Nico Müller was back on top of the time sheet Thursday afternoon for Jenzer Motorsport at Circuito deJerez in Spain. The GP3 race winner set his quickest time of 1:35.858 towards the end of the sessionknocking Michael Christensen off the top spot.
There was just one new face in the GP3 paddock this morning. Carlos Sainz Jnr has joined AddaxTeam for the remaining two days of the three-day test in Jerez, and the 16-year-old Formula BMWEurope race winner bought along his rally legend father Carlos Sainz for moral support. Otherdrivers switching teams included Matias Laine, Pedro Nunes, Michael Christensen, MarlonStockinger, Antonio Felix da Costa and Alexander Sims. Returning to the paddock were Oli Webb,Adrien Tambay, Josef Newgarden, Tamas Pal Kiss and Carlos Munoz, who last sat behind the wheelof a GP3 car at Circuit Paul Ricard back in March. Leonardo Cordeiro also made his first appearancein GP3 since the final event in Monza. The Brazilian driver spent the day testing for Status GrandPrix.
The morning session at Circuito de Jerez was dominated by Simon Trummer who continued MWArdens strong post-season testing performance. The Swiss driver set his quickest time of 1:34.496midway through the three hour morning session, and the rest of the field were unable to respond.MW Arden has topped all but one of the sessions so far this week yesterday Antonio Felix da Costacompleted a clean sweep for Mark Webbers team. Just 0.150 seconds behind Trummer was RSCMücke Motorsports Nigel Melker, followed by Müller in third. Sainz Jnr finished 13th in his first everGP3 session.
Once again the paddock was treated to warm temperatures throughout the day. Christensen wasback behind the wheel of his MW Arden car after spending the day with ART Grand Prix yesterday,and the Danish driver immediately topped the times sheets. Christensen was briefly bumped intosecond by Müller, but still looked set to make to make it four out of four for MW Arden. It wasnt tobe. Müller posted his quickest laptime of the afternoon towards the end of the session andChristensen and MW Arden were unable to respond. Melker continued his good form finishing justbehind the lead pair in third, and this mornings quickest man Trummer was fourth. Sims, ArthurPic, Stockinger, James Calado and Willi Steindl rounded out the top ten.
Testing continues this morning at 09:00 local time.
Full morning session times:DRIVER TEAM LAPS TIME GAP1 21 Simon TRUMMER MW ARDEN 35 1:34.496 ----2 10 Nigel MELKER RSC MÜCKE MOTORSPORT 31 1:34.646 0,1503 25 Nico MULLER JENZER MOTORSPORT 34 1:34.853 0.3574 22 Michael CHRISTENSEN MW ARDEN 35 1:35.082 0.5865 1 James CALADO ART GRAND PRIX 40 1:35.280 0.784
