The three-hour test session at Circuit de Catalunya offered a few surprises and a few more red flags for the GP3 paddock this afternoon. Despite ART keeping a firm grip on the coveted top spot, a few other drivers successfully added themselves to the mix, but with 30 young drivers testing their limits we saw more interruptions during the dry session.
Mexican Esteban Gutierrez posted a time of 1:37.480 to claim the number one spot again for the French outfit, nearly half a second clear of the rest of the pack. Second to the 18-year-old was Miki Monras putting in an impressive display for MW Arden. Posting a time of 1: third for Status GP was #4 car Robert Wickens with a time of 1:37.933.
Rounding up the top five was Renger van der Zande for Mucke Motorsport with a time of 1:38.008, and ahead of Mirko Bortolotti for Addax Team. Simon Trummer put in an impressive display for his team Jenzer Motorsport, finishing P8 with a time of 1:38.213. Ninth was Nigel Melker for Mucke Motorsport, and in tenth spot was the #1 car of Alexander Rossi driving for ART Grand Prix. The reliability continued for the GP3 teams, with 1457 laps being completed over the two sessions over 6,700 km in total.
Esteban Gutierrez, ART Grand Prix: all of our data from the two previous tests and running to a really busy testing schedule, especially working on race set-up.
Even though ART have been at the top of nearly every test session we never get over confident. I am ready for the first race, but as always we will keep trying to improve and keep pushing tomorrow.
Robert Wickens, Status Grand Prix: s we have been in the top five, and now the top three so we are moving in the right direction although we still have some work to do to catch ART. I struggled this morning as quite a few of the team there were a lot of red flags, but I feel more confident now. Catalunya is one of my favourite
Miki Monras, MW Arden: car, but today went really well and all of our teething problems have been resolved. I feel much happier. The team are doing a fantastic job and trying different set-ups and I am sure we can catch up to ART by the first race confident about getting a good result." The test will resume tomorrow at 09.00 am local time for a three hour morning session.
Afternoon session complete results:Pos Car # Name Team Best Laps 1 2 Esteban Gutierrez ART GRAND PRIX 1.37.480 43 2 21 Miki Monras MWARDEN 1.37.928 32 3 4 Robert Wickens STATUS GRAND PRIX 1.37.933 35 4 11 Renger Van Der Zande RSC MUCKE MOTORSPORT 1.38.008 40 5 15 Dean Smith CARLIN 1.38.016 41 6 20 Michael Christensen MWARDEN 1.38.076 45 7 19 Mirko Bortolotti ADDAXTEAM 1.38.130 32 8 24 Simon Trummer JENZER MOTORSPORT 1.38.213 49 9 10 Nigel Melker RSC MUCKE MOTORSPORT 1.38.252 36 10 1 Alexander Rossi ART GRAND PRIX 1.38.273 38 11 17 Felipe Guimaraes ADDAXTEAM 1.38.331 39 12 6 Daniel Morad STATUS GRAND PRIX 1.38.451 35 13 30 Ollie Oakes ATECH CRS GP 1.38.488 30 14 12 Tobias Hegewald RSC MUCKE MOTORSPORT 1.38.598 34 15 8 Rio Haryanto MANOR RACING 1.38.606 33 16 7 James Jakes MANOR RACING 1.38.614 29 17 26 Doru Sechelariu TECH
