2015 GP3 Pre-Season Test (Valencia) Day 1

ART GP Continue to Perform

© GP3 Series

After a short break, GP3 lands in Valencia for its second pre-season test. This is yet another opportunity for the teams to see what each other has to offer. After losing the title last year, ART GP will be determined to reclaim their crown. Considering their line up, they may be in with a real chance.

All but 1 seat has been filled for this years GP3 season. This meant that Campos Racing held the last remaining ball in their court. Samin Gomez was chosen to test the car, which, having not run anyone last time, could prove to be their permanent signing. Meanwhile Koiranen have brought in Kevin Korjus to replace Fong for the test.

Many drivers did not set any competitive laps at the start, allowing Palou and Ashkanani to take the early lead. As others improved, as did Palou, however his lead looked like it would not last long and towards the end of the session Luca Ghiotto shot to P2 ahead of Kirchhöfer and Ocon. Palou improved on his best time as the session came towards an end to further enhance on his P1, whilst Ocon got the better of Kirchhöfer in the final moments of the session.

Palou continued to set the early pace at the start, but faced stiffer competition from his fellow competitors. Varhaug and Ocon would top the session later. In the final half an hour, we saw yet another rush for time, amazingly Ocon, Varhaug, Eriksson and Mardenborough were covered by just 0.093s showing how competitive the field was. However; it was Kirchhofer who had the final laugh at the end of the session to finish top.

Results:

Pos.	Driver	Nat.	Team	Morning	Afternoon
1	Marvin Kirchhöfer	GER	ART Grand Prix	1:21.848 [3]	1:21.098
2	Luca Ghiotto	ITA	Trident	1:21.918 [5]	1:21.288
3	Esteban Ocon	FRA	ART Grand Prix	1:21.372 [2]	1:21.309
4	Alex Palou	ESP	Campos Racing	1:21.269 [1]	1:21.319
5	Kevin Korjus	EST	Koiranen GP	1:22.361	1:21.530
6	Pal Varhaug	NOR	Jenzer Motorsport	1:22.712	1:21.531
7	Emil Bernstorff	GBR	Arden International	1:22.595	1:21.532
8	Oscar Tunjo	COL	Trident	1:21.916 [4]	1:21.556
9	Matthew Parry	GBR	Koiranen GP	1:22.878	1:21.580
10	Jimmy Eriksson	SWE	Koiranen GP	1:22.539	1:21.581
11	Jann Mardenborough	GBR	Carlin	1:22.158	1:21.604
12	Alex Fontana	SUI	Status Grand Prix	1:22.374	1:21.642
13	Alfonso Celis. Jr	MEX	ART Grand Prix	1:22.017	1:21.694
14	Ralph Boschung	SUI	Jenzer Motorsport	1:22.393	1:21.876
15	Seb Morris	GBR	Status Grand Prix	1:22.190	1:21.896
16	Antonio Fuoco	ITA	Carlin	1:22.553	1:21.899
17	Matheo Tuscher	SUI	Jenzer Motorsport	1:22.653	1:21.920
18	Sandy Stuvik	THA	Status Grand Prix	1:22.833	1:22.121
19	Zaid Ashkanani	KUW	Campos Racing	1:22.880	1:22.184
20	Kevin Ceccon	ITA	Arden International	1:22.306	1:22.374
21	Artur Janosz	POL	Trident	1:22.999	1:22.433
22	Mitchell Gilbert	AUS	Carlin	1:22.645	1:22.989
23	Aleksander Bosak	POL	Arden International	1:23.351	1:23.423
24	Samin Gomez	VEN	Campos Racing	1:25.019	1:23.969
The Positions are the results of the Afternoon Session [1] – Position in Morning Session (only top 5 shown)

Speculation had grown over Palou's quick pace in the last test being down to other drivers not picking up speed. But after two strong results, many are likely to keep an eye on the driver who's in only his second year of car racing. Meanwhile, the bottom 4 of the morning session were also in the bottom 6 of the afternoon session. Suggesting a back of the grid group of drivers are forming, they'll have to pick up their pace if they want to prove themselves.

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2015 GP2 Pre-Season Test (Bahrain) Day 3

Teams set final laps before preparation for the start of the season

Morning was a lot smoother than yesterday, the cars filtered on to track and set competitive times. 30 minutes in and it was Marciello setting the early pace. He continued to dominate and was the first man under the 1:40min mark. But as the first hour counted down, Marciello was knocked off his top spot by Vandoorne, with Rossi also beating the time, however; it was Gasly who shot to the top after them.

The session continued at a slower pace after that as the drivers started to focus on other aspects. However, it was the best example of who we expect to be the championship contenders at the front of the grid. Despite this it was a poor session for Status Grand Prix.

