Four days of intensive testing in Dubai have proven that GP2 is by far the fastest series to have run at the circuit, setting up a fascinating weekend of action. Star of both four-day sessions was Frenchman Romain Grosjean, the reigning F3 Euroseries champion having linked up with former GP2 kings ART Grand Prix to top the timesheets in the majority of outings.
Also at the sharp end of proceedings throughout the tests were reigning GP2 champions iSport International, which put both Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok towards the top of the times. Chandhok topped the order on one occasion in the past week, while fellow GP2 sophomore Senna kept Grosjean within striking distance throughout.
Others to watch according to the results will be inaugural FMaster champion Jérôme d'Ambrosio, who makes his GP2 debut with the experienced DAMS outfit, Spain's Andy Soucek, who returns to DPR after a strong finish to 2007, and Marco Bonanomi (Piquet Sports), Sébastien Buemi (Trust Team Arden) and Adrian Valles (FMS International), who were all impressive throughout the four days of testing. Bonanomi makes his first start in the category this weekend, while Buemi prepares to embark on his first full season after flitting between F3 and GP2 for much of 2007. Valles, meanwhile, has seen it all before, but returns to GP2 after taking a year out to focus on
F1 testing duties with Spyker in 2007.
Perhaps the most impressive outfit, however, was the only Asian team in the fold. Added to the line-up after Racing Engineering declined the opportunity to take part, Qi-Meritus.Mahara will run the experienced pairing of Luca Filippi and Hiroki Yoshimoto, the Italian already being touted as a possible summer series champion following his deal with ART. Yoshimoto, meanwhile, started off slowly as he readjusted to the Dallara, but ended the test an impressive fourth fastest.
GP2 has managed to retain the services of Mecachrome and
Bridgestone for its new venture, and the tyre manufacturer has been busy making preparations for its desert outing.
