Carlos Sainz Jr and Lewis Williamson made the best of the new GP3 Series machinery in the opening test at Estoril.
MW Arden’s Sainz Jr headed the opening two days, until Williamson (Bamboo Engineering) broke the Spaniard’s run with a fast run yesterday evening.
Cool temperatures helped bring the laptimes down on the opening day (Wednesday); so much so, the new GP3/13 began lapping the Portuguese circuit over three seconds quicker than the previous generation machines at the same track a year ago.
Carlin new boys Luis Sá Silva and Eric Lichtenstein were among the first to take the new cars on track, gifting the GP3/13’s throaty 400bhp engine a well received lift; however morning honours would eventually fall to Marussia Manor’s Tio Ellinas.
Daniil Kvyat also displayed plenty of speed during his stints, but it would be Sainz Jr who brought the best time of day one down to 1:26.816 in the final hour, as the cooling air allowed the Renault engines more room to breathe.
Upon the chequered flag, the Spaniard was delighted with his efforts: “So many people had said how difficult the GP3/13 car would be to drive and they were right! I was so surprised with the amount of power and speed, in particular through the corners. It’s very challenging for us and it’s a very good feeling driving a car with 400hp, we had a great base to start with so we will see what we can achieve.”
For Didier Perrin – GP3 Series Technical Director – Wednesday proved to be a proud day. “The car looks beautiful, it sounds fantastic and as anticipated it’s much quicker than the GP3/10. We have achieved over 650 laps on day one of testing. With more power, the car will be much more demanding for drivers’ therefore I am very confident that when we arrive in Barcelona for the first round, we will produce an even better show and a high level of exciting competition.”
Unlike the midweek opener, Thursday morning’s running was slowed due to heavy pre-session rain and heavy winds. But as the bleak outlook cleared, the twenty-seven strong field poured out for a further 833 laps.
David Fumanelli headed the morning times following a slow change to slicks; however Sainz Jr once again capitalised on changing weather conditions late on. Warmth crept across Estoril, with the emerging afternoon sun doing much to raise the track temperature and grip, while also lowering lap times.
After a day off on Thursday, Williamson returned to action with Bamboo yesterday to post the quickest time of the session. The team, new to GP3 {note 1}, made the most of the tricky Friday conditions to draw ahead of morning quick boys Kevin Korjus (Koiranen GP) and Sainz Jr.
The sun returned after lunch, eventually leading to a sly fall in lap times with slick tyres finally making an appearance in the finally couple of hours. Numerous red flags made for a stuttered day’s running, but it was Williamson who emerged on top as race simulations began to take hold.
Throughout the opening two days, the GP3/13 suffered no failures, although a few minor gremlins crept into the machines as the final day progressed – an impressive effort for the GP3/13’s first official test.
The series is set to run again at Barcelona on March 12th and 13th.
{note 1}
On Monday, Atech CRS announced that they were joining forces with Bamboo Engineering to field three cars in the GP3 Series from the start of this season until 2015. Bamboo are by no means novices in top level motorsport – indeed the British company do enjoy a solid reputation in the WTCC, having finished runner-up in the Independent’s Trophy in 2010, following their takeover of Tempus Sport in 2009.
The team announced on Thursday that Venezuelan racer Roberto La Rocca is to race for their GP3 Series effort this season. La Rocca last year won the North American F2000 Championship – not to be confused with the US F2000 Series – with HP Tech, taking eleven wins in fourteen races. He is a prodigy of Ralph Firman.
