Manor Formula 1 team development driver Jordan King topped the times for Racing Engineering on the opening day of GP2’s second pre-season test at Bahrain International Circuit.

Having been 13th in the morning, King sat atop the times for the bulk of the afternoon running, and asserted his place with a 1m41.494s lap set with half an hour to go, after Norman Nato and Marco Sorensen had briefly gone fastest during the final hour.

Mitch Evans was King’s closest challenger, with a 1m41.608s, despite bringing the day to a premature end when he stopped on track in the final minutes. The New Zealander had earlier set the morning pace with a 1m42.479s, ahead of Nato and Sorensen.

Only 16th in the morning, Sergey Sirotkin jumped up to third late in the afternoon, ahead of McLaren protege Stoffel Vandoorne, Sorensen, Julian Leal and Nathanael Berthon.

Reigning GP3 champion Alex Lynn ended the day 16th, one spot ahead of Nick Yelloly, who is testing with Hilmer Motorsport after parting company with European Le Mans Series squad Jota Sport last month. Completing his maiden GP2 running, Yelloly was 12th in the morning.

The three-day test continues on Thursday.