Antonio Felix da Costa jumped to the top of the time sheets on the final day of the second GP3 test yesterday.
The Carlin racer registered a best of 1:37.934 around Barcelona’s warm and pleasant Circuit de Catalunya, pipping MW Arden’s Matias Laine by half-a-tenth.
The Portuguese racer spent the morning on top or at least near the top of the timesheets, with Laine occasionally proving a threat.
Da Costa also logged a solid 64 lap total during the day, adding to the 72 he registered on Monday.
Laine’s MW Arden teammate, Mitch Evans, ended the day 3rd overall after another impressive showing. The young Kiwi fell a mere two-tenths shy of the top spot; however Evans did prove to be one of the busier runners with 72 laps in the bag.
Trident’s Kevin Ceccon fronted Trident’s charge. The Italian headed an impressively long gaggle of entrants, with approximately half-a-second covering 4th to 15th overall.
Lagging just shy of Ceccon was Status GP man Marlon Stockinger and Lotus’ Conor Daly, with Jenzer pairing Robert Visoiu and Patric Niederhauser a further tenth-of-a-second adrift.
Aaro Vainio returned to the Lotus fold to assume 9th overall, while Carlin’s Will Buller rounded out the top ten.
Despite the closeness of the field, David Fumanelli (MW Arden), Tamas Pa’l Kiss (Atech CRS), Tio Ellinas (Marussia- Manor), Maxim Zimin (Jenzer) and Daniel Abt (Lotus).
Following a difficult morning session hit by an oil leak, Abt returned to the fold to go fastest in the afternoon session.
Other drivers to crack the 200-mile barrier were Ellinas, Alex Brundle (Carlin, 18th) and Kotaro Sakurai (Status, 21st)
Sakurai’s Status GP teammate, Yann Zimmer, had his times deleted post-test, when it was discovered his car had been running underweight.
Several red flags stuttered proceedings. Spins by Ceccon and Atech’s Ethan Ringel brought out temporary red flags in the morning, followed by a stoppage in the afternoon courtesy of a spinning Vicky Piria (Trident).
Ringel brought another red flag period after lunch, when his car stopped on track.
All drivers used Pirelli’s hard compound GP3 tyre for this test, as opposed to the medium compound GP3 rubber as run in Estoril.
The hard tyre will again be in use at next month’s final test at Silverstone.
Combined times:
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1. Antonio Felix da Costa Carlin 1m37.934s 64
2. Matias Laine MW Arden 1m37.993s + 0.059s 67
3. Mitch Evans MW Arden 1m38.154s + 0.220s 72
4. Kevin Ceccon Trident 1m38.239s + 0.305s 60
5. Marlon Stockinger Status 1m38.283s + 0.349s 63
6. Conor Daly Lotus 1m38.322s + 0.388s 62
7. Robert Visoiu Jenzer 1m38.391s + 0.457s 66
8. Patric Niederhauser Jenzer 1m38.452s + 0.518s 57
9. Aaro Vainio Lotus 1m38.469s + 0.535s 71
10. William Buller Carlin 1m38.471s + 0.537s 63
11. David Fumanelli MW Arden 1m38.542s + 0.608s 67
12. Tamas Pal Kiss Atech CRS 1m38.593s + 0.659s 53
13. Tio Ellinas Manor 1m38.603s + 0.669s 70
14. Maxim Zimin Jenzer 1m38.692s + 0.758s 60
15. Daniel Abt Lotus 1m38.760s + 0.826s 53
16. Dmitry Suranovich Manor 1m38.955s + 1.021s 69
17. Antonio Spavone Trident 1m38.977s + 1.043s 68
18. Alex Brundle Carlin 1m39.129s + 1.195s 75
19. Fabiano Machado Manor 1m39.318s + 1.384s 58
20. Vicky Piria Trident 1m39.348s + 1.414s 67
21. Kotaro Sakurai Status 1m39.419s + 1.485s 75
22. Ethan Ringel Atech CRS 1m39.785s + 1.851s 61
23. Robert Cregan Ocean 1m40.601s + 2.667s 57
24. John Wartique Atech CRS 1m40.930s + 2.996s 36
25. Carmen Jorda Ocean 1m41.997s + 4.063s 55
Yann Zimmer Status (no time) --
Notes compiled from live updates and team releases.
