ART tops inaugural GP3 test

Gutierrez fastest overall

After months of anticipation the GP3 Series was off to a flying start in Le Castellet on Thursday with all 30 GP3 cars taking to the track in the morning session of the first official test in the history of the series.

Stormy conditions the day before the test thankfully cleared overnight and the young drivers were left with a dry, almost sunny morning in the South of France, albeit with very low temperatures. Driving on a 3D configuration layout, first to take to the track were Buzaid and Chilton from Carlin, but they were quickly followed by the remainder of the field.

After the first ever successful installation laps were completed by all ten teams, the session was paused for one hour in order for mechanics and engineers to closely analyze initial technical data from their new machinery.

When the session was given the green light again, the times improved consistently throughout the remainder of the morning, with times dropping drastically during the last thirty minutes. Five drivers seemed more eager to top the timing sheet: Alexander Rossi driving for ART, Max Chilton for Carlin, Michael Christensen for MW Arden, Renger Van der Zander for RSC Mucke Motorsport and Kazimieras Vasiliauskas for Tech 1 Racing who kept on swapping positions.

It was Rossi who eventually won the title of quickest man on track for the morning, finishing two hundredths ahead of Chilton, posting a time of 1:22.188 and completing 20 laps

During the afternoon session lap times continued to drop, and the impressive reliability of the cars was also apparent with 1324 laps completed throughout the day, covering an impressive distance of over 5000 km.

Ending the session on top was ART s Esteban Gutiérrez posting a time of 1:20.949, over one second quicker than the fastest driver in the morning session. Michael Christensen at MW Arden and Pablo Sanchez Lopez at Addax Team completed the top three. A total of eleven drivers posted a quicker lap time than this morning s ART s Rossi s best effort.

“Today was exciting because just looking at the car for a month without driving it was frustrating for me!" said Gutiérrez. “Getting to know the car was our main goal of the day, and in the end it was also a good result for us. It is only the first day so we have to keep working. I had a good feeling with the car, and really enjoyed the high downforce: it is good for training for GP2. The feeling is also similar with paddle shifts. It is a really enjoyable car to drive."

Afternoon results