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Final day test in Estoril, wet day

Two new teams finished quickest in both the morning and afternoon session with Kevin Korjus and his Finnish outfit for Koiranen GP posting the fastest time in the first half of the day with Williamson finishing the final day on top.

Today concluded a positive and successful test with the new second generation car as the full grid of 27 drivers covered 3809 laps in total over the three days. There were two amendments to the driver line-up for the final day with Kiwi Nick Cassidy replacing Tio Ellinas at Marussia Manor Racing and Lewis Williamson back in the Bamboo Engineering car in place of Ryan Cullen.

The final day of the first pre-season test at the Circuito Estoril got underway in torrential rain. There was an early red flag due to a stray dog on track. When the action resumed, Koiranen GP’s Kevin Korjus and the MW Arden duo of Carlos Sainz Jr and Daniil Kvyat were the early pacesetters as they dealt with the large volume of spray due to climatic conditions.

There were brief interruptions with the red flag after Jack Harvey (ART Grand Prix) stopped on circuit and Patrick Kujala (Koiranen GP) spun into the gravel bed. At the midway point Estonian driver Korjus held P1 from Sainz by 0.069s. The rain continued to hammer day and it was Patric Niederhauser who was next to become victim of the slippery track, spinning into the gravel which brought the red flag out.

With five minutes left on the clock, Alex Fontana (Jenzer Motorsport) spun leading to a short halt in proceedings. Korjus headed the timesheets at the close of the morning session in front of Sainz Jr, Harvey, Kvyat, Fontana, Dino Zamparelli (Marussia Manor Racing), Aaro Vainio (Koiranen GP), Kujala, Conor Daly (ART Grand Prix) and Niederhauser.

Sunshine returned for the start of the afternoon test and Cassidy and Nick Yelloly led the pack after one hour. The conditions were not easy though with gusty winds for the drivers to contend with. Laptimes tumbled throughout the session once slicks were used and the midway point saw Korjus and Sainz Jr sat on top of the timesheets with laps in the 1.29s. Jimmy Eriksson spun as the rain began to fall again as the red flag was waved.

Race simulations were the focus for most teams with drivers also concentrating on their tyre management skills. Harvey shot to P1 with one hour remaining as Fontana stopped on the circuit with technical gremlins.  Williamson clocked the fastest time as the session drew to a close with the red flag after Fumanelli stopped. At the chequered flag it was Williamson, Kvyat, Visoiu, Harvey, Zamparelli, Fumanelli, Fontana, Niederhauser, Facu Regalia (ART Grand Prix), and Korjus.

Didier Perrin GP3 Series Technical Director commented, “This has been a fruitful and successful first outing for the teams and their GP3/13 cars. We have had very positive feedback from the drivers saying how fun and tricky this new machine is to drive. The teams are also very impressed by the reliability of the car as there were no major issues. All in all, everything is looking very promising. Now the focus from the teams can be on the performance of the car.”

The Circuit de Catalunya will host the next GP3 pre-season test which will run for two days on March 12-13th 2013.

Day 3: Morning

Driver

Team

Laptime

Laps

1.

Kevin Korjus

Koiranen GP

1:42.420

28

2.

Carlos Sainz Jr

MW Arden

1:42.489

24

3.

Jack Harvey

ART Grand Prix

1:42.646

21

4.

Daniil Kvyat

MW Arden

1:42.832

18

5.

Alex Fontana

Jenzer Motorsport

1:42.887

35

6.

Dino Zamparelli

Marussia Manor Racing

1:43.110

29

7.

Aaro Vainio

Koiranen GP

1:43.144

32

8.

Patrick Kujala

Koiranen GP

1:43.518

25

9.

Conor Daly

ART Grand Prix

1:43.898

30

10.

Giovanni Venturini

Trident

1:44.044

33

11.

Patric Niederhauser

Jenzer Motorsport

1:44.050

20

12.

Nick Yelloly

Carlin

1:44.286

25

13.

Nick Cassidy

Marussia Manor Racing

1:44.301

33

14.

David Fumanelli

Trident

1:44.303

29

15.

Eric Lichtenstein

Carlin

1:44.375

39

16.

Facu Regalia

ART Grand Prix

1:44.377

34

17.

Robert Visoiu

MW Arden

1:44.393

29

18.

Emanuele Zonzini

Trident

1:44.655

29

19.

Jimmy Eriksson

Status Grand Prix

1:44.655

25

20.

Luis Sa Silva

Carlin

1:44.996

36

21.

Melville McKee

Status Grand Prix

1:45.124

23

22.

Samin Gomez

Jenzer Motorsport

1:45.150

34

23.

Vicky Piria

Marussia Manor Racing

1:45.316

29

24.

Josh Webster

Status Grand Prix

1:45.735

19

25.

Roberto La Rocca

Bamboo Engineering

1:46.000

11

26.

Lewis Williamson

Bamboo Engineering

1:46.510

11

27.

Ethan Ringel

Bamboo Engineering

1:47.030

25

Day 3: Afternoon

Driver

Team

Laptime

Laps

1.

Lewis Williamson

Bamboo Engineering

1:27.675

33

2.

Daniil Kvyat

MW Arden

1:27.763

28

3.

Robert Visoiu

MW Arden

1:27.848

37

4.

Jack Harvey

ART Grand Prix

1:28.080

39

5.

Dino Zamparelli

Marussia Manor Racing

1:28.139

34

6.

David Fumanelli

Trident

1:28.159

23

7.

Alex Fontana

Jenzer Motorsport

1:28.179

19

8.

Patric Niederhauser

Jenzer Motorsport

1:28.212

31

9.

Facu Regalia

ART Grand Prix

1:28.322

26

10.

Kevin Korjus

Koiranen GP

1:28.372

25

11.

Giovanni Venturini

Trident

1.28.385

25

12.

Emanuele Zonzini

Trident

1:28.459

28

13.

Carlos Sainz Jr

MW Arden

1:28.485

28

14.

Nick Cassidy

Marussia Manor Racing

1:28.522

41

15.

Conor Daly

ART Grand Prix

1:28.923

33

16.

Aaro Vainio

Koiranen GP

1:29.044

42

17.

Ethan Ringel

Bamboo Engineering

1:29.076

17

18.

Nick Yelloly

Carlin

1:29.104

31

19.

Patrick Kujala

Koiranen GP

1:29.335

16

20.

Luis Sa Silva

Carlin

1;29.341

39

21.

Vicky Piria

Marussia Manor Racing

1:29.461

25

22.

Josh Webster

Status Grand Prix

1:29.648

33

23.

Eric Lichtenstein

Carlin

1:29.823

30

24.

Samin Gomez

Jenzer Motorsport

1:30.177

33

25.

Roberto La Rocca

Bamboo Engineering

1:30.399

18

26.

Melville McKee

Status Grand Prix

1:31.780

14

27.

Jimmy Eriksson

Status Grand Prix

1:32.761

13

GP3 Press