Mitch Evans quickest on day one of Barcelona GP3 testing
Mitch Evans dominated the opening day of GP3 winter testing at Barcelona for the MW Arden squad
The 17-year-old New Zealander, who was a race-winner for the team on his way to ninth in the standings this year, set the pace in a time of 1m39.037s during the afternoon.
The morning session started 30 minutes late due to thick fog at the circuit, and when it did get underway, the entire field had to make use of wet weather tyres. However, as conditions improved, slicks became the order of the day.
Evans pace-setting time of 1m39.695s came with a few minutes to go and knocked Jenzer's Michael Heche off the top spot. Such was the flurry of on-track activity, that Heche was knocked back to 10th by the chequered flag.
Dry conditions in the afternoon also played to Evans' advantage, and he knocked the ART car of F3 Euro Series racer Daniel Abt off the top spot with half an hour to go.
Series regular Matias Laine was a surprising second quickest for Manor, 0.590s behind Evans, while British F3 graduate Carlos Huertas was third for Carlin, despite causing one of three red flags during the day with an off.
Cypriot driver Tio Ellinas put the second MW Arden car fourth, with Abt and Formula Renault 3.5 race-winner Kevin Korjus next up for Tech 1, ahead of his team-mate Miki Weckstrom.
Tamas Pal Kiss, a race-winner in GP3 at Barcelona with Tech 1 this year, was eighth quickest for Atech CRS, with his British team-mate Nick Yelloly and MW Arden's Edoardo Liberati completing the top 10.
Further back, British Formula Ford champion Scott Malvern was 20th on his GP3 test debut for Status.
Morning times:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Mitch Evans Mw Arden 1m39.695s 23 2. Kevin Korjus Tech 1 Racing 1m40.062s 18 3. Carlos Huertas Carlin 1m40.508s 12 4. Tio Ellinas Mw Arden 1m40.620s 36 5. Brandon Maisano Jenzer Motorsport 1m40.692s 38 6. Miki Weckström Tech 1 Racing 1m40.814s 16 7. Tamas Pal Kiss Atech Crs Gp 1m40.916s 13 8. Nick Yelloly Atech Crs Gp 1m40.957s 16 9. Gabby Chaves Manor Racing 1m40.997s 25 10. Michael Heche Jenzer Motorsport 1m41.074s 35 11. Maxim Zimin Jenzer Motorsport 1m41.267s 30 12. Edoardo Liberati Mw Arden 1m41.486s 22 13. Pieter Schothorst Addax Team 1m41.515s 22 14. Markus Pommer Rsc Mücke Motorsport 1m41.562s 20 15. Pascal Wehrlein Rsc Mücke Motorsport 1m42.000s 19 16. Nicolas Costa Carlin 1m42.229s 27 17. Gerardo Nieto Tech 1 Racing 1m42.613s 14 18. Michela Cerruti Addax Team 1m47.382s 17 19. Ethan Ringel Atech Crs Gp 1m47.550s 10 20. Marlon Stockinger Status Grand Prix 1m50.507s 14 21. Scott Malvern Status Grand Prix 1m51.745s 20 22. Aaro Vainio Lotus Art 1m51.922s 11 23. Gregoire Demoustier Lotus Art 1m52.075s 17 24. Daniel Abt Lotus Art 1m57.134s 16 25. Kotaro Sakurai Status Grand Prix 1m58.122s 9 26. Matias Laine Manor Racing 1m58.534s 12
Afernoon times:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Mitch Evans Mw Arden 1m39.037s 19 2. Matias Laine Manor Racing 1m39.627s 29 3. Carlos Huertas Carlin 1m39.686s 23 4. Tio Ellinas Mw Arden 1m39.718s 22 5. Daniel Abt Lotus Art 1m39.745s 35 6. Kevin Korjus Tech 1 Racing 1m39.835s 21 7. Miki Weckström Tech 1 Racing 1m40.035s 24 8. Tamas Pal Kiss Atech Crs Gp 1m40.111s 24 9. Nick Yelloly Atech Crs Gp 1m40.145s 29 10. Edoardo Liberati Mw Arden 1m40.304s 31 11. Marlon Stockinger Status Grand Prix 1m40.304s 28 12. Michael Heche Jenzer Motorsport 1m40.319s 30 13. Brandon Maisano Jenzer Motorsport 1m40.372s 28 14. Aaro Vainio Lotus Art 1m40.382s 37 15. Gabby Chaves Manor Racing 1m40.484s 26 16. Pieter Schothorst Addax Team 1m40.652s 25 17. Markus Pommer Rsc Mücke Motorsport 1m40.714s 27 18. Kotaro Sakurai Status Grand Prix 1m41.055s 38 19. Scott Malvern Status Grand Prix 1m41.063s 41 20. Gerardo Nieto Tech 1 Racing 1m41.105s 31 21. Pascal Wehrlein Rsc Mücke Motorsport 1m41.145s 25 22. Gregoire Demoustier Lotus Art 1m41.474s 32 23. Maxim Zimin Jenzer Motorsport 1m41.706s 23 24. Nicolas Costa Carlin 1m41.896s 28 25. Ethan Ringel Atech Crs Gp 1m43.610s 33 26. Michela Cerruti Addax Team 1m44.396s 34
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