Vergne still on top after second day of Young Driver Test

Jean-Eric Vergne finished at the top of the timesheets for the second day in a row at the Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi, but failed to improve on the time he set in the Red Bull on Tuesday.

Vergne's best time of 1:40.118 was just over a tenth shy of his effort on day one and only 0.091s faster than Jules Bianchi in the Ferrari who set a 1:40.279 to go second. Gary Paffett was third fastest in the McLaren, albeit 1.568s off Vergne's pace.

Vergne set his fastest time in the morning after losing some track time with a sensor problem on the RB7. Bianchi set his best time in the afternoon session while he was working on a tyre-evaluation programme, having spent the morning analysing new concepts for next year's Ferrari.

Paffett, who shared the McLaren with Oliver Turvey on Tuesday but had it all to himself on Wednesday, stopped on track towards the end of the morning session, bringing out a red flag. The session was also stopped in the afternoon to clear some debris, before a final red flag in the final hour. A stray cat broke onto the circuit in the morning but was swiftly dealt with by the marshals, preventing the need for another stoppage.

Valtteri Bottas impressed with the fourth fastest time in the Williams - again running a 2012-spec exhaust - with a 1:42.367. The Finn thanked the team over the radio before rushing off to the airport to catch a flight to Macau where he is taking part in the famous Formula 3 race this weekend. A further 0.5s down the timesheets, Johnny Cecotto Jnr set the fifth fastest time in the Force India after taking over from Max Chilton who was in the car on Tuesday.

Esteban Gutierrez was another new face on Wednesday as he took command of the Sauber and set the sixth fastest time ahead of Sam Bird, who spent his second day at the wheel of the Mercedes. Kevin Korjus was eight fastest in the Renault, which was driven by Robert Wickens on Tuesday, ahead of Luiz Razia who got his first run in the Lotus. Kevin Ceccon rounded out the top ten in the Toro Rosso as Stefano Coletti watched on from the garage.

Jan Charouz was eleventh fastest in the HRT after sharing the day's running with Nathanael Berthon, who was 13th behind Charles Pic in the Virgin. Pic's test this week carries extra significance as he has been strongly linked to a race drive at Virgin next year.

Times;

Driver	Car	Time	Laps
1.	Jean-Eric Vergne	Red Bull RB7	1:40.188
2.	Jules Bianchi	Ferrari 150	1:40.279
3.	Gary Paffett	McLaren MP4-26	1:41.756
4.	Valtteri Bottas	Williams FW33	1:42.367
5.	Johnny Cecotto Jnr	Force India VMJ-04	1:42.837
6.	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber C30	1:43.637
7.	Sam Bird	Mercedes W02	1:43.734
8.	Kevin Korjus	Renault R31	1:43.776
9.	Luiz Razia	Lotus T128	1:43.944
10.	Kevin Ceccon	Toro Rosso STR6	1:44.808
11.	Jan Charouz	HRT F111	1:46.644
12.	Charles Pic	Virgin MVR-02	1:46.698
13.	Nathanael Berthon	HRT F111	1:48.646

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