Adrien Tambay posted the fastest time on the final day of the GP3 Series test at Estoril, as Lewis Williamson continued on from where he left off yesterday by going quickest in the afternoon session.
Williamson surprised many by topping the timesheets on Day 2, his first day driving the GP3 car. He remained with the Atech CRS team for Day 3, where he continued to set the pace.
Two drivers made their GP3 debuts on the final day of the test, with Gabriel Chaves replacing Matias Laine at ART Grand Prix and Oli Webb joining Status GP in place of regular driver Ivan Lukashevich. There were a few other changes, with Tambay returning to Manor Racing and Dean Smith driving for Addax Team having been with Status back on Wednesday. Adriano Buzaid returned to Addax having missed Thursday, replacing Roberto Merhi. Aaro Vainio returned to the Tech 1 car, replacing Doru Sechealriu.
It was Tambay who set the pace in the morning session, with Williamson continuing his impressive form to go second. Nigel Melker and Pedro Nunes were third and fourth quickest, while Chaves had an impressive debut session, posting the fifth fastest time.
The series newcomers were in the authority in the afternoon, with Robin Frijns, Williamson and Mitch Evans appearing towards the top end of the timing screens for most of the session. As the drivers went out on fresh rubber at the end of the session, it was Williamson who set the fastest time, with Frijns just 0.013 seconds behind. Smith was third on his first appearance for Addax, with ART rookies Chaves and Calado rounding out the top five. The circuit appeared to be at its best during the morning, with only a few drivers able to improve their times in the afternoon.
RSC Mucke's Andrina Gugger failed to get out in either of the sessions after injuring her hand yesterday afternoon.
Over the three days the drivers completed 6,269 laps between them, totalling 26,217 kilometres. Series director Didier Perrin praised the reliability of the GP3 cars, saying: “This is what you call a trouble free test session. The reliability this week in Estoril has been very impressive for all of the teams. Not a single car has stopped out on track due to reliability issues and we have encountered only very minor glitches with the thirty cars.”
The GP3 cars and teams will be back in action again next week at Jerez in Spain. The three day test will take place between Wednesday 20th and Friday 22nd October.
Combined Day 3 Results
| Pos | Car # | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | 7 | Adrien Tambay | Manor Racing | 1:30,973 |
| 2 | 31 | Lewis Williamson | Atech CRS GP | 1:31,098 |
| 3 | 10 | Nigel Melker | RSC Mucke | 1:31,122 |
| 4 | 3 | Pedro Nunes | ART Grand Prix | 1:31,122 |
| 5 | 2 | Gabriel Chaves | ART Grand Prix | 1:31,224 |
| 6 | 20 | Robin Frijns | MW Arden | 1:31,236 |
| 7 | 17 | Dean Smith | Addax Team | 1:31,240 |
| 8 | 4 | Michael Christensen | Status Grand Prix | 1:31,242 |
| 9 | 18 | Julian Leal | Addax Team | 1:31,266 |
| 10 | 22 | Mitch Evans | MW Arden | 1:31,310 |
| 11 | 26 | Aaro Vainio | Tech 1 Racing | 1:31,374 |
| 12 | 21 | Simon Trummer | MW Arden | 1:31,465 |
| 13 | 28 | Miki Monras | Tech 1 Racing | 1:31,490 |
| 14 | 1 | James Calado | ART Grand Prix | 1:31,506 |
| 15 | 15 | Josef Newgarden | Carlin | 1:31,560 |
| 16 | 12 | Willi Steindl | RSC Mucke | 1:31,596 |
| 17 | 29 | Nick Yelloly | Atech CRS GP | 1:31,598 |
| 18 | 5 | Oli Webb | Status Grand Prix | 1:31,653 |
| 19 | 27 | Hugo Valente | Tech 1 Racing | 1:31,679 |
| 20 | 25 | Marlon Stockinger | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:31,763 |
| 21 | 24 | Zoel Amberg | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:31,771 |
| 22 | 9 | Thomas Hylkema | Manor Racing | 1:31,815 |
| 23 | 19 | Adriano Buzaid | Addax Team | 1:31,839 |
| 24 | 23 | Vittorio Ghirelli | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:31,841 |
| 25 | 8 | Rio Haryanto | Manor Racing | 1:31,878 |
| 26 | 30 | Tamas Pal Kiss | Atech CRS GP | 1:31,936 |
| 27 | 14 | Rupert Svendsen-Cook | Carlin | 1:31,976 |
| 28 | 16 | Richard Bradley | Carlin | 1:32,519 |
| 29 | 6 | Kotaro Sakurai | Status Grand Prix | 1:32,578 |
