Testing resumed today at the Dubai Autodrome today, ahead of this week's inaugural GP2 Asia round, under grey skies.

The newly appointed Qi-Meritus.Mahara drivers, Luca Filippi and Hiroki Yoshimoto were back behind the wheel and continued working on the team's development programme before the upcoming season. They went through a third day of intensive work with Team Qi-Meritus.Mahara engineers in the run up to the first ever GP2 Asia season.

The track was dry and the weather rather grey and cool under a dull sky with a few scattered clouds towards the end of the day. The temperature dropped slightly in the afternoon. Over the course of the morning, Filippi covered 36 laps and clocked the third fastest (1.22.363). In the afternoon sessions he covered 24 additional laps with an eighth best time of 1.22.179. He was fourth fastest overall.

In the morning session, his team-mate Hiroki Yoshimoto finished his seat fitting and covered 15 laps with a fastest time of 1.24.603. In the afternoon the Japanese driver completed 39 laps with a best lap of 1.22.504.

Luca Filippi commented: "It is hard work learning the car, but I am really pleased to be with Qi-Meritus.Mahara and to start my first season of GP2 Asia here. I have not forgotten how the car handles; now we have a good base and consistency. I am happy with the last runs today. I worked mainly on progression of the car for tomorrow's final test. We now need to work on finding a good set-up for qualifying, but we are heading in the right direction."

Team mate Hiroki Yoshimoto's morning was dedicated to a seat fitting. This is why he only covered 15 laps in the morning, but once that was completed the Japanese driver was right up to speed. "In the practice session in the morning there was a lot of traffic and I never found the right slot to go out on a clean lap," Yoshimoto said. "In the afternoon the traffic was better even if I got blocked when I had my first set of new tyres. I hope that the weather will not change tomorrow and not disrupt our working plans. We still need to try different solutions to get different feelings and solutions.

Peter Thompson, team principal commented: "Both drivers and the entire team have worked very hard during the tests so far. It is quite clear that they are both very strong mentally and very experienced. The team's results today are a good start for the upcoming season and I definitely feel that we have the potential for an excellent championship fight."