Simon Trummer and Robert Wickens were the beneficiaries of good conditions at today’s GP3 test in Valencia, setting the fastest times in the morning and afternoon sessions respectively.
On a dry track at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, under blue skies, Trummer topped the timesheets for almost the whole three hours of the opening run.
Taking advantage of optimum track conditions early on, he set his quickest time of 1:27.344 on lap 12, with rising temperatures and a slowing track causing teams to save their fresh tyres for the afternoon.
Trummer was closely followed by Status GP driver Robert Wickens’ time of 1:27.583 with Smith third on 1:27.790.
Esteban Gutierrez from ART was fourth, Michael Christensen fifth for MW Arden and RSC Mucke’s Renger van der Zande sixth. Places seven to ten were taken by the Manor trio of Adrian Quaife-Hobbs, Rio Haryanto and James Jakes followed by ART’s Alexander Rossi in tenth.
The session was briefly red-flagged when Carlin’s Dean Smith came to a stop with fuel pressure problems. Then Michael Christensen spun his MW Arden car and was unable to recover.
Atech’s Oliver Oakes was 20th in the 30-car field. According to the series, a total of 1,041 laps were completed in the morning session.
In the afternoon Wickens improved on his earlier performance by posting a time of 1:27.881, taking the top spot at the end of the session on fresh tyres. Behind him was Tech 1’s Jean Eric Vergne, setting a time of 1:28,052, with ART’s Esteban Gutierrez in third on 1:28.163.
Fourth was RSC Mucke’s Nigel Melker with Jakes in fifth and Trummer in sixth. Vergne’s team-mate Doru Sechelariu took seventh with Smith in eighth, Addax Team’s Felipe Guimaraes in ninth and Jenzer’s Nico Muller filling the final top-ten spot.
Quaife-Hobbs was 15th and Oakes once again finished 20th. During the session GP3 newcomer Emmanuel Piget stopped on track while his Tech 1 teammate Vergne caused a second red flag by stopping in the pit lane exit. A final red flag was caused by a spin from Carlin’s Lucas Foresti.
Organisers said that a total of 2,037 laps were completed during the first day of testing. The second day will begin at 9am local time tomorrow.
Get the latest information on the GP3 series from its website here.