After a mediocre morning session the Arden drivers came into their own, with Nato leading a 1-2 for the team in the first half of the session. With many teams having done their required running, the drivers did not complete many laps outside of their race simulations. Pit stop practice was also on the agenda, while Nato livened the session up when his car caught on fire, bringing up the red flags.

The session restarted and many decided to go on a quick run. Melker was the fastest of these guys and him, Haryanto and Gasly went ahead of Nato. Melker, who has had a very interrupted test will be happy to end the session on top for the Hilmer team, even if Gasly's was the fastest overall time.

Testing Times:

Pos.	Driver	Nat.	Team	Morning	Afternoon
1	Nigel Melker	NED	Hilmer Motorsport	1:42.628	1:41.566
2	Sergey Sirotkin	RUS	Rapax	1:40.007	1:41.633
3	Rio Haryanto	IDN	Campos Racing	1:40.663	1:41.707
4	Pierre Gasly	FRA	DAMS	1:39.632 [1]	1:41.797
5	Norman Nato	FRA	Arden International	1:40.416	1:41.970
6	Alex Lynn	GBR	DAMS	1:39.884	1:41.988
7	Robert Visoiu	ROM	Rapax	1:41.261	1:42.000
8	Nick Yelloly	GBR	Hilmer Motorsport	1:40.685	1:42.367
9	Rene Binder	AUT	Trident	1:40.873	1:42.510
10	André Negrao	BRA	Arden International	1:40.323	1:42.964
11	Arthur Pic	FRA	Campos Racing	1:40.254	1:42.736
12	Zoel Amberg	SUI	Lazarus	1:41.456	1:43.483
13	Jordan King	GBR	Racing Engineering	1:40.002	1:44.004
14	Nobuharu Matsushita	JAP	ART Grand Prix	1:40.860	1:44.061
15	Nathanaël Berthon	FRA	Lazarus	1:40.453	1:44.115
16	Stoffel Vandoorne	BEL	ART Grand Prix	1:39.646 [2]	1:44.252
17	Marlon Stockinger	PHI	Status Grand Prix	1:45.477	1:44.506
18	Daniel De Jong	NED	MP Motorsport	1:41.354	1:44.789
19	Marco Sorensen	DEN	Carlin	1:40.017	1:44.878
20	Richie Stanaway	NZL	Status Grand Prix	1:44.799	1:45.087
21	Raffaele Marciello	ITA	Racing Engineering	1:39.720 [5]	1:45.274
22	Julian Leal	COL	Carlin	1:40.288	1:45.376
23	Artem Markelov	RUS	Russian Time	1:40.356	1:45.441
24	Alexander Rossi	USA	Racing Engineering	1:39.715 [4]	1:45.565
25	Sergio Canamasas	ESP	MP Motorsport	1:41.101	1:45.842
26	Mitch Evans	NZL	Russian Time	1:39.679 [3]	1:45.913
The Positions are the results of the Afternoon Session [1] – Position in Morning Session (only top 5 shown)

Who has come out on top?

In terms of overall lap time. Gasly will happy with his time. However; the morning session proved that the other championship rivals are not planning to make this easy for Vandoorne.  Sirotkin and Matsushita have improved recently with Arden showing flashes of brilliant, but is that all they were.

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2015 GP2 Pre-Season Test (Bahrain) Day 2

ART Grand Prix return to form

The day had a poor start with sand storms interrupting the start of the session. This resulted in the drivers having less time on track in the morning. Finally, after an hour of delay the cars got round to set some competitive laps.

Not many were set however; the track was still dusty and many found it hard to get up to speed. Despite this, Pic and King ventured on track. Most of the teams went on to practice pitstops as Rossi continued to top the leader board. King and Pic went back to the top of the board as the session started to come to an end. However; many set quicker times in the final hour. Haryanto went top as Sirotkin soon beat the time, dipping into the 1min 41 seconds.

Going into the afternoon, we saw the session extend to its usual time. We also saw quicker times as the track cleared up. Despite this, many of the teams did long runs and the quick times we saw from Stanaway and Sorensen. Rossi looked like he would set quick times, but his fastest lap was quickly retaken by Stanaway, who continued his form from last time in Abu Dhabi.

However; like the morning session, the focus was on the final few minutes. The drivers finally put on quicker tyres and saw drivers finally hit the 1min 40secs. Marciello did it first as Sirotkin and Matsushita improved their times going top. A quick times saw Pic leap to P2 as many others improve.

