Back fresh from his F1 stint, Alexander Rossi looked on a mission in this morning’s free practice session at the Bahrain International Circuit: the American driver set the quickest laptime in a 1:41.180 – three hundredths better than newly crowned GP2 Champion Stoffel Vandoorne. Red Bull protégé Pierre Gasly finished the session in third place.
The pitlane opened in high temperature as the twenty-four GP2 cars fed onto the track with Medium Pirelli tyres. Gasly was quick to find his marks on the Bahraini track to go top ahead of Raffaele Marciello.
Ten minutes into the session, Vandoorne found some extra pace to go fastest, but the Belgian driver was edged out of the top spot just seconds later as Rossi improved as well. The rest of the session was trouble free with the teams and drivers working on their set ups and race simulations.
At the chequered flag, Rossi was unchallenged ahead of Vandoorne and Gasly. Nobuharu Matsushita who had qualified P2 on this same track earlier this season finished today’s free practice session in fourth ahead of Sergey Sirotkin, Marciello, Alex Lynn, Jordan King, Arthur Pic and Rio Haryanto. The top eighteen drivers finished within one second.
The action will resume at 14.20 local time for what promises to be a thrilling battle for pole position.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Alexander Rossi | Racing Engineering | 1:41.180 | 18 |
| 2. | Stoffel Vandoorne | ART Grand Prix | 1:41.213 | 18 |
| 3. | Pierre Gasly | DAMS | 1:41.230 | 19 |
| 4. | Nobuharu Matsushita | ART Grand Prix | 1:41.253 | 18 |
| 5. | Sergei Sirotkin | Rapax | 1:41.345 | 17 |
| 6. | Raffaele Marciello | Trident | 1:41.427 | 18 |
| 7. | Alex Lynn | DAMS | 1:41.507 | 19 |
| 8. | Jordan King | Racing Engineering | 1:41.529 | 15 |
| 9. | Arthur Pic | Campos Racing | 1:41.535 | 15 |
| 10. | Rio Haryanto | Campos Racing | 1:41.610 | 16 |
| 11. | Norman Nato | Arden International | 1:41.688 | 17 |
| 12. | Rene Binder | MP Motorsport | 1:41.729 | 18 |
| 13. | Sergio Canamasas | Daiko Team Lazarus | 1:41.747 | 16 |
| 14. | Artem Markelov | RUSSIAN TIME | 1:41.849 | 17 |
| 15. | Mitch Evans | RUSSIAN TIME | 1:41.943 | 17 |
| 16. | Marlon Stockinger | Status Grand Prix | 1:42.006 | 18 |
| 17. | Nathanaël Berthon | Daiko Team Lazarus | 1:42.150 | 17 |
| 18. | André Negrao | Arden International | 1:42.173 | 14 |
| 19. | Dean Stoneman | Carlin | 1:42.453 | 17 |
| 20. | Nicholas Latifi | MP Motorsport | 1:42.523 | 17 |
| 21. | Daniiel De Jong | Trident | 1:42.864 | 17 |
| 22. | Gustav Malja | Rapax | 1:43.302 | 17 |
| 23. | Oliver Rowland | Status Grand Prix | 1:43.342 | 13 |
| 24. | Sean Gelael | Carlin | 1:44.400 | 19 |