31/03/2010
NEWS STORY
The GP3 Series was back on track today for the start of the second official pre-season test at Le Castellet.
Temperatures were low at just 9 degrees C this morning as the second official GP3 Series collective got underway at Paul Ricard, but fortunately the session stayed dry and all 29 drivers were able to take to the track within the first hour. The three hour long morning session on a 3D configuration track of 3.853 kms was incident free, and a total of 984 laps were completed.
Already quickest during the first official pre-season tests four weeks ago at the same track, ART Grand Prix took the top stop yet again, but this time it was Mexican driver Esteban Gutierrez who set the pace, posting a time of 1:20.446, just four tenths short of the final times set at the beginning of the month. The top ten stops were taken up by six different teams: ART Grand Prix, Addax Team, Manor, Status Grand Prix, RSC Mucke Motorsport and MW Arden.
Gutierrez was over half a second quicker than second placed driver Pablo Sanchez Lopez for the Addax Team. Next up was James Jakes for Manor, while just one hundredth of a second behind was Alexander Rossi (ART) who will no doubt be chasing a repeat of his previous testing form over the remaining three sessions. Rounding out the top five was Robert Wickens just hours after announcing his official arrival at Status GP for the 2010 season.
Of the eight newcomers to GP3 this week it was Dean Smith who put in an impressive performance driving for Carlin. The McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner finished just outside the top 10 in his first ever outing in a GP3 Series car. His closest rookie rival came in the shape of teammate Jake Rosenzweig in eighteenth.
In the afternoon session, ART Grand Prix continued to impress by topping the time sheets once again. There were just two red flags all session, and the French team dominated throughout the afternoon with Esteban Gutierrez claiming the coveted top spot after posting a time of 1:20.707. The impressive reliability of the GP3 cars also continued with 1972 laps completed throughout the day, covering 7600 km.
Posting the second fastest time of the afternoon was Guttierez' teammate and last month's pace setter Alexander Rossi posting a time of 1:20.719. Next up was RSC Mucke's Nigel Melker, closely followed by teammate Tobias Hegewald. Michael Christensen (MW Arden) completed the top five.
The cars will be back on track tomorrow at 9:00 am local time for a slightly shorter session than usual. The morning session will at 11.30 in order for teams to prepare for the qualifying shootout. The shootout will determine race number allocation for the season.
Classification will be decided by the fastest lap set out of the three drivers from each team, and should two or more drivers set identical times priority will be given to the driver who sets it first. The session will be 30 minutes long and will take place between 11:45-12:15 local time.