2013 GP3 Series pre-season test (Wednesday February 20th) Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Carlos Sainz Jr MW Arden 1m26.816s 29 2. Daniil Kvyat MW Arden 1m27.616s 27 3. Tio Ellinas Manor 1m27.681s 19 4. David Fumanelli Trident 1m27.714s 26 5. Kevin Korjus Koiranen 1m27.846s 25 6. Robert Visoiu MW Arden 1m27.871s 24 7. Giovanni Venturini Trident 1m28.021s 30 8. Patric Niederhauser Jenzer 1m28.068s 42 9. Facu Regalia ART 1m28.112s 27 10. Conor Daly ART 1m28.309s 28 11. Jack Harvey ART 1m28.509s 21 12. Patrick Kujala Koiranen 1m28.614s 24 13. Aaro Vainio Koiranen 1m28.791s 19 14. Alex Fontana Jenzer 1m28.844s 28 15. Nick Yelloly Carlin 1m29.019s 28 16. Adderly Fong Status 1m29.029s 26 17. Emanuele Zonzini Trident 1m29.159s 28 18. Dino Zamparelli Manor 1m29.201s 30 19. Josh Webster Status 1m29.417s 27 20. Samin Gomez Jenzer 1m29.682s 35 21. Vicky Piria Manor 1m29.816s 27 22. Eric Lichtenstein Carlin 1m29.852s 27 23. Ethan Ringel Bamboo 1m30.266s 27 24. Luis Sa Silva Carlin 1m30.477s 26 25. Jimmy Eriksson Status 1m30.694s 29 26. Lewis Williamson Bamboo 1m31.142s 9 27. Roberto La Rocca Bamboo 1m31.313s 13
2013 GP3 Series pre-season test (Thursday February 21st) Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Carlos Sainz Jr MW Arden 1m27.654s 31 2. Giovanni Venturini Trident 1m27.939s 26 3. Tio Ellinas Manor 1m27.971s 40 4. Conor Daly ART 1m28.026s 32 5. Daniil Kvyat MW Arden 1m28.071s 34 6. Kevin Korjus Koiranen 1m28.151s 29 7. Alex Fontana Jenzer 1m28.156s 26 8. David Fumanelli Trident 1m28.261s 27 9. Jack Harvey ART 1m28.517s 22 10. Facu Regalia ART 1m28.722s 28 11. Patrick Kujala Koiranen 1m28.729s 27 12. Nick Yelloly Carlin 1m28.734s 29 13. Emanuele Zonzini Trident 1m28.787s 37 14. Dino Zamparelli Manor 1m29.045s 32 15. Aaro Vainio ART 1m29.191s 26 16. Robert Visoiu MW Arden 1m29.342s 22 17. Samin Gomez Jenzer 1m29.556s 35 18. Roberto La Rocca Bamboo 1m29.570s 26 19. Jimmy Eriksson Status 1m29.574s 34 20. Josh Webster Status 1m29.640s 34 21. Ethan Ringel Bamboo 1m29.748s 22 22. Eric Lichtenstein Carlin 1m29.768s 40 23. Patric Niederhauser Jenzer 1m29.808s 32 24. Melville McKee Status 1m30.241s 43 25. Vicky Piria Manor 1m30.383s 33 26. Luis Sa Silva Carlin 1m30.425s 33 27. Ryan Cullen Bamboo 1m31.347s 33
2013 GP3 Series pre-season test (Friday February 22nd) Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Lewis Williamson Bamboo 1m27.675s 44 2. Daniil Kvyat MW Arden 1m27.763s 46 3. Robert Visoiu MW Arden 1m27.848s 66 4. Jack Harvey ART 1m28.080s 60 5. Dino Zamparelli Manor 1m28.139s 63 6. David Fumanelli Trident 1m28.159s 52 7. Alex Fontana Jenzer 1m28.179s 54 8. Patric Niederhauser Jenzer 1m28.212s 51 9. Facu Regalia ART 1m28.322s 60 10. Kevin Korjus Koiranen 1m28.372s 53 11. Giovanni Venturini Trident 1m28.385s 59 12. Emanuele Zonzini Trident 1m28.459s 57 13. Carlos Sainz Jr MW Arden 1m28.485s 52 14. Nick Cassidy Manor 1m28.522s 74 15. Conor Daly ART 1m28.923s 63 16. Aaro Vainio Koiranen 1m29.044s 74 17. Ethan Ringel Bamboo 1m29.076s 42 18. Nick Yelloly Carlin 1m29.104s 56 19. Patrick Kujala Koiranen 1m29.335s 41 20. Luis Sa Silva Carlin 1m29.341s 75 21. Vicky Piria Manor 1m29.461s 54 22. Josh Webster Status 1m29.648s 52 23. Eric Lichtenstein Carlin 1m29.823s 69 24. Samin Gomez Jenzer 1m30.177s 77 25. Roberto La Rocca Bamboo 1m30.399s 29 26. Melville McKee Status 1m31.780s 37 27. Jimmy Eriksson Status 1m32.761s 38
