GP2 Bahrain 2013: Friday practice times

Racing Engineering's Fabio Leimer set a blistering lap early in the Friday practice session that left him a full second clear of the rest of the field.

Andrew Lewin_1

19 Apr 2013

With the rather bizarre prospect of rain showers flirting with the 3.363-mile, 15-turn desert circuit at Sakhir, Simon Trummer was the first driver to complete a lap in Bahrain for Rapax with a time of 1:53.638s.

However, it was Fabio Leimer who quickly leapt to the top with his first genuine flier of the day achieving 1:42.369s on the harder compound tyres in the Racing Engineering #8, a time that he then cut by a further full second soon after.

Also fast in the early part of the session were Sam Bird (Russian Time) and Stefano Coletti (Rapax), with series newcomer Alexander Rossi fourth in his maiden outing for Caterham ahead of Dams' Marcus Ericsson and Carlin's Felipe Nasr. The other new rookie this weekend, Hilmer Motorsport's Robin Frijns, had an early minor spin but was able to recover the car without assistance or triggering a red flag.

More clouds rolled in and cooled the track off as proper drops of light rain started to fall on pit lane during the mid-session lull for set-up changes. While it did little to affect the track surface for the drivers now turning to concentrating on race distance preparations, it did mean that the top six times remained unchanged, with Leimer's staggering 1:41.361s a full second faster than Bird (and a full four tenths faster in the middle sector alone) as the chequered flag came out.

During the last ten minutes of activity, Johnny Cecotto Jr. had a late run off through the sand and Julian Leal stalled at the end of pit lane as he tried to head out for his second run and then had a scare nearly running into the back of a dawdling Rossi. However there were no red flags, stoppages or major incidents during the 30 minute session.

Practice times

1. #8 Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering 1:41.361s 119.437mph (8 laps)
2. #11 Sam Bird Russian Time 1:42.421s + 1.060s 118.201mph (10 laps)
3. #18 Stefano Coletti Rapax 1:42.628s + 1.267s 117.962mph (12 laps)
4. #15 Alexander Rossi Caterham Racing 1:42.636s + 1.275s 117.954mph (13 laps)
5. #1 Marcus Ericsson DAMS 1:42.666s + 1.305s 117.919mph (14 laps)
6. #9 Felipe Nasr Carlin 1:42.687s + 1.326s 117.895mph (12 laps)
7. #3 James Calado ART GP 1:42.718s + 1.357s 117.859mph (13 laps)
8. #12 Tom Dillmann Russian Time 1:42.734s + 1.373s 117.841mph (10 laps)
9. #5 Johnny Cecotto Jr. Arden 1:42.803s + 1.442s 117.762mph (13 laps)
10. #4 Daniel Abt ART GP 1:42.943s + 1.582s 117.602mph (12 laps)
11. #2 St?phane Richelmi DAMS 1:43.035s + 1.674s 117.497mph (13 laps)
12. #19 Simon Trummer Rapax 1:43.054s + 1.693s 117.475mph (15 laps)
13. #6 Mitch Evans Arden 1:43.063s + 1.702s 117.465mph (13 laps)
14. #14 Sergio Canamasas Caterham Racing 1:43.092s + 1.731s 117.432mph (13 laps)
15. #7 Juli?n Leal Racing Engineering 1:43.156s + 1.795s 117.359mph (11 laps)
16. #10 Jolyon Palmer Carlin 1:43.188s + 1.827s 117.322mph (13 laps)
17. #21 Kevin Ceccon Trident Racing 1:43.271s + 1.910s 117.228mph (13 laps)
18. #25 Kevin Giovesi Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:43.280s + 1.919s 117.218mph (14 laps)
19. #16 Jake Rosenzweig Barwa Addax 1:43.310s + 1.949s 117.184mph (12 laps)
20. #17 Rio Haryanto Barwa Addax 1:43.356s + 1.995s 117.132mph (12 laps)
21. #24 Rene Binder Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:43.620s + 2.259s 116.833mph (13 laps)
22. #20 Nathana?l Berthon Trident Racing 1:43.670s + 2.309s 116.777mph (14 laps)
23. #22 Robin Frijns Hilmer Motorsport 1:43.875s + 2.514s 116.546mph (14 laps)
24. #26 Adrian Quaife-Hobbs MP Motorsport 1:44.002s + 2.641s 116.404mph (13 laps)
25. #27 Dani?l de Jong MP Motorsport 1:44.200s + 2.839s 116.183mph (12 laps)
26. #23 Pal Varhaug Hilmer Motorsport 1:44.915s + 3.554s 115.391mph (11 laps)