That’s the verdict of the Barcelona test, after that the second day saw again both the Italian team’s cars in the top spots of the standings.

Michael Herck was amazing in the morning session, posting the quickest laptime of the whole test in 1’29”608: this was enough to outpace Sam Bird and Romain Grosjean by just 0.030 seconds in an incredibly hard-fought session. In the afternoon Michael focused on race simulations, completing the programs despite some red flags and closing the session in P15.

Bringing Scuderia Coloni on top in the last session was Davide Rigon, the Italian now feeling at ease with the Dallara-Renault car. Davide, who in the morning had clinched P6 with a good 1’29”754 despite some traffic, closed the afternoon session in second place stopping the clock on 1’30”591. His laptime could have been even better, as he was forced to abort two tries due to red flags, so being unable to make the most of fresh Pirelli rubber.

So, the team gets back from Spain with a very positive balance, feeling ready to challenge for podium positions right from the first Turkish races.

Michael Herck: “This was the best possible way to get prepared for the season. We know that in Istanbul the competition will be very hard as our opponents are going to give all, but closing the last test on top gives us a very good feeling. In the morning the conditions were so good that we went for performance as everybody else: the outcome was a sort of qualifying session, and clinching 1st place was really great. Then in the afternoon we worked for the race, as understanding the way this tyres wear will be a key factor for the Championship.”

Davide Rigon: “Today was another very good day. Now I have a good feeling with the car and also a good understanding of how to get the best performance from the tyres. Looking at our competitiveness level we can be very happy as we were the quickest out there, and it could have been even better without some bad luck: this morning during my best lap I was slowed down by traffic in Sector 3, I lost around 3 tenths and considering that my laptime could have been easily a 1’29”5, putting me on top of the whole test. Also in the afternoon I couldn’t make the most of my new tyres because of the red flags, but I’m happy anyway. We did a great job with the team and we know where we can still improve, so it’s looking really good for us”.

As the first day of testing at Barcelona kicked off on Tuesday, Chilton continued to build on the progress the team made last time out at Silverstone. Chilton was sixth fastest in the first session, which put him eighth quickest of the day overall, while Turvey was 14th in the sister Carlin car.

Turvey was on the pace in the opening session on Wednesday, and went second quickest on his new tyre run. By the end of the session, the British racer was eighth quickest, while Chilton was 10th, completing a strong morning for the Carlin team.

Happy with the overall pace of the car, the team focused on race simulation and pit stops in the final session on Wednesday afternoon, with both drivers providing the team with valuable feedback ahead of the first race of the season.

Reflecting on the test, Chilton said, “We had a really productive test in Barcelona. The car felt quick with both new and old tyres and I feel like we have done some very useful preparation ahead of the first race. Its hard to know what everyone is doing in testing, people have new tyres on at different times – but we’re happy with the progress we’ve made as a team and I can’t wait to get racing again now.”

Trevor Carlin was happy with the team’s performance adding, “The team did a fantastic job this week. Both drivers were consistently amongst the front runners on their new tyre runs and we also worked through a detailed test programme which included longer runs and race simulation. We’re very impressed with Max’s pace in the car; he is consistently quick, while we must also thank Oliver for another great job helping the team in Barcelona.”

The next time the Carlin team will be on track will be for the first race of the season in Istanbul, Turkey from 6 – 8 May.

In the afternoon the Italian driver had everything in place for a staggering performance with new tyres, but two red flags stopped both his best flyers: due to this his best laptime was 1’47”944, just one tenth quicker than what he did on old rubber.

Good progression also for Kevin Ceccon, who kept working with the team to find the right feeling with the GP2 car. Despite some technical glitches that allowed him to complete only 20 laps, Ceccon was 10th quickest in the afternoon, improving his laptime from yesterday by eight tenths. The Italian could have been even third at the end of the day, but two very good sectors were spoilt by a track-cut in the last one.

It’s worth highlighting that after this first two days of testing Scuderia Coloni holds the 3rd fastest time, as today only two drivers managed to beat the 1’47”790 posted yesterday by James Jakes.

Luca Filippi: “It was a really good day for me and the team, from the beginning we had the right feeling and our performances were very good from the first laps. The second quickest time in the morning was the right way to start, and then in the afternoon we were steadily the quickest on old rubber, lapping in the low 48s. We were expecting a really great laptime on fresh tyres, but we had two red flags right in the middle of my best laps, which was very unfortunate and ruined our session. Anyway I want to say thanks to Scuderia Coloni for their support and amazing job, I’m sure that the drivers that will jump in the car in the next days will have a perfect car to drive”.

