2015 GP3 Pre-Season Test (Estoril) Day 1

First, for the Ferrari Faithful

© GP3

Fuoco was one of the first drivers to sign for 2015 GP3 and has started off with a bang. He had earned the role of early title favourite, however; he set out to prove that despite the signing of experienced GP3 drivers and the man that beat him in F3, he is still a force to be reckoned with.

The day started out slowly with the wet conditions reducing early running. Having rained over night with only 6 drivers having set a time after 1 and 3/4 hours. More drivers came out towards the end with ART GP setting the pace before Tunjo retook top spot. The session ended under red flag as Ashkanani spun at T13. Most drivers had got out to set a time and Tunjo kept top spot from Fontana and Ghiotto.

It started to rain in the afternoon, but this didn't stop Mardenborough setting a new fastest time, quickly followed by Kirchhofer who stopped soon after. Janosz brought out another red flag soon after but as the session got going the cloud coverage increased. Kirchhofer's 1:28.482 was the fastest with 1 hour left, but times quickly tumbled. Fuoco made the most of this a took top spot early on. He was not beaten for the rest of the session as Tuscher interrupted final runs by stopping at T5.

In terms of timing it was good day for Carlin and should hopefully provide good rain data for the upcoming season, which will vital in a close field.

Pos.	Driver	Nat.	Team	Morning	Afternoon
1	Antonio Fuoco	ITA	Carlin	1:30.621	1:28.410
2	Marvin Kirchhofer	GER	ART GP	1:30.018	1:28.411
3	Emil Bernstorff	GBR	Arden International	1:29.959	1:28.433
4	Luca Ghiotto	ITA	Trident	1:29.577 [3]	1:28.516
5	J. Mardenborough	GBR	Carlin	1:29.680 [4]	1:28.595
6	Esteban Ocon	FRA	ART GP	1:29.805	1:28.626
7	Ralph Boschung	SUI	Jenzer Motorsport	1:30.000	1:28.638
8	Jimmy Eriksson	SWE	Koiranen GP	1:29.798 [5]	1:28.773
9	Oscar Tunjo	COL	Trident	1:29.061 [1]	1:28.994
10	Matheo Tuscher	SUI	Jenzer Motorsport	1:30.575	1:29.001
11	Seb Morris	GBR	Status Grand Prix	1:30.742	1:29.015
12	Mitch Gilbert	AUS	Carlin	1:29.926	1:29.169
13	Alex Palou	ESP	Campos Racing	1:30.967	1:29.304
14	Alex Fontana	SUI	Status Grand Prix	1:29.450 [2]	1:29.465
15	Matthew Parry	GBR	Koiranen GP	1:30.400	1:29.477
16	Kevin Ceccon	ITA	Arden International	1:30.137	1:29.599
17	Alfonso Celis, Jr.	MEX	ART GP	1:30.425	1:29.860
18	Pal Varhaug	NOR	Jenzer Motorsport	1:30.678	1:30.017
19	Sandy Stuvik	THA	Status Grand Prix	1:31.769	1:30.207
20	Artur Janosz	POL	Trident	1:31.607	1:30.393
21	Adderly Fong	HGK	Koiranen GP	1:30.660	1:30.448
22	Zaid Ashkanani	KUW	Campos Racing	1:32.381	1:31.879
23	Aleksander Bosak	POL	Arden International	1:32.787	1:33.201
The Positions are the results of the Afternoon Session [1] – Position in Morning Session (only top 5 shown)

What conclusions can we make?

Newly signed Jann Mardenborough and Ghiotto have both impressed. Carlin have done better than expected with Jann and Fuoco setting competitive times and Gilbert not too far off the pace. Although Bernstorff impressed, in general it was poor day for Arden, while rookie's Bosak and Ashkanani spent the day at the back. Ocon did not perform as dominantly as some were expecting, while Boschung has outperformed many peoples expectations.

It will be great to see people set some better on hopefully a drier track tomorrow. As the line-up for tomorrows session remains unchanged.

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