Rookie George Russell set the pace during the first testing day of GP3 Series in Estoril, Portugal.
Let’s first note the presence of four drivers who have not been officialised yet for the 2017 season: Raoul Hyman and Marcos Siebert for Campos, and Ryan Tveter and Dorian Boccolacci for Trident.
The day started in wet and windy conditions, forcing the drivers to head out with wet tyres. Santino Ferrucci (DAMS) was the fastest in the early stages of the session while some drivers had not set any laptime yet.
The rain stopped halfway through the session and allowed the drivers to constantly improve until Raoul Hyman decided to go out on slick tyres and claimed the fastest time of the session and the only dry time. Kari, Ferrucci, Alesi, Pulcini, Schothorst, Seiberg, Tveter, Lorandi and Baptista completed the top 10 of the morning session.
The afternoon session went through much easier conditions with a dry track. Leonardo Pulcini (Arden) dominated the early stages before George Russell (ART GP) stopped on track and provoked a red flag.
At the restart, all the drivers tested the new DRS system which makes its debuts in GP3 this season. Jenzer drivers, Alessio Lorandi and Arjun Maini were quite fast after the restart before ART GP teammates Russell and Fukuzumi took the fastest times.
George Russell concluded the day in the lead with a 1:27.606 laptime ahead of Nirei Fukuzumi and Raoul Hyman. Hubert, Maini, Alesi, Boccolacci, Aitken, Kari and Ferrucci completed the top 10 as Tveter did not set any time.
