Luca Filippi gave GP2 newcomers Qi-Meritus.Mahara reason to smile on day one of the two-day Dubai test ahead of the opening round of the inaugural GP2 Asia Series by lapping right up at the sharp end of proceedings.
The Italian who triumphed in the Bahrain GP2 curtain-raiser back in April last year clearly enjoyed his return to the Middle East, bouncing back from a morning session in which he languished down in 23rd position after completing just four laps, to jump up the timesheets in the afternoon into fourth spot, barely three hundredths adrift of second.
I am very pleased, the 22-year-old enthused at the end of the day. I had a late start after my overseas trip, but I am fit and [on Friday] we finalised the entire programme with a familiarisation walk around the track and preparation of the final team strategy with our engineers.
I honestly thought the potential was there from the start of the project, and it certainly is. My times were good towards the end; it was a very encouraging day. The hard work between yesterday and today is paying off; now we need to continue learning about the car.
Neither he nor team-mate Hiroki Yoshimoto had driven the 2008 machine prior to the test, and much of the day was spent getting a handle on the car, its
Bridgestone tyres and also the track, which caused problems with its low-grip levels as a result of sand blown across the surface following the unprecedented rainfall the previous day. Yoshimoto worked on a different programme to his team-mate, and covered 17 laps en route to the 22nd best time of the 26 drivers present at the close of play, more than three seconds behind Filippi.
I had a good day, the Japanese GP2 veteran underlined. It had been a long wait since I landed; a driver without a car is always a bit worried! A consequence of the wet conditions was that we had very low grip not good for racing with our tyres and we might possibly have gotten through a little more today, but we still achieved a lot. We worked on the set-up, fine tuning the suspension, ride height, roll bars and springs.
![Luca Filippi testing for GP2 newcomers Qi-Meritus.Mahara in Dubai ahead of the inaugural GP2 Asia Series in 2008 [pic credit: GP2 Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/403164.jpg)
