12.
Carlos Iaconelli Durango
1m 26.107s 31 laps
13.
Vitaly Petrov Racing Engineering
1m 26.113s 12 laps
14.
Michael Herck DPR
1m 26.155s 27 laps
15.
James Jakes Super Nova
1m 26.266s 31 laps
16.
Alberto Valerio Trident
1m 26.358s 36 laps
17.
Jaime Alguersuari iSport
1m 26.491s 27 laps
18.
Sten Pentus DPR
1m 26.842s 31 laps
19.
Christian Ebbesvik Fisichella
1m 26.893s 25 laps
20.
Carlo van Dam Fisichella
1m 27.035s 25 laps
21.
Luis Razia Arden
1m 27.736s 27 laps
22.
Pastor Maldonado iSport
1m 28.039s 17 laps
23.
Bertrand Baguette Trident
1m 28.434s 10 laps
