By alley - Mar 9, 2015, 10:31 AM ET

Gasly leads first GP2 test of 2015

Red Bull junior Pierre Gasly picked up where he left off in 2014 by topping the opening GP2 pre-season test of 2015 in Abu Dhabi.

Last year's Formula Renault 3.5 runner-up, who topped all three days of a post-season test at Yas Marina with DAMS last year, moved to the head of the timesheets with 10 minutes remaining on Monday. The Frenchman was also able to respond to a quicker time from his countryman Arthur Pic in the closing moments, as both drivers made it into the 1m48s by the end of the day.

Late efforts from Ferrari junior Raffaele Marciello and his Trident teammate Rene Binder moved them ahead Jordan King and ex-Sauber Formula 1 test driver Sergey Sirotkin, who were at the top of the times before the eventual leaders set their best laps.

Pre-season title favorite Stoffel Vandoorne ended the day 11th quickest, having rarely appeared toward the top of the times apart from briefly setting the pace at the beginning of the afternoon session.

Alexander Rossi was fastest from Gasly and the second DAMS car of GP3 champion Alex Lynn in the morning session, which was paused for 30 minutes for what was described as "software adjustments."

MORNING TIMES:

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Alexander Rossi	Racing Engineering	1m 50.845s	-	8
2	Pierre Gasly	DAMS	1m 51.298s	0.453s	12
3	Alex Lynn	DAMS	1m 51.544s	0.699s	13
4	Raffaele Marciello	Trident	1m 51.605s	0.760s	19
5	Daniel de Jong	MP Motorsport	1m 51.665s	0.820s	17
6	Mitchell Evans	RUSSIAN TIME	1m 51.670s	0.825s	10
7	Rene Binder	Trident	1m 51.779s	0.934s	9
8	Jordan King	Racing Engineering	1m 51.822s	0.977s	10
9	Nathanael Berthon	Lazarus	1m 52.001s	1.156s	10
10	Arthur Pic	Campos Racing	1m 52.020s	1.175s	13
11	Julian Leal	Carlin	1m 52.074s	1.229s	15
12	Sergey Sirotkin	Rapax	1m 52.103s	1.258s	15
13	Richie Stanaway	Status Grand Prix	1m 52.261s	1.416s	14
14	Rio Haryanto	Campos Racing	1m 52.273s	1.428s	15
15	Artem Markelov	RUSSIAN TIME	1m 53.059s	2.214s	16
16	Robert Visoiu	Rapax	1m 53.338s	2.493s	17
17	Sergio Canamasas	Hilmer Motorsport	1m 53.340s	2.495s	12
18	Marco Sorensen	Carlin	1m 53.366s	2.521s	6
19	Zoel Amberg	Lazarus	1m 53.565s	2.720s	15
20	Marlon Stockinger	Status Grand Prix	1m 53.701s	2.856s	15
21	Vittorio Ghirelli	MP Motorsport	1m 54.451s	3.606s	15
22	Andre Negrao	Arden International	1m 54.645s	3.800s	21
23	Stoffel Vandoorne	ART Grand Prix	2m 08.142s	17.297s	30
24	Norman Nato	Arden International	2m 15.901s	25.056s	30
25	Nobuharu Matsushita	ART Grand Prix	2m 25.398s	34.553s	23

AFTERNOON TIMES:

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Pierre Gasly	DAMS	1m 48.897s	-	23
2	Arthur Pic	Campos Racing	1m 48.955s	0.058s	18
3	Raffaele Marciello	Trident	1m 49.252s	0.355s	14
4	Rene Binder	Trident	1m 49.294s	0.397s	21
5	Jordan King	Racing Engineering	1m 49.303s	0.406s	21
6	Sergey Sirotkin	Rapax	1m 49.379s	0.482s	20
7	Mitchell Evans	RUSSIAN TIME	1m 49.393s	0.496s	21
8	Rio Haryanto	Campos Racing	1m 49.456s	0.559s	24
9	Alexander Rossi	Racing Engineering	1m 49.474s	0.577s	22
10	Alex Lynn	DAMS	1m 49.480s	0.583s	24
11	Stoffel Vandoorne	ART Grand Prix	1m 49.579s	0.682s	23
12	Norman Nato	Arden International	1m 49.682s	0.785s	22
13	Richie Stanaway	Status Grand Prix	1m 49.771s	0.874s	16
14	Daniel de Jong	MP Motorsport	1m 49.865s	0.968s	18
15	Andre Negrao	Arden International	1m 49.916s	1.019s	18
16	Marco Sorensen	Carlin	1m 49.960s	1.063s	24
17	Nathanael Berthon	Lazarus	1m 50.163s	1.266s	17
18	Julian Leal	Carlin	1m 50.307s	1.410s	4
19	Nobuharu Matsushita	ART Grand Prix	1m 50.674s	1.777s	22
20	Vittorio Ghirelli	MP Motorsport	1m 50.680s	1.783s	19
21	Artem Markelov	RUSSIAN TIME	1m 50.929s	2.032s	25
22	Marlon Stockinger	Status Grand Prix	1m 51.004s	2.107s	22
23	Robert Visoiu	Rapax	1m 51.069s	2.172s	23
24	Sergio Canamasas	Hilmer Motorsport	1m 51.178s	2.281s	24
25	Zoel Amberg	Lazarus	1m 52.651s	3.754s	14