European F3 testing: Antonio Giovinazzi fastest at Valencia
Italian Antonio Giovinazzi kept the rookie challenge at bay in the first official day of Formula 3 European Championship testing at Valencia
The Jagonya Ayam protege began the two-day test at the Ricardo Tormo circuit by topping both sessions, finishing up a quarter of a second clear of Carlin team-mate George Russell.
McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award winner Russell was second in both sessions, each time ending up just ahead of the Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara-VW of Monegasque Charles Leclerc.
Both Carlin and VAR took one of their 'joker days' of running at Valencia on Monday before the official test kicked off on Tuesday.
Fourth fastest on Tuesday was German Maximilian Gunther for Mucke Motorsport, ahead of Anglo-Thai Alexander Albon in the lead Signature car.
Albon was fourth quickest in the afternoon and ensured that there were four rookies in the overall top five.
Macau Grand Prix winner Felix Rosenqvist completed the top six in the lead car from Prema Powerteam.
The Italian squad is famous for not chasing headline-grabbing times in testing and the Swede's team-mates, Jake Dennis, Brandon Maisano and Ferrari youngster Lance Stroll, were 14th, 15th and 21st respectively.
Red Bull junior Callum Ilott was seventh fastest with Carlin, while Arjun Maini (VAR), Mikkel Jensen (Mucke) and Sergio Sette Camara (Motopark) completed the top 10.
Two of the 35 cars entered for the series were missing: Fortec Motorsport took just three of its four Dallaras, one of which Martin Cao will hand over to Peter Li for Wednesday's sessions; EuroInternational's Nicolas Beer returned to the cockpit after his heavy shunt at Imola last week, but the other car of Marvin Kirchhofer is absent as the German is on GP3 test duty at Estoril.
The total number of Valencia runners is 34, as Sean Gelael is driving a seventh Carlin car - which will be unregistered for points - in selected rounds that do not clash with his Formula Renault 3.5 programme.
Morning session: Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Antonio Giovinazzi Carlin Dallara-VW 1m24.766s 2. George Russell Carlin Dallara-VW 1m25.005s +0.239s 3. Charles Leclerc Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 1m25.164s +0.398s 4. Maximilian Gunther Mucke Dallara-Merc 1m25.236s +0.470s 5. Felix Rosenqvist Prema Dallara-Merc 1m25.267s +0.501s 6. Callum Ilott Carlin Dallara-VW 1m25.295s +0.529s 7. Alexander Albon Signature Dallara-VW 1m25.432s +0.666s 8. Gustavo Menezes Carlin Dallara-VW 1m25.480s +0.714s 9. Dorian Boccolacci Signature Dallara-VW 1m25.490s +0.724s 10. Jake Dennis Prema Dallara-Merc 1m25.522s +0.756s 11. Ryan Tveter Carlin Dallara-VW 1m25.525s +0.759s 12. Sergio Sette Camara Motopark Dallara-VW 1m25.532s +0.766s 13. Santino Ferrucci Mucke Dallara-Merc 1m25.617s +0.851s 14. Alessio Lorandi Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 1m25.709s +0.943s 15. Brandon Maisano Prema Dallara-Merc 1m25.744s +0.978s 16. Tatiana Calderon Carlin Dallara-VW 1m25.764s +0.998s 17. Mikkel Jensen Mucke Dallara-Merc 1m25.855s +1.089s 18. Michele Beretta Mucke Dallara-Merc 1m25.876s +1.110s 19. Arjun Maini Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 1m25.946s +1.180s 20. Kang Ling Mucke Dallara-Merc 1m26.013s +1.247s 21. Markus Pommer Motopark Dallara-VW 1m26.094s +1.328s 22. Sean Gelael Carlin Dallara-VW 1m26.120s +1.354s 23. Lance Stroll Prema Dallara-Merc 1m26.211s +1.445s 24. Pietro Fittipaldi Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m26.247s +1.481s 25. Nabil Jeffri Motopark Dallara-VW 1m26.366s +1.600s 26. Matt Rao Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m26.553s +1.787s 27. Matthew Solomon Double R Dallara-Merc 1m26.639s +1.873s 28. Nicolas Beer Eurointernational Dallara-Merc 1m26.775s +2.009s 29. Julio Moreno T-Sport Dallara-NBE 1m26.803s +2.037s 30. Fabian Schiller West-Tec Dallara-Merc 1m26.863s +2.097s 31. Mahaveer Raghunathan Motopark Dallara-VW 1m26.932s +2.166s 32. Nicolas Pohler Double R Dallara-Merc 1m27.099s +2.333s 33. Martin Cao Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m27.127s +2.361s 34. Sam MacLeod Motopark Dallara-VW 1m31.894s +7.128s Afternoon session: Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Antonio Giovinazzi Carlin Dallara-VW 1m24.755s 2. George Russell Carlin Dallara-VW 1m25.043s +0.288s 3. Charles Leclerc Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 1m25.141s +0.386s 4. Alexander Albon Signature Dallara-VW 1m25.245s +0.490s 5. Arjun Maini Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 1m25.296s +0.541s 6. Mikkel Jensen Mucke Dallara-Merc 1m25.301s +0.546s 7. Maximilian Gunther Mucke Dallara-Merc 1m25.326s +0.571s 8. Callum Ilott Carlin Dallara-VW 1m25.401s +0.646s 9. Felix Rosenqvist Prema Dallara-Merc 1m25.406s +0.651s 10. Sergio Sette Camara Motopark Dallara-VW 1m25.474s +0.719s 11. Ryan Tveter Carlin Dallara-VW 1m25.485s +0.73 s 12. Dorian Boccolacci Signature Dallara-VW 1m25.524s +0.769s 13. Gustavo Menezes Carlin Dallara-VW 1m25.527s +0.772s 14. Brandon Maisano Prema Dallara-Merc 1m25.540s +0.785s 15. Michele Beretta Mucke Dallara-Merc 1m25.628s +0.873s 16. Jake Dennis Prema Dallara-Merc 1m25.631s +0.876s 17. Pietro Fittipaldi Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m25.674s +0.919s 18. Santino Ferrucci Mucke Dallara-Merc 1m25.726s +0.971s 19. Tatiana Calderon Carlin Dallara-VW 1m25.729s +0.974s 20. Lance Stroll Prema Dallara-Merc 1m25.844s +1.089s 21. Markus Pommer Motopark Dallara-VW 1m25.857s +1.102s 22. Sean Gelael Carlin Dallara-VW 1m26.048s +1.293s 23. Julio Moreno T-Sport Dallara-NBE 1m26.071s +1.316s 24. Nicolas Beer Eurointernational Dallara-Merc 1m26.159s +1.404s 25. Kang Ling Mucke Dallara-Merc 1m26.211s +1.456s 26. Nicolas Pohler Double R Dallara-Merc 1m26.230s +1.475s 27. Matt Rao Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m26.273s +1.518s 28. Nabil Jeffri Motopark Dallara-VW 1m26.398s +1.643s 29. Fabian Schiller West-Tec Dallara-Merc 1m26.533s +1.778s 30. Martin Cao Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m26.546s +1.791s 31. Matthew Solomon Double R Dallara-Merc 1m26.560s +1.805s 32. Mahaveer Raghunathan Motopark Dallara-VW 1m26.843s +2.088s
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