Tom Dillmann still on top in Jerez

Hilmer Racing driver confirms top form on Day 2 of pre-season test session

Once again, Tom Dillmann put newcomers Hilmer Motorsport on top in Jerez as the GP2 Series teams prepare for the 2013 season. On the second day of the first pre-season test session at Circuito de Jerez, the Frenchman set the quickest laptime in the morning with a 1:24.400. Stéphane Richelmi at DAMS was fastest in the afternoon.

The morning session kicked off under blue skies but in cold temperatures. James Calado was the early pace setter whilst Felipe Nasr was the first driver to dip under 1m25s. The proceedings were briefly halted after Marcus Ericsson lost control of his DAMS car and got stuck into the gravel bed at Turn 10. Following the restart, a second red flag occurred for a short period, courtesy of Nathanaël Berthon who spun and stopped on track. The session was disrupted again for a few moments after the pitlane reopened as Nasr had a bit of a scare at Turn 3.

As proceedings resumed, Dillmann claimed the top spot, but an incident between Daniel Abt and Adrian Quaife-Hobbs sent everyone back into the pits to wait for the green light. The remainder of the session was trouble-free, and Calado went top, two tenths quicker than Dillmann, but the Frenchman found some extra pace and set a laptime of 1:24.400 that would never be bettered until the chequered flag. Stefano Coletti finished a hair’s breadth off Dillmann’s best laptime (0.01s) followed by Calado, Fabio Leimer, Nasr, Ericsson, Richelmi, Sergio Canamasas, Kevin Giovesi and Rene Binder.

The afternoon session opened in cooler temperatures as grey clouds gathered above the Spanish track. Dillmann was the early pace setter and remained at the top of the timesheet for most of the incident-free session as drivers concentrated mainly on long runs. With one hour left on the clock, Richelmi set a laptime of 1:24.604 – three tenths better than Dillmann’s. In the dying minutes, Coletti ran wide at Turn 1. After a brief red flag period, the track was live again. Although Johnny Cecotto and Abt improved their afternoon’s best laptime, Richelmi retained top spot ahead of Dillmann. In fifth, Robin Frijns was the best rookie ahead of Ericsson, Pal Varhaug, Canamasas, Jake Rosenzweig and Simon Trummer.

Tomorrow’s session will start again at 9am local time.

Morning results