Kari tops day two of GP3 Yas Marina test

Niko Kari
Niko Kari

Niko Kari continued where he left off yesterday by setting the pace once again on day 2 of the 2017 post-season GP3 Series test at the Yas Marina Circuit, stopping the clock at 1:54.733 this morning and beating his best time from yesterday by 0.2s and lead the way from Leonardo Pulcini and Giuliano Alesi by almost four tenths in the session, while Leonardo Pulcini claimed the honors this afternoon with a time of 1:55.210 by two tenths from Callum Ilott and Nikita Mazepin.

Once again the day opened to gloriously sunny conditions, with all of the drivers heading straight out on track when the lights went green to set up their cars for what was effectively a practice qualifying session. Jehan Daruvala set the first competitive laptime before a string of drivers ensured the times tumbled: Alessio Lorandi, Pedro Piquet, Alesi, Jake Hughes, Callum Ilott, Kari and Pulcini all set good times, with the Finn topping his own best lap just before the red flags were brought out when Juan Manuel Correa stopped on the main straight at the 1 hour mark.

The track was soon green, but it had brought the unofficial qualifying session to a close: for the rest of the session the teams concentrated on long run pace, handing Kari his second top time in a row. The afternoon saw Kari top the times early before Ryan Tveter took over on the top spot at the 15 minute mark before a red flag to remove Jake Hughes’ from the final corner saw everyone else return to the pits.

Tveter improved once again at the 1 hour mark, with his rivals chipping away for another 50 minutes before Ilott and then Pulcini took over in P1: the pair continued a personal battle for the remainder of the session with the Italian coming out on top by almost 0.2s.

The day 3 timetable will be slightly different to the first 2 days: the final morning session of 2017 will run from 8.00 to 10.30, with the afternoon session from 13.20 to 15.50 (GMT+4).

Day 2 Morning results

Pos

Driver

Team

Laptime

Laps

1

Niko Kari

MP Motorsport

1:54.733

17

2

Leonardo Pulcini

Campos Racing

1:55.120

16

3

Giuliano Alesi

Trident

1:55.374

22

4

Pedro Piquet

Trident

1:55.375

31

5

Alessio Lorandi

Trident

1:55.401

29

6

Jehan Daruvala

Arden International

1:55.472

25

7

Callum Ilott

ART Grand Prix

1:55.520

29

8

David Beckmann

Jenzer Motorsport

1:55.672

26

9

Jake Hughes

ART Grand Prix

1:55.743

25

10

Gabriel Aubry

ART Grand Prix

1:55.985

30

11

Ryan Tveter

Trident

1:55.992

30

12

Leonard Hoogenboom

MP Motorsport

1:55.994

23

13

Simo Laaksonen

Campos Racing

1:56.171

31

14

Will Palmer

Arden International

1:56.301

23

15

Nikita Mazepin

ART Grand Prix

1:56.341

28

16

Juan Manuel Correa

Jenzer Motorsport

1:56.358

25

17

Ferdinand Habsburg

Arden International

1:56.409

32

18

Max Defourny

MP Motorsport

1:56.505

27

19

Benjamin Hingeley

Jenzer Motorsport

1:56.814

31

20

Louis Gachot

Campos Racing

1:57.419

28

Day 2 Afternoon results

Pos

Driver

Team

Laptime

Laps

1

Leonardo Pulcini

Campos Racing

1:55.210

29

2

Callum Ilott

ART Grand Prix

1:55.398

31

3

Nikita Mazepin

ART Grand Prix

1:55.457

32

4

Giuliano Alesi

Trident

1:55.514

30

5

Niko Kari

MP Motorsport

1:55.539

22

6

Alessio Lorandi

Trident

1:55.660

32

7

Pedro Piquet

Trident

1:55.706

26

8

Jehan Daruvala

Arden International

1:55.815

36

9

David Beckmann

ART Grand Prix

1:55.885

23

10

Ryan Tveter

Trident

1:55.903

28

11

Gabriel Aubry

ART Grand Prix

1:56.091

35

12

Juan Manuel Correa

Jenzer Motorsport

1:56.108

29

13

Simo Laaksonen

Trident

1:56.135

31

14

Leonard Hoogenboom

MP Motorsport

1:56.167

36

15

Benjamin Hingeley

Jenzer Motorsport

1:56.313

29

16

Will Palmer

Arden International

1:56.439

33

17

Max Defourny

MP Motorsport

1:56.662

22

18

Ferdinand Habsburg

Arden International

1:56.680

27

19

Louis Gachot

Campos Racing

1:58.122

3

20

Jake Hughes

ART Grand Prix

1:59.202

5