Even though rain was an unwelcome sight on Wednesday morning, the
GP2 teams participating in this week's two day post-season
GP2 test session at the Circuit of Catalunya just outside of Barcelona, Spain said their time on track had been productive both in analysing car set-ups and evaluating the performances of possible driver signings for 2013.
Even though they're exiting
GP2 after the 2012 season, Scuderia Coloni still not only turned up and participated in the session, but came away with the fastest times in both the morning and afternoon sessions on Tuesday. Luca Filippi's morning time proved to be the fastest lap of the entire two-day test after Wednesday was hit by heavy rain in the morning that left the track drying well into the afternoon.
"I'm very proud for the results scored by my drivers in this test," said team principal Paolo Coloni. "Even though we are set to leave this championship at the end of the year, we proved that we are one of the top teams in the series and our drivers can aim at the front end of the charts.
"The talent and the skills of Luca were never under discussion in 2011, when he ended up as the series runner-up in the second part of the season, he added. "The same goes for this season, when he went back to victory in just two races and scored the pole at Singapore."
Testing with his new 2013 team Rapax, former Coloni driver Stefano Coletti was also happy with the work achieved at Barcelona, despite the inclement weather on Wednesday and not getting a chance to try setting any fast laps on new tyres because of a late red flag.
"We ended the test with the sixth absolute time which is quite positive as it was obtained on worn tyres," the Monaco-born driver explained. "The test of Barcelona turned out to be very fruitful: we did not seek the single lap performance and focused instead on trying several solutions out."
"Obviously some of them were interesting, some others were not but it was important to complete the scheduled programme as the
GP2 Series does not allow very many testing chances during the season," he added.
Caterham Racing's Alexander Rossi finished fastest in the Wednesday afternoon test session. He admitted that it had taken him some time the previous day to get used to the GP2-model cars after his season competing in the World Series by Renault championship.
"I spent the morning adjusting my driving style to suit the
GP2 car, which reacts to input much differently than a World Series car," he explained. "It was great to get back in the
GP2 car and work with the Caterham Racing team again. Having raced here a few weeks ago, I know my way around Barcelona."