Alex Lynn quickest on Day 2 of testing

GP3 rookie and new signing for Carlin topped both the morning and afternoon test session in Portugal today with a best laptime of 1:28.552.

Following the deluge of rain overnight, the drivers and teams arrived at Circuito Estoril to a soaking wet track despite blue skies and sunshine above.  There was one change to the driver line-up with Roberto Merhi from Spain replacing Richie Stanaway in the Status GP machine. Nick Yelloly and Merhi were first to test the conditions along with Trident’s Roman De Beer.

There was a short interruption when Arden International’s Robert Visoiu spun and stopped on track. At the midway point of the morning test, the drivers opted for slick Pirelli Medium tyres as the times began to tumble. Trident’s Victor Carbone held P1 for a short time before Jenzer Motorsport’s Melville McKee claimed the head of the timings.

There was a brief stoppage for a second red flag when Dino Zamparelli stopped on circuit and once the action continued, it was Yelloly who surged to the top of the standings lapping in the 1m30’s. De Beer then set the quickest lap with Visoiu lapping a tenth shy of the South African.

ART Grand Prix’s Marvin Kirchhofer became the first driver to break into the 1m29’s as the positions swapped every second at the top of the timesheets with drivers finding more speed on a drying track. Emil Bernstorff was leading the timesheets when Zamparelli stopped on the circuit for a second time with less than 10 minutes remaining.

 Following the brief red flag period, it was a quick dash to see if anyone could improve on their time and Lynn was the man to do so, snatching P1 at the chequered flag. Bernstorff, Zamparelli, McKee, Yelloly, Kirchhofer, Jimmy Eriksson, Alex Fontana, Visoiu and De Beer completed the top ten.

The predicted rain didn’t arrive and Eriksson was first to set the pace in the afternoon session. The Swede then had an excursion into the gravel bed, as did McKee and Santiago Urrutia shortly after, all covered by red flags.

With some drivers concentrating on qualifying and race simulations, there was a change in the standings with Lynn again finding himself fastest, ahead of his Angolan teammate Sa Silva. De Beer split the pair, before the Brit further improved on his personal best to record the fastest time of the day with a 1:29.066.

Bernstorff was on a charge and broke into the 1m28’s until Lynn came back at him and reclaimed P1. Behind the Carlin duo at the chequered flag were: Eriksson, De Beer, Sa Silva, Dean Stoneman, Fontana, Zamparelli, Yelloly, and Kirchhofer.

The second GP3 test will take place at Circuito Jerez in Spain on 10-11 April and will mark the first appearance for Hilmer Motorsport.

Morning Results

	Driver	Team	Laptime	Laps
1.	Alex Lynn	Carlin	1:29.266	25
2.	Emil Bernstorff	Carlin	1:29.489	34
3.	Dino Zamparelli	ART Grand Prix	1:29.583	31
4.	Melville McKee	Jenzer Motorsport	1:29.609	27
5.	Nick Yelloly	Status Grand Prix	1:29.682	32
6.	Marvin Kirchhofer	ART Grand Prix	1:29.700	47
7.	Jimmy Eriksson	Koiranen GP	1:29.816	22
8.	Alex Fontana	ART Grand Prix	1:29.898	28
9.	Robert Visoiu	Arden International	1:29.929	34
10.	Roman De Beer	Trident	1:30.138	30
11.	Jann Mardenborough	Arden International	1:30.292	30
12.	Patric Niederhauser	Arden International	1:30.302	31
13.	Luis Sa Silva	Carlin	1:30.372	25
14.	Nelson Mason	Trident	1:30.445	32
15.	Roberto Merhi	Status Grand Prix	1:30.480	41
16.	Dean Stoneman	Marussia Manor Racing	1:30.505	29
17.	Pal Varhaug	Jenzer Motorsport	1:30.752	18
18.	Santiago Urrutia	Koiranen GP	1:31.125	18
19.	Patrick Kujala	Marussia Manor Racing	1:31.325	30
20.	Ryan Cullen	Marussia Manor Racing	1:31.392	38
21.	Adderly Fong	Jenzer Motorsport	1:31.799	19
22.	Victor Carbone	Trident	1:31.981	37
23	Alfonso Celis Jr	Status Grand Prix	1:32.377	29
24.	Carmen Jorda	Koiranen GP	1:35.576	32
	Afternoon Results
	Driver	Team	Laptime	Laps
1.	Alex Lynn	Carlin	1:28.553	31
2.	Emil Bernstorff	Carlin	1:28.774	43
3.	Jimmy Eriksson	Koiranen GP	1:29.259	28
4.	Roman De Beer	Trident	1:29.276	28
5.	Luis Sa Silva	Carlin	1:29.331	18
6.	Dean Stoneman	Marussia Manor Racing	1:29.333	28
7.	Alex Fontana	ART Grand Prix	1:29.442	23
8.	Dino Zamparelli	ART Grand Prix	1:29.468	11
9.	Nick Yelloly	Status Grand Prix	1:29.538	33
10.	Marvin Kirchhofer	ART Grand Prix	1:29.553	11
11.	Patric Niederhauser	Arden International	1:29.744	16
12.	Patrick Kujala	Marussia Manor Racing	1:29.838	23
13.	Victor Carbone	Trident	1:29.921	28
14.	Nelson Mason	Trident	1:29.935	29
15.	Melville McKee	Jenzer Motorsport	1:29.961	18
16.	Roberto Merhi	Status Grand Prix	1:30.010	22
17.	Santiago Urrutia	Koiranen GP	1:30.041	20
18.	Robert Visoiu	Arden International	1:30.066	24
19.	Pal Varhaug	Jenzer Motorsport	1:30.162	32
20.	Alfonso Celis Jr	Status Grand Prix	1:30.199	27
21.	Jann Mardenborough	Arden International	1:30.235	38
22.	Adderly Fong	Jenzer Motorsport	1:30.237	23
23	Ryan Cullen	Marussia Manor Racing	1:30.327	24
24.	Carmen Jorda	Koiranen GP	1:30.599	20

Press Release