Alexander Sims was the pacesetter again on the second and final day of the GP3 Series mid-season test at Valencia’s Circuit Ricardo Tormo. The British Status Grand Prix driver, who had also posted the fastest time of Thursday’s running, set his quickest time of 1:26.842 during the morning session.
Tom Dillmann was the first man to top the timesheets at the start of the day for Addax, before Sims quickly took top spot. Lewis Williamson temporarily displaced his compatriot after half an hour for MW Arden, only for Sims to take the position back five minutes later.
His time went unbeaten until the end of the morning session, with Dillmann ending up second just under two tenths slower. Points leader Nigel Melker was third quickest for Mucke with teammate Michael Christensen fourth. Gabby Chaves was fifth in the second of the Addax cars, with Williamson sixth. James Calado was seventh as the quickest ART driver, ahead of Carlin‘s Leonardo Cordeiro, Tech 1‘s Aaro Vainio and Jenzer driver Nico Muller.
Thursday afternoon pacesetter Rio Haryanto was again on top for most of the afternoon session for Manor. With most focussing on race simulations and setup work, it wasn’t until a last minute shootout that the Indonesian’s time was bettered. Christensen was the man to do it, knocking Haryanto down into second.
Melker was third again, ahead of Calado and Dillmann. Valtteri Bottas was sixth for ART, with Arden’s Simon Trummer in seventh. Chaves was eighth, with Carlin’s Daniel Morad and Sims’ teammate Antonio Felix da Costa rounding out the top ten. Sims himself languished down in 22nd, but his morning benchmark had not been bettered to give him the quickest time of the test.
The GP3 paddock doesn’t have far to go for its next appointment, with round three of the season taking place on the Valencia Street Circuit next weekend in support of the Formula 1 European Grand Prix.
