TV Notes
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GP3 season favourites Mitch Evans and Conor Daly stamped their authority on the series opener at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona last week.
Evans – driving for MW Arden – looked quick all weekend, despite tough opposition from his teammates and the Lotus trio, earning the championship lead thanks to Race One victory. Lotus pilot Daly showed his metal with a win on Sunday morning.
There is little doubt that they will spend much of the season facing off, although both must watch out for rivals Aaro Vainio and Matias Laine.
With the Spanish adventure now consigned to history, the series leaders will be looking for victory next week at Formula 1’s jewel event – the Monaco Grand Prix.
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Race One (May 12th)
Mitch Evans took the opening GP3 race of the 2012 season from Marlon Stockinger and Aaro Vainio, albeit with a touch luck from rivals Daniel Abt and Antonio Felix da Costa.
Both Abt (Lotus) and poleman* da Costa (Carlin) were penalised for jump-starts, with the former launching himself from 6th to the lead before many had even left their slots. Unsurprisingly, the pair held the lead, before being brought in for drive through penalties on lap seven and eight respectively, dropping them well out of contention.
Evans continued to lead with not much fuss, despite having his initial advantage wiped out by a midrace safety car for a stalled Kevin Ceccon (ORT). The Kiwi pushed on for the final five laps under green, eventually taking the victory by 2.6 seconds.
Status GP’s Stockinger had something of a quiet race. After passing a slow starting Conor Daly (Lotus), the Filipino racer settled in 4th spot behind Evans, rarely looking threatened, nor threatening. That became 2nd when Abt and da Costa were penalised.
Vainio gave Lotus some raceday relief** by completing the podium, albeit under constant pressure from Jenzer’s Patric Niederhauser, while Matias Laine (MW Arden) headed another tight battle across the line, as he pipped Daly and Tio Ellinas* (Manor) to 5th place.
It was a case of what could have been for Daly and Ellinas – a clutch issue at the start for Daly dropped him from 2nd to 8th, while Ellinas drove back from a qualifying penalty that left him on row eight.
Jenzer’s Robert Visoiu took 8th place and the pole for race two – the 16-year-old Romanian nipped across the line ahead of David Fumanelli (MW Arden, 9th) and Alex Brundle (Carlin, 10th).
There was some little carnage on the exit of turn one at the start when Atech CRS racer John Wartique clipped teammate Ethan Ringel who was then innocently hit Alice Powell (Status), taking both Ringel and Powell out of the race. Aside from the leading pair, Trident’s Antonio Spavone*** also jumped the start, pinning him to the far end of the results sheet.
* {note 1}
Da Costa took the first pole of the season, less than a tenth up on Lotus racer’s Daly and Vainio. A late quick lap gave Evans 4th, only just quicker than Stockinger. Ellinas assumed 6th, but was hit with a 10-place grid drop for setting a fast lap under waved yellows.
British F3 graduate Buller spun off on his final lap, ensuring he would start 13th. Ceccon never got a lap at all, after stopping after 5 minutes with a mechanical issue.
** {note 2}
MW Arden and Lotus showed their pace in the first practice session, with Arden’s Laine and Fumanelli slotting into 1st and 2nd, followed by all three Lotus’ headed by Vainio. Evans wound up 6th for Arden.
Manor endured a difficult session, when Ellinas stopped on track with a mechanical issue, followed by further malaise when Machado hit the turn 14 barriers. Trident’s Piria takes a 10-place penalty into qualifying after she set a quick lap under the resulting yellow flags.
*** {note 3}
It is possible Spavone is merely trigger happy from so much racing. The Italian is also competing in the Auto GP World Series, although an indifferent season thus far sees the 17-year-old locked in 10th in the standings, with 25 points.
His best finish thus far is 5th; however Spavone has made 8th his natural habitat after claiming four 8th place finishes in eight races. Former GP3 race winner Adrian Quaife-Hobbs leads the Auto GP World Series with 148 points, following three wins and four podiums.
