Mitch Evans leads the way in Barcelona

The first post season GP3 Series test kicked off today at Circuit de Catalunya, and there were lots of new faces in the paddock. With the majority of the 2011 field moving on this season it was time to welcome a new batch of drivers hoping to impress teams and grab a coveted 2012 race seat including British Formula Ford champion Scott Malvern, Ferrari protégé Brandon Maisano and Kevin Korjus.

The teams were greeted with thick fog at the Spanish track this morning which delayed the start of the session by thirty minutes. Once underway the twenty-six young drivers hit the track on wet weather Pirelli P Zero tires to complete installation laps and survey the damp conditions. Rookie Tio Ellinas was first to top the time sheets for MW Arden, but before long the drivers got to grips with their new machines and the times started to drop with Lotus ART’s rookie Daniel Abt the first driver under two minutes.

As the track dried out the drivers switched to slick Pirelli tires and the rookies started to shine. Ellinas, Abt, Maisano, Miki Weckstrom, Nicolas Costa, and Michael Heche all took their turns at the top, but in the end it was sophomore Evans who took control of the session. With just a few minutes remaining on the clock the New Zealander topped the time sheets with a 1:39.695 lap leaving the remainder of the field unable to react. Korjus was 0.367 seconds behind Evans in second with Carlos Huertas, Ellinas, Maisano, Weckstrom, Tamas Pal Kiss, Nick Yelloly, Gabby Chaves and Heche rounding out the top ten.

By the afternoon conditions had continued and the teams were treated to bright sunshine. Abt topped the times sheets for Lotus ART for the first thirty minutes of the session, but Evans soon took control and moved up into P1. As the teams and drivers concentrated on setups the times remained relatively unchanged at the top until thirty minutes from the end when Abt once again moved into the top spot. But in the final few minutes Evans was back in charge moving to the top of the timesheet where his time of 1:39.037 remained unbeaten. Matias Laine set the second quickest time ahead of Huertas, Ellinas, Abt, Korjus, Weckstrom, Pal Kiss, Yelloly and Edoardo Liberati.

Just three red flags interrupted proceedings caused by Ethan Ringal, Kotaro Sakuri and Huertas going off track.

Testing will resume tomorrow at 09:00 am local time.

Morning times:

Pos	Driver	Nat	Team	Time	Total	Gap
1	26 Mitch EVANS	NZL	MW ARDEN	1:39.695	23	0.000s
2	19 Kevin KORJUS	EST	TECH 1 RACING	1:40.062	18	0.367
3	14 Carlos HUERTAS	COL	CARLIN	1:40.508	12	0.813
4	28 Tio ELLINAS	GBR	MW ARDEN	1:40.620	36	0.925
5	7 Brandon MAISANO	FRA	JENZER MOTORSPORT	1:40.692	38	0.997
6	18 Miki WECKSTRÃ-M	FIN	TECH 1 RACING	1:40.814	16	1.119
7	22 Tamas PAL KISS	HUN	ATECH CRS GP	1:40.916	13	1.221
8	21 Nick YELLOLY	GBR	ATECH CRS GP	1:40.957	16	1.262
9	10 Gabby CHAVES	COL	MANOR RACING	1:40.997	25	1.302
10	9 Michael HECHE	SUI	JENZER MOTORSPORT	1:41.074	35	1.379
11	8 Maxim ZIMIN	RUS	JENZER MOTORSPORT	1:41.267	30	1.572
12	27 Edoardo LIBERATI	ITA	MW ARDEN	1:41.486	22	1.791
13	23 Pieter SCHOTHORST	NED	ADDAX TEAM	1:41.515	22	1.820
14	30 Markus POMMER	GER	RSC MÃœCKE MOTORSPORT	1:41.562	20	1.867
15	31 Pascal WEHRLEIN	GER	RSC MÃœCKE MOTORSPORT	1:42.000	19	2.305
16	16 Nicolas COSTA	BRA	CARLIN	1:42.229	27	2.534
17	17 Gerardo NIETO	MEX	TECH 1 RACING	1:42.613	14	2.918
18	25 Michela CERRUTI	ITA	ADDAX TEAM	1:47.382	17	7.687
19	20 Ethan RINGEL	USA	ATECH CRS GP	1:47.550	10	7.855
20	4 Marlon STOCKINGER	PHI	STATUS GRAND PRIX	1:50.507	14	10.812
21	6 Scott MALVERN	GBR	STATUS GRAND PRIX	1:51.745	20	12.050
22	3 Aaro VAINIO	FIN	LOTUS ART	1:51.922	11	12.227
23	2 Gregoire DEMOUSTIER	FRA	LOTUS ART	1:52.075	17	12.380
24	1 Daniel ABT	GER	LOTUS ART	1:57.134	16	17.439
25	5 Kotaro SAKURAI	JPN	STATUS GRAND PRIX	1:58.122	9	18.427
26	12 Matias LAINE	FIN	MANOR RACING	1:58.534	12	18.839

Afternoon times:

Pos	Driver	Nat	Team	Time	Total	Gap
1	26 Mitch EVANS	NZL	MW ARDEN	1:39.037	19	0.000s
2	12 Matias LAINE	FIN	MANOR RACING	1:39.627	29	0.590
3	14 Carlos HUERTAS	COL	CARLIN	1:39.686	23	0.649
4	28 Tio ELLINAS	GBR	MW ARDEN	1:39.718	22	0.681
5	1 Daniel ABT	GER	LOTUS ART	1:39.745	35	0.708
6	19 Kevin KORJUS	EST	TECH 1 RACING	1:39.835	21	0.798
7	18 Miki WECKSTRÃ-M	FIN	TECH 1 RACING	1:40.035	24	0.998
8	22 Tamas PAL KISS	HUN	ATECH CRS GP	1:40.111	24	1.074
9	21 Nick YELLOLY	GBR	ATECH CRS GP	1:40.145	29	1.108
10	27 Edoardo LIBERATI	ITA	MW ARDEN	1:40.304	31	1.267
11	4 Marlon STOCKINGER	PHI	STATUS GRAND PRIX	1:40.304	28	1.267
12	9 Michael HECHE	SUI	JENZER MOTORSPORT	1:40.319	30	1.282
13	7 Brandon MAISANO	FRA	JENZER MOTORSPORT	1:40.372	28	1.335
14	3 Aaro VAINIO	FIN	LOTUS ART	1:40.382	37	1.345
15	10 Gabby CHAVES	COL	MANOR RACING	1:40.484	26	1.447
16	23 Pieter SCHOTHORST	NED	ADDAX TEAM	1:40.652	25	1.615
17	30 Markus POMMER	GER	RSC MÃœCKE MOTORSPORT	1:40.714	27	1.677
18	5 Kotaro SAKURAI	JPN	STATUS GRAND PRIX	1:41.055	38	2.018
19	6 Scott MALVERN	GBR	STATUS GRAND PRIX	1:41.063	41	2.026
20	17 Gerardo NIETO	MEX	TECH 1 RACING	1:41.105	31	2.068
21	31 Pascal WEHRLEIN	GER	RSC MÃœCKE MOTORSPORT	1:41.145	25	2.108
22	2 Gregoire DEMOUSTIER	FRA	LOTUS ART	1:41.474	32	2.437
23	8 Maxim ZIMIN	RUS	JENZER MOTORSPORT	1:41.706	23	2.669
24	16 Nicolas COSTA	BRA	CARLIN	1:41.896	28	2.859
25	20 Ethan RINGEL	USA	ATECH CRS GP	1:43.610	33	4.573
26	25 Michela CERRUTI	ITA	ADDAX TEAM	1:44.396	34	5.359