GP3 Winter Test (Jerez, Oct 22nd)

Nigel Melker and Michael Christensen emerged the two top men at third day of GP3 testing at Jerez in Spain.
Melker topped the morning session for RSC Mücke Motorsport in the morning, while Christensen planted his MW Arden at the head of the list in the afternoon; however it was the former that nailed the overall fastest time of the day with a lap at 1:34.747.

Christensen ran Melker close in the morning, registering a time only two-tenths of a second shy of the Dutch driver – unfortunately Melker was unable to recreate his morning later in the day, as he clocked up 21st fastest in he second session. Christensen on the other hand, put his fastest time on the board at the very beginning of the session.Rio Haryanto moved to ART GP for the final day and while he was one second adrift of Melker in the morning, the Indonesian driver took 2nd later in the day, albeit some 0.7 of-a-second shy of Christensen.
Alexander Sims is showing that he could be a force to be reckoned with in GP3 next year – the Londoner has showed some wonderful pace and consistency, regardless of what car he stepped into during these tests. As the clock ran out on Friday, Sims had registered the 9th best time in the morning for Status GP, before making that 3rd in the afternoon.

Carlin Motorsport took on two new drivers today, as Callum MacLeod was joined by Antonio Felix da Costa and Conor Daly. All three struggled to an extent to get close to the fastest times, as their trio of young chargers generally set mid-pack pace.  The Carlin squad finished in 5th in the teams Championship in the inaugural GP3 season – they will be looking to improve on that for 2011.

With testing now complete until the new year, it appears from the six test days that MW Arden may be the team to beat next season. Whether their drivers, whomever they end up being, can do the job is still a vital question – it’s only testing, but for now, a tiny pattern has been set.