Pos.	Driver	Nat.	Team	Morning	Afternoon
1	Nobuharu Matsushita	JAP	ART Grand Prix	1:42.588	1:40.191
2	Arthur Pic	FRA	Campos Racing	1:42.483 [5]	1:40.350
3	Raffaele Marciello	ITA	Trident	1:43.749	1:40.446
4	Sergey Sirotkin	RUS	Rapax	1:41.797 [1]	1:40.561
5	Marco Sorensen	DEN	Carlin	1:44.511	1:40.658
6	Stoffel Vandoorne	BEL	ART Grand Prix	1:42.557	1:40.666
7	Daniel De Jong	NED	MP Motorsport	--	1:40.927
8	Sergio Canamasas	ESP	MP Motorsport	1:44.954	1:40.958
9	Rio Haryanto	IDN	Campos Racing	1:42.437 [4]	1:40.981
10	Artem Markelov	RUS	Russian Time	–	1:41.034
11	Richie Stanaway	NZL	Status Grand Prix	–	1:41.086
12	Rene Binder	AUT	Trident	1:43.104	1:41.097
13	Robert Visoiu	ROM	Rapax	1:43.580	1:41.128
14	Norman Nato	FRA	Arden International	–	1:41.183
15	Nick Yelloly	GBR	Hilmer Motorsport	1:43.877	1:41.227
16	Alexander Rossi	USA	Racing Engineering	1:43.390	1:41.341
17	Alex Lynn	GBR	DAMS	1:42.427 [3]	1:41.352
18	Mitch Evans	NZL	Russian Time	--	1:41.372
19	Zoel Amburg	SUI	Lazarus	1:45.070	1:41.440
20	Julian Leal	COL	Carlin	1:42.736	1:41.497
21	Pierre Gasly	FRA	DAMS	1:43.963	1:41.606
22	Marlon Stockinger	PHI	Status Grand Prix	–	1:41.669
23	Nathanael Berthon	FRA	Lazarus	1:43.868	1:42.467
24	Andre Negrao	BRA	Arden International	–	1:42.509
25	Nigel Melker	NED	Hilmer Motorsport	–	1:43.631
26	Jordan King	GBR	Racing Engineering	1:42.289 [2]	1:44.181
The Positions are the results of the Afternoon Session [1] – Position in Morning Session (only top 5 shown)

So, a good day for drivers like Matsushhita/ Sirotkin/ Pic whose abilities have been questioned in recent weeks. While running was limited was others including Melker who got no time yesterday.

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2015 GP2 Pre-Season Test (Bahrain) Day 1

King Fastest as Evans Impresses

It was unsurprisingly good weather in Bahrain as the teams prepared to go out. Many of the teams were straight out of the pits as they wanted to get running on track, including drivers like Visoiu who hasn't raced on the track before.

The teams decided to run cars on only instillation laps at first to check there wasn't any problems with the cars, so no competitive times had been set for the first hour. Negrao was the first to set a competitive lap time with a 1:42.953. But only Canamasas, Matsushita and Amburg would add to those competitive times by the half way stage.

The track was reported to be dusty by the drivers, as a result many times were not set and many decided to stay in the pits. Despite this, Sorensen and Berthon would also improve. The drivers finally decided to set some laps in the final half an hour as Nato, then Evans topped the timing sheet, meanwhile other improved on their times further.

As the afternoon session got underway Pic and Vandoorne were the drivers first up to speed being the first to break into the 1:43s that afternoon, however; this was soon beaten by Lynn and then King after only an hour of the session. 

King stayed fastest for some time, but with half the session gone Nato set fastest laps, he was beaten breifly by Sorensen but quickly regined his spot. As the session drew to a close, many drivers went back out to set faster times, with King, again taking top spot. Evans interupted the end of the session after stopping at turn 3, but still finished 2nd.

Results after Day 1:

Pos.	Driver	Nat.	Team	Morning	Afternoon
1	Jordan King	GBR	Racing Engineering	1:43.101	1:41.494
2	Mitch Evans	NZL	Russian Time	1:42.479 [1]	1:41.608
3	Sergey Sirotkin	RUS	Rapax	1:43.357	1:41.636
4	Norman Nato	FRA	Arden International	1:42.653 [2]	1:41.755
5	Stoffel Vandoorne	BEL	ART Grand Prix	1:42.779	1:41.851
6	Marco Sorensen	DEN	Carlin	1:42.689 [3]	1:41.861
7	Julian Leal	COL	Carlin	1:42.728 [5]	1:41.985
8	Nathanael Berthon	FRA	Lazarus	1:42.712 [4]	1:42.004
9	Pierre Gasly	FRA	DAMS	1:43.015	1:42.015
10	Artem Markelov	RUS	Russian Time	1:43.455	1:42.038
11	Alexander Rossi	USA	Racing Engineering	1:42.801	1:42.201
12	Daniel De Jong	NED	MP Motorsport	1:43.016	1:42.301
13	Arthur Pic	FRA	Campos Racing	1:43.226	1:42.301
14	Richie Stanaway	NZL	Status Grand Prix	1:43.391	1:42.365
15	Raffaele Marciello	ITA	Trident	1:43.766	1:42.431
16	Alex Lynn	GBR	DAMS	1:44.022	1:42.461
17	Nick Yelloly	GBR	Hilmer Motorsport	1:43.042	1:42.608
18	Robert Visoiu	ROM	Rapax	1:43.826	1:42.628
19	Andre Negrao	BRA	Arden International	1:42.953	1:42.700
20	Nobuharu Matsushita	JAP	ART Grand Prix	1:44.392	1:43.181
21	Rio Haryanto	IDN	Campos Racing	1:43.347	1:43.207
22	Zoel Amburg	SUI	Lazarus	1:44.333	1:43.383
23	Marlon Stockinger	PHI	Status Grand Prix	1:43.876	1:43.398
24	Rene Binder	AUT	Trident	1:44.416	1:43.902
25	Sergio Canamasas	ESP	MP Motorsport	1:42.800	1:44.630
26	Nigel Melker	NED	Hilmer Motorsport	Missed	Day 1
The Positions are the results of the Afternoon Session [1] – Position in Morning Session (only top 5 shown)

