Barcelona GP2: Gasly heads Lynn in season-opening practice
Red Bull protege Pierre Gasly led his former teammate Alex Lynn in the first practice session of the 2016 GP2 campaign at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Photo by: GP2 Media Service
Lynn, a Williams F1 test driver, immediately put his DAMS Dallara GP2/11 below last year's Friday benchmark at the track with a 1m29.959s at the start of the session.
However, Gasly, who had switched from DAMS to Prema, responded immediately to go top in the Italian team's first in-season session in GP2.
Gasly's time was a 1m29.519 despite the Frenchman having a serious moment of oversteer during the lap, while Lynn came up a tenth short with his next effort.
The top two was settled then and there as, for the rest of the 45-minute session, nobody would come even close to demoting the duo.
Russian Time's Artem Markelov was an impressive third, three tenths behind Gasly, with Norman Nato in fourth for Racing Engineering and reigning champion Stoffel Vandoorne's ART successor Sergey Sirotkin taking fifth.
It was sixth for Nato's teammate Jordan King, the Manor driver coming up just 0.002s short of dipping into the 1m29s margin.
Prema rookie Antonio Giovinazzi was seventh, ahead of Nobuharu Matsushita, the Honda protege having stalled on pitlane exit at the very start of the session.
Rookies Oliver Rowland and Marvin Kirchhofer made up the top 10 for MP Motorsport and Carlin respectively.
Session results
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
| 1 |  Pierre Gasly |
Prema Racing | 1:29.519 | |
| 2 |  Alex Lynn |
DAMS | 1:29.623 | 0.104 |
| 3 |  Artem Markelov |
Russian Time | 1:29.860 | 0.341 |
| 4 | Norman Nato |
Racing Engineering | 1:29.874 | 0.355 |
| 5 | Sergey Sirotkin |
ART Grand Prix | 1:29.960 | 0.441 |
| 6 | Jordan King |
Racing Engineering | 1:30.001 | 0.482 |
| 7 |  Antonio Giovinazzi |
Prema Racing | 1:30.057 | 0.538 |
| 8 |  Nobuharu Matsushita |
ART Grand Prix | 1:30.310 | 0.791 |
| 9 | Oliver Rowland |
MP Motorsport | 1:30.345 | 0.826 |
| 10 |  Marvin Kirchhofer |
Carlin | 1:30.470 | 0.951 |
| 11 |  Nicholas Latifi |
DAMS | 1:30.542 | 1.023 |
| 12 | Luca Ghiotto |
Trident | 1:30.556 | 1.037 |
| 13 | Raffaele Marciello |
Russian Time | 1:30.573 | 1.054 |
| 14 |  Daniel de Jong |
MP Motorsport | 1:30.662 | 1.143 |
| 15 |  Mitch Evans |
Pertamina Campos Racing | 1:30.720 | 1.201 |
| 16 | Arthur Pic |
Rapax | 1:30.722 | 1.203 |
| 17 |  Jimmy Eriksson |
Arden International | 1:30.742 | 1.223 |
| 18 | Gustav Malja |
Rapax | 1:30.823 | 1.304 |
| 19 |  Sergio Canamasas |
Carlin | 1:31.015 | 1.496 |
| 20 |  Sean Gelael |
Pertamina Campos Racing | 1:31.304 | 1.785 |
| 21 |  Nabil Jeffri |
Arden International | 1:31.577 | 2.058 |
| 22 | Philo Paz Armand |
Trident | 1:32.803 | 3.284 |
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
WTCR's April opener cancelled due to coronavirus
Australian GP issues update on nine F1 paddock coronavirus tests
The harsh realities of being an F1 outcast
Alpine fast-tracks F1 floor upgrade to China amid recovery push
Gasly rues costly floor damage from Ocon collision
Will Alpine really start at the back of F1's 2024 pecking order?
Prema determined 'not to be just a number' on IndyCar switch
How Red Bull's next British star earned a fast-track to F3
What the future holds for two Red Bull juniors fighting in the F2 battleground
Sainz will have to "survive with what we have" in F1 China sprint
FIA still chasing answers over bizarre Shanghai F1 grass fires
How a Shanghai to Sheffield journey paved the way for China’s F1 hero
Hamilton expects to lose positions if F1 China sprint is dry
Why Alpine’s rigorous training camp yields telling insights into its juniors
Can F2's relaxed title favourite prove a point to Alpine?
Why F1's junior logjam isn't entirely a product of current issues
The brightest lights in F2's departing six-year warhorse
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments