As wet conditions greeted the GP3 Series drivers for the second and final day of the second pre-season test in Valencia, it was Koiranen GP‘s Matthew Parry who set the quickest time of the day with a 1m21.476s set in the morning session.
The afternoon session was topped by ART Grand Prix and Ferrari Driver Academy member Charles Leclerc, who lapped the track in 1m22.089s.
Conditions early on were difficult due to the high volume of spray from the cars as the grid ventured out onto the track with their wet Pirelli tyres.
ART Grand Prix’s Nirei Fukuzumi initially was the pace-setter, before being bettered by Campos Racing‘s Steijn Schothorst – as blue skies and sunshine started to make a welcomed appearance.
First to break the 1m30s barrier was Trident Motorsport‘s Giuliano Alesi, but as the track continued to cry out the times just got quicker and quicker with Parry recording a time of 1m23.549s on slick tyres.
Russian driver, Matevos Isaakyan broke into the 1m22s barrier, only for the session to be then brought to a halt when his team-mate Ralph Boschung stopped on track.
When the session was back underway, positions were swapped every few minutes with Trident Motorsport driver Antonio Fuoco and Leclerc being the firsts to lap in the 1m21s. Parry soon found some extra pace which took him to the top spot before Leclerc reclaimed the top spot once again.
In the closing ten minutes, Fukuzumi was once again in top by 0.004s to his team-mate – only to be beaten again by Parry who took the top spot by 0.064s.
As the one hour lunch break was signalled the top ten was: Parry, Fukuzumi, Leclerc, Alexander Albon, Artur Janosz, Nyck De Vries, Oscar Tunjo, Fuoco, Alex Palou and Jake Hughes.
There was not much action in the afternoon session, Fukuzumi led the way early on before once again being bested by Parry who leapt to the top. Leclerc ultimately found the pace to grab P1, whilst Hughes rose to second with half an hour remaining.
The day – and the test – ended with Leclerc remaining unchallenged ahead of: Hughes, Parry, Santino Ferrucci, Boschung, Kevin Jörg, Fukuzumi, Albon, Jake Dennis and Konstantin Tereshchenko.
The third and final pre-season test takes place at the Circuit de Catalunya on April 20-21 in Barcelona.
Valencia Pre-Season Test Morning Session
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Valencia Pre-Season Test Afternoon Session
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