fundamental development work at the Catalunya circuit in Spain in preparation for an assault on the Grand Prix support programme next season.
Briton Nick Yelloly returned into the GP3 series car after a recent successful foray into Formula Renault 3.5 races while Hungarian Tamas Pal Kiss also rejoined the team, after racing with the David Hayle-led outfit team in Formula Renault UK in 2009 and GP3 last season. They were joined by a new driver into the three-car line-up, American Ethan Ringel, 17 from Windermere, Florida, who has arrived in Europe following a successful season in Formula Enterprise 4, winning four races.
The Leicestershire-based team elected to use the four sessions over two days to work on significant developments with the car. An intensive test plan was implemented as the team used the opportunity to try more diverse options than can usually be afforded in pre-event testing, which proved a success ending the final session sixth fastest
Tuesday’s sessions saw Pal Kiss seventh and eighth fastest, just ahead of Yelloly in each, with Ringel, 19th and 25th on his very first time in the car. On Wednesday Pal Kiss finished 11th in the morning session, and improved to post the sixth fastest time in the afternoon session. Yelloly was 17th in both with Ringel 24th and 25th.
Tamas Pal Kiss: “It was really great to be back with the Atech CRS GP team - amazingly good! I have always had a really good relationship with the team. As soon as I started to give them my feedback they knew exactly what I wanted straight away and over the course of the two days that really showed in the progress we made and we could begin the see the results. I finished today in P6 but it could so very easily have been P1 or P2. The car was working really well on old tyres. I managed to go from 1.5 seconds off on the first day to just a tenth off in the final session. It was great to do be able to do the test and I'm really happy to have had the opportunity to work with David (Hayle) and the team. We are working now on doing the next few tests at least and hopefully we can continue to move forwards and help develop the car."
Nick Yelloly: “It’s always disappointing when you’re not at the top of the time sheets but this test was all about developing the car rather than results. It took me longer to adapt to being back in the GP3 car than I would have liked but I think I managed to do the job that I was there for.”
Ethan Ringel: “It was my very first time in a GP3 car and it was fantastic! It's a great team, great engineers and mechanics, and we all got on really well. I didn’t go into the test expecting too much as I’m quite inexperienced – I was just aiming to get as much time in the car and on track as possible.”
Team Principal David Hayle: “We came to the test with a different direction in mind with a view to making the car better, and naturally felt Nick and Tamas were right for the job. During the two days, we spent more time on track and developing things than ever before and have now found a good solution, particularly on old tyres. Tamas ended up P6 and could easily have been first or second, but we just didn't have enough time on new tyres. It was good to have a new driver in the team, with Ethan having his very first run in GP3, which always provides a completely new perspective. I think everyone ended up happy, and we've learnt a lot going forwards to Valencia next month.”