Conclusions

Evans has proven himself today, with only a small mistake at the end. However; after being the man to beat in the afternoon, King will be determined to prove himself amongst his peers. While there were good times from Nato/ Vandoorne the Carlin drivers.

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2015 GP2 Pre-Season Test (Bahrain) Preview

GP2 Revs Up for Final Pre-Season Test

After topping the time sheets in the last pre-season tests, Stanaway has earned himself yet another test in the Status GP car. Personally I think he fully deserves the role and a good test could lead to a race drive for the season. The New Zealander who fought for the GP3 title last year had a poor end to last season only managing 8th. However; his loyalty to the Status GP squad could be a good progression for the former German Formula Three Champion.

Also joining the drivers is Nick Yelloly, after testing for Jota Sport LMP2 team, he later left and will now look to continue his career elsewhere. Yelloly came 6th in last years GP3, picking a victory in the final race of the year. He will joining Hilmer Motorsport for the test. He will be partnered with the experienced Melker who replaces Jefferies, as Canamasas takes Ghirelli's seat at MP Motorsport for the test.

Carlin had a poor test last time out so will be hoping for a return to form as Leal and Sorensen get used to the car. But more focus will of course be on the championship contenders of Evans, Gasly, Rossi, Marciello and Vandoorne. Vandoorne himself was competing in the 73rd Goodwood Members Meeting driving the McLaren Cosworth M23 a few weeks ago. With more promotional events for the McLaren youth, could we see him more associated with McLaren in times to come.

April 1st - Day 1 - Morning Session: 9:00-12:00 // Afternoon Session: 14:00-17:00
April 2nd - Day 2 - Morning Session: 9:00-12:00 // Afternoon Session: 14:00-17:00
April 3rd - Day 3 - Morning Session: 9:00-12:00 // Afternoon Session: 13:00-16:00

Line up for the Second Test:

DAMS
01. Pierre Gasly (FRA)
02. Alex Lynn (GBR)

Carlin
03. Julian Leal (COL)
04. Marco Sorensen (DEN)

ART Grand Prix
05. Stoffel Vandoorne (BEL)
06. Nobuharu Matsushita (JAP)

Racing Engineering
07. Jordan King (GBR)
08. Alexander Rossi (USA)

RUSSIAN TIME
09. Mitch Evans (NZL)
10. Artem Markelov (RUS)

Trident
11. Raffaele Marciello (ITA)
12. Rene Binder (AUT)

Campos Racing
14. Arthur Pic (FRA)
15. Rio Haryanto (INA)

MP Motorsport
16. Sergio Canamasas (ESP)
17. Daniel De Jong (NED)

Rapax
18. Sergey Sirotkin (RUS)
19. Robert Visoiu (ROU)

Arden International
20. André Negrao (BRA)
21. Norman Nato (FRA)

Status Grand Prix
22. Marlon Stockinger (PHI)
23. Richie Stanaway (NZL)

Hilmer Motorsport
24. Nick Yelloly (GBR)
25. Nigel Melker (NED)

Lazarus
26. Nathanaël Berthon (FRA)
27. Zoel Amberg (SUI)

Key: Contracted for the Season // Only Confirmed for the Test
 
So what are we expecting?

Probably more of the same with Vandoorne. However, Lynn's performance shows he should be good competition for Gasly. Sirotkin and Arden International performed better than expected and will be the ones to watch. After a few seasons of struggling for pace, have Arden found a good line up in the form of Nato and Negrao.

Who should be fastest?

After setting the fastest time last time, Stanaway will be hoping to continue his run of form. However; this is similar to the unexpectedly quick times we saw from Lancaster last year. Could Stanaway suffer the same fate, or will his performances in tests carry over to the racing.

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