Kevin Ceccon: “It wasn’t an easy day as we had some mechanical issue and we couldn’t run as much as we wanted. Anyway despite this we showed a very good pace and I had a really good feeling in the car, also thanks to the job I did with the engineers. Now we will have two days to review what we did in this tests, but I’m already very satisfied”.

James Jakes topped the time sheets

Scuderia Coloni couldn’t hope for a better start in the Abu Dhabi test days. The Italian team topped the sheets of Day 1, with James Jakes posting a 1’47”790 that was 4 tenths quicker than anyone else.
The brit, who showed some very good performances also in the GP2 Main Series races held on the Yas Marina Circuit 10 days ago, worked on the set-up with the team staff and immediately got a good feeling and quick laptimes: in the morning he was second quickest with 1’48”530, and in the afternoon his pace was simply amazing, ending with a lap that was 0.8 quicker than Turvey’s pole from the race weekend. With this performance Jakes also showed that he’s back in perfect shape after the wrist injury that forced him to rest for some weeks after Hockenheim.

It was a very good day also for Kevin Ceccon, who ended his first GP2 experience in P13. The Italian driver was at his debut on the GP2 car but he wasn’t scared by the huge difference in power between the Dallara-Renault and the F3 he’s used to (around 400 bhp). Also thanks to the good job done with the Scuderia Coloni simulator in the week preceeding the test Kevin was immediately quick: 15th in the morning, he upped his pace by more than 1” in the afternoon, stopping just 0.02 shy of Sam Bird.

Kevin Ceccon drove the GP2 car for the first time.

After completing 43 laps today, Ceccon will continue his apprenticeship tomorrow. The other car will be driven by Luca Filippi.

James Jakes: “Jumping again in the Coloni car was a great feeling and we did a really good job today, making big steps forward from every point of view. This was my first full test day after breaking my wrist back in June so it was great for me to get a full day running again. I would like to thank all the team for there hard work, and wish them all the best in the remaining tests”.

Kevin Ceccon: “My first day on a GP2 car was really amazing, incredibile to say the least. I’m really happy of the job we’ve done and of our result today. Now I have to work in the same direction and improve step by step together with the team, as I did today. I know that there’s much more to come, it was just my first day so there’s a lot of room for improvement”.

Here are the teams for the 2011-2013 GP2 Series championship:

• Arden International, Netherlands
• ART Grand Prix, France
• Barwa Addax Team, Spain
• Carlin, Great Britain
• Dams, France
• iSport International, Great Britain
• Ocean Racing Technology, Portugal
• Racing Engineering, Spain
• Rapax, Italy
• Scuderia Coloni, Italy
• Super Nova Racing, Great Britain
• Team Air Asia, Malaysia
• Trident Racing, Italy

There are two new teams in the lineup; Carlin and Team Air Asia. Carlin have run single seaters in most junior formulas very successfully in recent years and there have even been rumours of possible entry to Formula 1. Team Air Asia is closely linked to the Lotus Formula 1 team and is owned by Lotus team principal Tony Fernandes.

When two new teams join, obviously some have to go. There was a vacant spot left by the italian team Durango, who left the series in 2009. The remaining spot will be from the withdrawal of DPR.

Valsecchi joins Lucas Di Grassi, Romain Grosjean and Charles Pic in the programme which aims to bring drivers into the ING Renault Formula 1 Team.

BCN currently runs Luca Filippi and Hiroki Yoshimoto in the GP2 Asia series and Ocean Racing Technology will continue in the series but are in negotiations with drivers and test drivers out for the 2009 main GP2 season.

“The management of a race team is fascinating because not only do you need to have a good knowledge of what can happen on track but you also need to have some skills in the business. The GP2 Series is the ideal platform because it is very close to Formula 1. Its popularity and competitiveness is on the rise. After careful consideration we think this project could be a springboard that is perfectly adapted to our ambition of promoting Portuguese motorsport beyond its frontiers.”

According to Monteiro there is no obligation that there must be Portugese drivers in the team and that the most important step for the team is to “make the right choices”. The team will have its home base at the new Algarve Autodrome.