George Russell (ART GP) posted the fastest time on Day 3 of testing. The Briton’s best laptime of 1:55.364 which was set in the morning was six tenths quicker than Trident’s Santino Ferrucci and Jenzer Motorsport’s Alessio Lorandi. It was also the fastest lap of the three day test session. The ART driver also headed the timesheet in the afternoon ahead of Lorandi and Arden International’s Leonardo Pulcini.
There were two familiar faces added to the day three line-up: 2016 GP3 drivers Alex Palou and Matt Parry both testing for Campos Racing.
ART GP tester Arjun Maini headed the times early on for the third and final day of post-season testing at the Yas Marina Circuit. Fellow ART GP driver Anthoine Hubert was first to lap in the 1m57’s, before Russell set a time of 1:56.965.There was an early red flag when Steijn Schothorst stopped at Turn 19. Trident’s Raoul Hyman went P1 before a lengthy red flag period for Hubert who made contact with the barrier at Turn 7. There was damage to the TecPro barriers so the session was delayed while they were repaired. The session was over for Hubert as the monocoque was damaged from the incident.
Arden International’s Pulcini then set the pace with a 1:56.170 before Russell became the first driver to dip into the 1m55’s. Arden’s Max Defourny and Lorandi moved up to second and third respectively in the final 30 minutes while Ferrucci shot to P2 near the close of the session.Russell remained on top at the chequered flag; behind him were Ferrucci, Lorandi, Max Defourny, Leonardo Pulcini, Jack Aitken, Maini, Schothorst, Kevin Joerg and Marcos Siebert.
The afternoon session got underway after GP2 Series had their turn on track. Pulcini topped the timesheet with a 1:56.363 ahead of Ferrucci and Palou. With less than one hour remaining, Russell shot to P1 with a 1:56.307. There was a brief flag due to debris on track in two different locations. Once the debris had been cleared, the action resumed, but only shortly as Joerg stopped on track at Turn 20.Maini moved up to second in the final stages, until Pulcini displaced the Indian driver to P3. But nobody could better the time set by Russell as he stayed in P1 until the chequered flag. However, there was one final switch in positions when Lorandi bettered his fellow compatriot Pulcini for second position. Behind the top three were Maini, Ferrucci, Giuliano Alesi, Aitken, Robert Shwartzman, Palou and Bruno Baptista.
