Valtteri Bottas and Gabby Chaves topped the first day of GP3 pre-season testing at Silverstone.
Bottas, piloting the Lotus ART GP Dallara, headed the morning with a best of 1:51.608 amidst a 32 lap stint.
The Finn pipped Antonio Felix da Costa who spent much of the session lingering at the the head of the sheets; however the Portuguese runner would later drop to 6th in the standings.
While da Costa may be slightly disappointed to have slipped down the order, he might take some solace from being the busiest driver of the morning after a 41 lap run.
In the end, it was Lewis Williamson that took 2nd spot in his MW Arden machine, falling some eight-hundredths shy of Bottas, while Nigel Melker took 3rd in his RSC Mücke prepared machine.
Both Simon Trummer (4th, MW Arden) and Nico Muller (5th, Jenzer Motorsport) completed 26 laps and even set best times only 0.015 of-a-second apart, as they nudged ahead of da Costa by mere thousandths.
Adrian Quaife-Hobbs took 7th in Marussia Manor machine, some three-tenths down on Bottas after a 20 lap run. Marlon Stockinger (8th, Atech CRS), James Calado (9th) and Pedro Nunes (both Lotus ART) rounded out the top ten.
Late running was curtailed by a Quaife-Hobbs induced red flag.
Unkind weather made the afternoon something more akin to a trial; however new GP3 arrival Gabby Chaves registered the quickest lap of the day before droplets fell. The Addax driver clocked up a best lap of 1:51.449 – just over a tenth quicker than Nico Muller, with Williamson a further few hundredths in arrears.
Alexander Sims (Status GP) finished the session some three-tenths shy of the pace, yet Sims may well be happy he got at least 24 laps in. Less happy will be Stockinger, who only managed 11 tours before the rain cam – his best of 1:51.775 left him 6th.
Vittorio Ghirelli visited the top-ten after lunch for Jenzer Motorsport. The 16-year-old Italian completed 26 laps, while also finishing ahead of Virgin F1 reserve Rio Haryanto (8th, Marussia Manor Racing). Trummer (9th) and Tom Dillmann (Carlin) completed the top-ten.
A brief red flag flew during the afternoon, caused by Mitch Evans (MW Arden), before another stoppage was hailed by Carlin youngster Kotaro Sakurai.
Bottas struggled to carry his morning run through to the afternoon. The Finn ended the session down in 19th, after running 31 laps prior to the chequered flag.
Morning times:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Valtteri Bottas Lotus ART 1:51.608 32 2. Lewis Williamson MW Arden 1:51.688 31 3. Nigel Melker RSC Mucke Motorsport 1:51.755 28 4. Simon Trummer MW Arden 1:51.801 26 5. Nico Muller Jenzer Motorsport 1:51.816 26 6. Antonio Felix da Costa Status Grand Prix 1:51.821 41 7. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Marussia Manor Racing 1:51.920 20 8. Marlon Stockinger Atech CRS GP 1:52.017 27 9. James Calado Lotus ART 1:52.025 33 10. Pedro Nunes Lotus ART 1:52.053 34 11. Michael Christensen RSC Mucke Motorsport 1:52.213 35 12. Rio Haryanto Marussia Manor Racing 1:52.348 25 13. Nick Yelloly Atech CRS GP 1:52.422 18 14. Mitch Evans MW Arden 1:52.505 32 15. Alexander Sims Status Grand Prix 1:52.510 25 16. Tamas Pal Kiss Tech 1 Racing 1:52.518 30 17. Aaro Vainio Tech 1 Racing 1:52.556 25 18. Gabby Chaves Addax Team 1:52.563 28 19. Conor Daly Carlin 1:52.777 33 20. Matias Laine Marussia Manor Racing 1:52.794 34 21. Andrea Caldarelli Tech 1 Racing 1:52.803 34 22. Vittorio Ghirelli Jenzer Motorsport 1:52.935 31 23. Willi Steindl RSC Mucke Motorsport 1:52.955 32 24. Kotaro Sakurai Carlin 1:53.009 28 25. Zoel Amburg Atech CRS GP 1:53.315 38 26. Maxim Zimin Jenzer Motorsport 1:53.490 27 27. Thomas Hylkema Addax Team 1:53.563 40 28. Tom Dillmann Carlin 1:53.858 31 29. Ivan Lukashevich Status Grand Prix 1:54.344 36 30. Fernando Monje Addax Team 1:54.504 35 Afternoon times Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Gabby Chaves Addax Team 1:51.449 22 2. Nico Muller Jenzer Motorsport 1:51.596 19 3. Lewis Williamson MW Arden 1:51.641 27 4. Alexander Sims Status Grand Prix 1:51.752 24 5. Marlon Stockinger Atech CRS GP 1:51.775 11 6. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Marussia Manor Racing 1:51.981 28 7. Vittorio Ghirelli Jenzer Motorsport 1:52.328 26 8. Rio Haryanto Marussia Manor Racing 1:52.472 30 9. Simon Trummer MW Arden 1:52.538 24 10. Tom Dillmann Carlin 1:52.557 19 11. Mitch Evans MW Arden 1:52.741 22 12. Michael Christensen RSC Mucke Motorsport 1:52.770 25 13. James Calado Lotus ART 1:52.886 29 14. Antonio Felix da Costa Status Grand Prix 1:52.940 23 15. Fernando Monje Addax Team 1:52.976 22 16. Pedro Nunes Lotus ART 1:53.021 30 17. Thomas Hylkema Addax Team 1:53.081 18 18. Matias Laine Marussia Manor Racing 1:53.214 23 19. Valtteri Bottas Lotus ART 1:53.249 31 20. Aaro Vainio Tech 1 Racing 1:53.263 19 21. Maxim Zimin Jenzer Motorsport 1:53.436 24 22. Zoel Amberg Atech CRS GP 1:53.682 24 23. Willi Steindl RSC Mucke Motorsport 1:53.803 27 24. Tamas Pal Kiss Tech 1 Racing 1:53.895 27 25. Kotaro Sakurai Carlin 1:53.941 11 26. Andrea Caldarelli Tech 1 Racing 1:53.980 21 27. Nigel Melker RSC Mucke Motorsport 1:53.989 27 28. Conor Daly Carlin 1:54.967 15 29. Nick Yelloly Atech CRS GP 1:55.075 20 30. Ivan Lukashevich Status Grand Prix 1:59.785 19
