GP3 Series

Evans Dominates First Day Of GP3 Testing At Barcelona

2 Mins read
Mitch Evans - Photo Credit: Drew Gibson/GP3 Series Media Service

Mitch Evans on track at the Circuit de Catalunya - Photo Credit: Drew Gibson/GP3 Series Media Service

GP3 Series racer Mitch Evans dominated the head of the timesheets on the first day of post-season testing at the Circuit de Catalunya.

The New Zealander was quickest in both the morning and afternoon for his team MW Arden, at a circuit where he won back in May.

The start to the day's running was delayed by 30 minutes due to thick fog, and when the morning session did get underway it did so on a damp circuit. Evans' time was set in the closing minutes of the session, once the track had dried out.

He was 0.367 seconds quicker than second placed Kevin Korjus, the multiple Formula Renault 3.5 race winner making his debut in the series with Tech 1 Racing. British F3 regular Carlos Huertas was third fastest for Carlin, ahead of Formula Renault UK frontrunner Tio Ellinas with Arden. Ferrari protégé Brendon Maisano was fifth for Jenzer Motorsport.

Evans was in control for the majority of the afternoon session, improving his morning benchmark by six tenths of a second to record a best time of 1:39.037. Matias Laine ended up second fastest, more than half a second adrift for Manor. Huertas and Ellinas were third and fourth again, with F3 Euro Series driver Daniel Abt fifth for ART.

Korjus was sixth ahead of Tech 1 teammate Miki Weckstrom, the Atech CRS duo of Tamas Pal Kiss and Nick Yelloly, and Italian F3 driver Edoardo Liberati in the third Arden car.

British Formula Ford champion Scott Malvern ended the two sessions in 21st and 19th respectively for Status Grand Prix, while Superstars race winner Michela Cerruti was 18th in the morning for Addax before propping up the timesheets in the afternoon.

Morning times:

Pos Driver Nat Team Time Gap Laps
1 26 Mitch Evans NZL MW Arden 1:39.695   23
2 19 Kevin Korjus EST Tech 1 Racing 1:40.062 0.367 18
3 14 Carlos Huertas COL Carlin 1:40.508 0.813 12
4 28 Tio Ellinas GBR MW Arden 1:40.620 0.925 36
5 7 Brandon Maisano FRA Jenzer Motorsport 1:40.692 0.997 38
6 18 Miki Weckström FIN Tech 1 Racing 1:40.814 1.119 16
7 22 Tamas Pal Kiss HUN Atech CRS GP 1:40.916 1.221 13
8 21 Nick Yelloly GBR Atech CRS GP 1:40.957 1.262 16
9 10 Gabby Chaves COL Manor Racing 1:40.997 1.302 25
10 9 Michael Heche SUI Jenzer Motorsport 1:41.074 1.379 35
11 8 Maxim Zimin RUS Jenzer Motorsport 1:41.267 1.572 30
12 27 Edoardo Liberati ITA MW Arden 1:41.486 1.791 22
13 23 Pieter Schothorst NED Addax Team 1:41.515 1.820 22
14 30 Markus Pommer GER RSC Mücke Motorsport 1:41.562 1.867 20
15 31 Pascal Wehrlein GER RSC Mücke Motorsport 1:42.000 2.305 19
16 16 Nicolas Costa BRA Carlin 1:42.229 2.534 27
17 17 Gerardo Nieto MEX Tech 1 Racing 1:42.613 2.918 14
18 25 Michela Cerruti ITA Addax Team 1:47.382 7.687 17
19 20 Ethan Ringel USA Atech CRS GP 1:47.550 7.855 10
20 4 Marlon Stockinger PHI Status Grand Prix 1:50.507 10.812 14
21 6 Scott Malvern GBR Status Grand Prix 1:51.745 12.050 20
22 3 Aaro Vainio FIN Lotus ART 1:51.922 12.227 11
23 2 Gregoire Demoustier FRA Lotus ART 1:52.075 12.380 17
24 1 Daniel Abt GER Lotus ART 1:57.134 17.439 16
25 5 Kotaro Sakurai JPN Status Grand Prix 1:58.122 18.427 9
26 12 Matias Laine FIN Manor Racing 1:58.534 18.839 12

Afternoon times:

Pos Driver Nat Team Time Gap Laps
1 26 Mitch Evans NZL MW Arden 1:39.037   19
2 12 Matias Laine FIN Manor Racing 1:39.627 0.59 29
3 14 Carlos Huertas COL Carlin 1:39.686 0.649 23
4 28 Tio Ellinas GBR MW Arden 1:39.718 0.681 22
5 1 Daniel Abt GER Lotus ART 1:39.745 0.708 35
6 19 Kevin Korjus EST Tech 1 Racing 1:39.835 0.798 21
7 18 Miki Weckström FIN Tech 1 Racing 1:40.035 0.998 24
8 22 Tamas Pal Kiss HUN Atech CRS GP 1:40.111 1.074 24
9 21 Nick Yelloly GBR Atech CRS GP 1:40.145 1.108 29
10 27 Edoardo Liberati ITA MW Arden 1:40.304 1.267 31
11 4 Marlon Stockinger PHI Status Grand Prix 1:40.304 1.267 28
12 9 Michael Heche SUI Jenzer Motorsport 1:40.319 1.282 30
13 7 Brandon Maisano FRA Jenzer Motorsport 1:40.372 1.335 28
14 3 Aaro Vainio FIN Lotus ART 1:40.382 1.345 37
15 10 Gabby Chaves COL Manor Racing 1:40.484 1.447 26
16 23 Pieter Schothorst NED Addax Team 1:40.652 1.615 25
17 30 Markus Pommer GER RSC Mücke Motorsport 1:40.714 1.677 27
18 5 Kotaro Sakurai JPN Status Grand Prix 1:41.055 2.018 38
19 6 Scott Malvern GBR Status Grand Prix 1:41.063 2.026 41
20 17 Gerardo Nieto MEX Tech 1 Racing 1:41.105 2.068 31
21 31 Pascal Wehrlein GER RSC Mücke Motorsport 1:41.145 2.108 25
22 2 Gregoire Demoustier FRA Lotus ART 1:41.474 2.437 32
23 8 Maxim Zimin RUS Jenzer Motorsport 1:41.706 2.669 23
24 16 Nicolas Costa BRA Carlin 1:41.896 2.859 28
25 20 Ethan Ringel USA Atech CRS GP 1:43.610 4.573 33
26 25 Michela Cerruti ITA Addax Team 1:44.396 5.359 34
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Peter joined the TCF team in September 2010 and covers GP2 and GP3 along with WTCC and Formula Two. You can find him on twitter at @PeteAllen_
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