2012 GP3 Round of Barcelona (Rd 1, Race 1, 16 laps)
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1. Mitch Evans MW Arden 28m38.738s
2. Marlon Stockinger Status + 2.609s
3. Aaro Vainio Lotus + 4.594s
4. Patric Niederhauser Jenzer + 5.071s
5. Matias Laine MW Arden + 6.284s
6. Conor Daly Lotus + 6.941s
7. Tio Ellinas Manor + 7.419s
8. Robert Visoiu Jenzer + 10.102s
9. David Fumanelli MW Arden + 11.046s
10. Alex Brundle Carlin + 11.291s
11. Dmitry Suranovich Manor + 15.105s
12. Tamas Pa'l Kiss Atech CRS + 15.752s
13. Daniel Abt Lotus + 16.231s
14. Antonio Felix da Costa Carlin + 16.577s
15. Robert Cregan Ocean + 17.132s
16. Fabiano Machado Manor + 17.775s
17. Antonio Spavone Trident + 18.284s
18. Kotaro Sakurai Status + 19.087s
19. Jakub Klasterka Jenzer + 19.626s
20. Carmen Jorda Ocean + 22.224s
21. John Wartique Atech CRS + 23.070s
22. Vicky Piria Trident + 32.897s
23. William Buller Carlin + 46.346s
Retirements:
Kevin Ceccon Ocean 7 laps
Ethan Ringel Atech CRS 0 laps
Alice Powell Status 0 laps
Race Two (May 13th)
Conor Daly grabbed his first GP3 victory with a fine drive last Sunday to finish ahead of Robert Visoiu and Matias Laine.
The American benefitted when original race leader Tio Ellinas was handed a drive through penalty for a jump-start (it was quite blatant); however once ahead, the American guided his Lotus to a clear-cut race win by 3.2 seconds.
Daly – who jumped polesitter Visoiu off the line – faced little opposition once Ellinas took his penalty.
Visoiu, too, drove to the flag to take 2nd with little competition from 3rd place Laine. While the race appeared close on paper (6.6 seconds covered 2nd through 8th place), few opportunities to overtake created a status quo in the field.
In order Aaro Vainio (Lotus) followed Laine across the line in 4th, with Patric Niederhauser a further eight-tenths adrift.
Carlin’s Antonio Felix da Costa wore his tyres almost to the canvas on his way to 6th following a battle with Daniel Abt – a desperate lunge from da Costa surprised both himself and Abt on lap 11, with the pair clashing wheels. Da Costa assumed the position in a rare overtaking manoeuvre.
Alex Brundle moved up the order by taking care of his Pirelli tyres – he challenged Abt late on, but could not force the issue; however 8th spot gave Brundle another point.
William Buller held Kevin Ceccon and Alice Powell off late on for 9th – 11th positions – stellar results considering the trio started 23rd, 24th and 25th respectively.
The trio were helped somewhat when Buller tapped Tamas Pa’l Kiss on the opening lap as they approached turn four, sending the Hungarian out of control and into a crash with the innocent Antonio Spavone and Robert Cregan.
Amidst the spinning and crashing, Dmitry Suranovich spun all by himself in the same corner.
Fabiano Machado also retired, this time on lap 12. The Manor GP racer was being overtaken around the outside of turn one for 12th place, only to scare himself into a race ending spin. Race One winner Mitch Evans suffered a slow puncture in the early laps – the resultant pitstop dropped him to the rear of the field, although he would recover to finish 20th.
2012 GP3 Round of Barcelona (Rd 1, Race 2, 16 laps)
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1. Conor Daly Lotus 27m21.043s
2. Robert Visoiu Jenzer + 3.265s
3. Matias Laine MW Arden + 4.168s
4. Aaro Vainio Lotus + 4.877s
5. Patric Niederhauser Jenzer + 5.669s
6. Antonio Felix da Costa Carlin + 8.688s
7. Daniel Abt Lotus + 9.341s
8. Alex Brundle Carlin + 9.833s
9. William Buller Carlin + 12.090s
10. Kevin Ceccon Ocean + 12.401s
11. Alice Powell Status + 13.664s
12. Kotaro Sakurai Status + 16.703s
13. John Wartique Atech CRS + 21.703s
14. Jakub Klasterka Jenzer + 25.550s
15. Tio Ellinas Manor + 28.133s
16. Vicky Piria Trident + 31.239s
17. David Fumanelli MW Arden + 31.608s
18. Ethan Ringel Atech CRS + 37.862s
19. Marlon Stockinger Status + 38.449s
20. Mitch Evans MW Arden + 51.421s
21. Carmen Jorda Ocean + 1m16.560s
Retirements:
Fabiano Machado Manor 12 laps
Robert Cregan Ocean 0 laps
Tamas Pa'l Kiss Atech CRS 0 laps
Antonio Spavone Trident 0 laps
Dmitry Suranovich Manor 0 laps
2012 GP3 Series Drivers’ Championship (Rd 1) Pos Driver Points 1. Mitch Evans 25 2. Conor Daly 23 3. Aaro Vainio 23 4. Matias Laine 20 5. Patric Niederhauser 20 6. Marlon Stockinger 18 7. Robert Visoiu 16 8. Antonio Felix da Costa 6 9. Tio Ellinas 6 10. Daniel Abt 4 2012 GP3 Series Teams’ Championship (Rd 1) Pos Teams Points 1. Lotus GP 50 2. MW Arden 47 3. Jenzer Motorsport 36 4. Status GP 18 5. Carlin 8
