Pierre Gasly fastest on first day of GP2 pre-season testing

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GP2's 2015 season got underway with pre-season testing at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, with Pierre Gasly setting the fastest lap of the day with a 1m 48.897 in the afternoon session after Alexander Rossi had set the early pace in the morning.

All 26 drivers who attended the test were getting to grips with the new Drag Reduction System which will be see in GP2 for the first time this season. The system works in the same way as the DRS in Formula 1 and should provide closer and more competitive racing.

The first two hours of the morning session was filled by teams focusing on aero testing. Jordan King went quickest, but his time was bettered first by Rene Binder and then by Rossi. In the closing stages, the session was red flagged after Stockinger stopped on track at Turn 5. When the track went live again and the cars enjoyed a cleaner track with Rossi topping the timesheet at the chequered flag with a lap time of 1m 50.845 ahead of DAMS' pairing Pierre Gasly and Alex Lynn.

In the afternoon, there was a second red flag period after Julian Leal came to a halt at turn 17. With 30 minutes left, King went top ahead of Sergey Sirotkin, but Gasly claimed the top spot with laptime of 1:49.089. Arthur Pic broke into the 1m 48s mark but Gasly quickly retaliated and remained top with a laptime of 1:48.897.

The drivers will resume the test tomorrow at 12:00PM local time.