Barcelona, 19 April 2017: Arjun Maini has set the bar for the second GP3 Series pre-season test by topping the timesheets this morning at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona, with the Indian grabbing the top spot late in a session which started with rain and ended on a fully dry track with a laptime of 1:34.163, just three tenths faster than Niko Kari and Santino Ferrucci.

The session opened to unexpectedly cold and wet conditions, and although all drivers were straight out for installations there was no meani

[caption id="attachment_5233" align="alignright" width="560"] Arjun Maini at second Test at barcelona Pic by Zak Mauger/GP3 Media Service (1).jpg Image added on 20 April 2017 from second day action.[/caption]

ngful running, with the ART quartet the only drivers to set laptimes, and well off the regular pace. Anthoine Hubert led the way at the one hour mark, with teammate George Russell taking over at the halfway mark, but it was only around the second hour that drivers were switching to slicks and setting competitive times, with Nirei Fukuzumi taking over on top of the timesheets.

The field made up for lost time in the final hour, with Kari setting the pace with 45 minutes remaining on 1:35.367, with Ferrucci slotting into P2 briefly before being displaced by Fukuzumi just seconds before the American grabbed the top spot by two tenths. The Japanese driver struck back with half an hour remaining, breaking the 35s barrier with a 1:34.761, ahead of Leonardo Pulcini and Ferrucci, but with ten minutes to go Maini grabbed the top spot by half a second, and then went even quicker with 5 minutes remaining to secure the top of the timesheets.

With the times tumbling late in the session not everyone had time to respond: 8 drivers are within 1 second of Maini’s time, and all bar one are within 2 seconds. There will be time for a further answer when the teams return to their pits after lunch, in two hours’ time.

Day 1 Morning results

Driver

Team

Laptime

Laps

1

Arjun Maini

Jenzer Motorsport

1:34.163

24

2

Niko Kari

Arden International

1:34.522

23

3

Santino Ferrucci

DAMS

1:34.651

16

4

Nirei Fukuzumi

ART Grand Prix

1:34.761

45

5

Leonardo Pulcini

Arden International

1:34.828

19

6

Raoul Hyman

Campos Racing

1:34.877

18

7

Dorian Boccolacci

Trident

1:34.929

12

8

Giuliano Alesi

Trident

1:35.146

13

9

Alessio Lorandi

Jenzer Motorsport

1:35.173

16

10

Marcos Siebert

Campos Racing

1:35.249

19

11

Kevin Joerg

Trident

1:35.261

14

12

Steijn Schothorst

Arden International

1:35.330

19

13

Anthoine Hubert

ART Grand Prix

1:35.379

45

14

Julien Falchero

Campos Racing

1:35.407

25

15

Tatiana Calderon

DAMS

1:35.415

17

16

Bruno Baptista

DAMS

1:35.639

17

17

Jack Aitken

ART Grand Prix

1:35.748

41

18

George Russell

ART Grand Prix

1:36.094

40

19

Ryan Tveter

Trident

1:36.545

12

eom/Source: www.GP3series.com