Daniel Abt - Photo Credit: Drew Gibson/GP3 Media Service
German driver Daniel Abt was the man to beat on the first day of the GP3 test at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, posting the fastest times in both the morning and afternoon sessions for champions Lotus ART.
Abt, who turns 19 next Saturday, was the first man to go below 1m40s in a session that started on a damp track. As conditions improved over the duration of the session he would eventually get his laptime down to a 1m27.505s
This put him more than six tenths clear of anyone else, with Italian Formula Abarth champion Patric Niederhauser second fastest for Jenzer Motorsport. The Swiss driver was just 0.002s ahead of another ART driver – Brazilian Victor Guerin, who this year raced in Italian F3.
Conor Daly returned to the GP3 cockpit after a good debut season in Europe for Carlin, and was fourth quickest in the morning ahead of fellow 2011 season drivers Matias Laine (Marussia Manor) and Marlon Stockinger (ART).
Formula Renault UK race winners Tio Ellinas and Will Stevens were next up for Manor and MW Arden respectively, with Maxim Zimin and the 2010 Formula Renault UK champion Tom Blomqvist completing the top ten.
In the afternoon session it was Laine who sat in P1 for the majority of the time, but Abt stole top spot away with just 20 minutes of the session remaining. He had shaved six tenths off his morning benchmark, enough to leave him a tenth ahead of Formula Abarth driver Michael Heche of Jenzer.
Laine ended up third ahead of Ellinas, Stevens and another Formula Renault UK alumni Tamas Pal Kiss (Atech CRS). Japanese F3 champion Yuhi Sekiguchi was seventh fastest for Mucke Motorsport after his impressive fourth place finish at Macau with the German squad last weekend. Niederhauser was eighth fastest, ahead of Blomqvist and Daly.
Morning times:
| Pos | Driver | Nat | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Abt,Daniel | GER | Lotus ART | 01:27,505 | 32 | |
| 2 | Niederhauser,Patric | SUI | Jenzer Motorsport | 01:28,141 | 0,636 | 39 |
| 3 | Guerin,Victor | BRA | Lotus ART | 01:28,143 | 0,638 | 32 |
| 4 | Daly,Conor | USA | Carlin | 01:28,186 | 0,681 | 33 |
| 5 | Laine,Matias | FIN | Marussia Manor | 01:28,237 | 0,732 | 23 |
| 6 | Stockinger,Marlon | PHI | Lotus ART | 01:28,321 | 0,816 | 36 |
| 7 | Ellinas,Tio | GBR | Marussia Manor | 01:28,443 | 0,938 | 27 |
| 8 | Stevens,Will | GBR | MW Arden | 01:28,566 | 1,061 | 37 |
| 9 | Zimin,Maxim | RUS | MW Arden | 01:28,596 | 1,091 | 35 |
| 10 | Blomqvist,Tom | GBR | Status G.P. | 01:28,609 | 1,104 | 37 |
| 11 | Buller,Will | GBR | Carlin | 01:28,771 | 1,266 | 40 |
| 12 | Pal Kiss,Tamas | HUN | Atech CRS GP | 01:28,870 | 1,365 | 13 |
| 13 | Sekiguchi,Yuhi | JPN | Mucke MS | 01:29,399 | 1,894 | 21 |
| 14 | Visoiu,Robert | ROM | Jenzer Motorsport | 01:29,651 | 2,146 | 33 |
| 15 | Gamberini,Fabio | BRA | MW Arden | 01:29,743 | 2,238 | 36 |
| 16 | Regalia,Facu | ARG | Status G.P. | 01:29,943 | 2,438 | 37 |
| 17 | Sakurai,Kotaro | JPN | Status G.P. | 01:30,187 | 2,682 | 37 |
| 18 | Camplese,Lorenzo | ITA | Tech1 Racing | 01:30,368 | 2,863 | 30 |
| 19 | Wehrlein,Pascal | GER | Mucke MS | 01:30,442 | 2,937 | 24 |
| 20 | Cerruti,Michela | ITA | Addax Team | 01:31,083 | 3,578 | 33 |
| 21 | Suranovich,Dmitry | RUS | Marussia Manor | 01:31,181 | 3,676 | 36 |
| 22 | Ringel,Ethan | USA | Atech CRS GP | 01:31,510 | 4,005 | 24 |
| 23 | Toledano,Picho | MEX | Tech1 Racing | 01:32,436 | 4,931 | 33 |
| 24 | Grigorenko,Yuri | RUS | Addax Team | 01:32,837 | 5,332 | 44 |
| 25 | Heche,Michael | SUI | Jenzer Motorsport | 01:43,173 | 15,668 | 10 |
Afternoon times:
| Pos | Driver | Nat | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Abt,Daniel | GER | Lotus ART | 01:26,935 | 29 | |
| 2 | Heche,Michael | SUI | Jenzer Motorsport | 01:27,049 | 0,114 | 36 |
| 3 | Laine,Matias | FIN | Marussia Manor | 01:27,122 | 0,187 | 25 |
| 4 | Ellinas,Tio | GBR | Marussia Manor | 01:27,140 | 0,205 | 32 |
| 5 | Stevens,Will | GBR | MW Arden | 01:27,270 | 0,335 | 34 |
| 6 | Pal Kiss,Tamas | HUN | Atech CRS GP | 01:27,279 | 0,344 | 25 |
| 7 | Sekiguchi,Yuhi | JPN | Mucke | 01:27,411 | 0,476 | 20 |
| 8 | Niederhauser,Patric | SUI | Jenzer Motorsport | 01:27,470 | 0,535 | 37 |
| 9 | Blomqvist,Tom | GBR | Status G.P. | 01:27,476 | 0,541 | 33 |
| 10 | Daly,Conor | USA | Carlin | 01:27,518 | 0,583 | 40 |
| 11 | Zimin,Maxim | RUS | MW Arden | 01:27,770 | 0,835 | 34 |
| 12 | Gamberini,Fabio | BRA | MW Arden | 01:27,807 | 0,872 | 26 |
| 13 | Stockinger,Marlon | PHI | Lotus ART | 01:27,822 | 0,887 | 23 |
| 14 | Guerin,Victor | BRA | Lotus ART | 01:27,927 | 0,992 | 28 |
| 15 | Camplese,Lorenzo | ITA | Tech1 Racing | 01:28,062 | 1,127 | 33 |
| 16 | Visoiu,Robert | ROM | Jenzer Motorsport | 01:28,129 | 1,194 | 24 |
| 17 | Buller,Will | GBR | Carlin | 01:28,238 | 1,303 | 29 |
| 18 | Regalia,Facu | ARG | Status G.P. | 01:28,262 | 1,327 | 39 |
| 19 | Suranovich,Dmitry | RUS | Marussia Manor | 01:28,497 | 1,562 | 43 |
| 20 | Sakurai,Kotaro | JPN | Status G.P. | 01:28,836 | 1,901 | 22 |
| 21 | Wehrlein,Pascal | GER | Mucke MS | 01:28,892 | 1,957 | 28 |
| 22 | Ringel,Ethan | USA | Atech CRS GP | 01:29,203 | 2,268 | 37 |
| 23 | Grigorenko,Yuri | RUS | Addax Team | 01:29,370 | 2,435 | 48 |
| 24 | Cerruti,Michela | ITA | Addax Team | 01:30,213 | 3,278 | 47 |
| 25 | Toledano,Picho | MEX | Tech1 Racing | 01:30,690 | 3,755 | 37 |
