Patric Niederhauser ends final GP3 test of 2013 on top
Patric Niederhauser ended official post-season GP3 Series testing with the fastest time of the week at Yas Marina on Thursday
The 22-year-old Swiss, who was driving for MW Arden for the third and final day of the test, was second fastest during the morning session, but found over half a second in the afternoon to end the day with a 1m55.372s time.
That marker, which was 0.185s quicker than ART's Oliver Rowland, was also the fastest time of the entire test.
Niederhauser, who finished 13th in this year's GP3 points, had driven for Jenzer and ART on the previous two days and always featured in the top-three times.
Rowland, who topped Wednesday's running, was quickest during the morning, but ended up second, a spot ahead of fellow Briton, Dean Stoneman, of Koiranen.
Jimmy Eriksson and Melville McKee completed the top five for ART and Manor respectively while MW Arden pair Jann Mardenborough and Emil Bernstorff were next up.
ART's Lotus F1 junior driver Alex Fontana and Status duo Nick Cassidy and Jack Hawksworth completed the top 10 with very few drivers failing to improve their times in the afternoon session.
British Ginetta racer David Pittard, who was driving for Carlin as his prize for winning the recent Henry Surtees Karting Challenge, was 23rd overall.
There were two red flags during the day, both caused by spins for Jenzer's Sheikh Hasher Al Maktoum.
Morning times: Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Oliver Rowland ART 1m55.467s 30 2. Patric Niederhauser MW Arden 1m55.827s 23 3. Alex Fontana ART 1m56.043s 28 4. Jack Hawksworth Status 1m56.096s 20 5. Emil Bernstorff MW Arden 1m56.118s 25 6. Jan Mardenborough MW Arden 1m56.148s 25 7. Dino Zamparelli Manor 1m56.238s 28 8. Melville McKee Manor 1m56.287s 29 9. Jimmy Eriksson ART 1m56.436s 21 10. Nick Cassidy Status 1m56.563s 17 11. Dean Stoneman Koiranen GP 1m56.638s 10 12. Marvin Kirchhofer Russian Time 1m56.662s 22 13. David Fumanelli Jenzer 1m56.718s 23 14. Nicholas Latifi Carlin 1m56.730s 26 15. Juan Branger Trident 1m56.925s 37 16. Luis Sa Silva Carlin 1m56.989s 24 17. Markus Pommer Russian Time 1m57.026s 24 18. Robert Cregan Trident 1m57.294s 26 19. Lewin Amweg Jenzer 1m57.447s 33 20. Ryan Cullen Manor 1m57.804s 20 21. Gustavo Menezes Status G 1m58.023s 32 22. Carmen Jorda Koiranen GP 1m58.562s 18 23. Ivan Taranov Russian Time 1m58.630s 26 24. David Pittard Carlin 1m58.826s 27 25. Saeed Al Mehairi Trident 1m59.098s 24 26. Sheikh Hasher Al Maktoum Jenzer 2m02.505s 24 Afternoon times: Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Patric Niederhauser MW Arden 1m55.372s 26 2. Oliver Rowland ART 1m55.557s 26 3. Dean Stoneman Koiranen GP 1m55.565s 14 4. Jimmy Eriksson ART 1m55.598s 24 5. Melville McKee Manor 1m55.640s 21 6. Jan Mardenborough MW Arden 1m55.721s 32 7. Emil Bernstorff MW Arden 1m55.789s 28 8. Alex Fontana ART 1m55.848s 30 9. Nick Cassidy Status 1m55.851s 32 10. Jack Hawksworth Status 1m55.991s 28 11. Markus Pommer Russian Time 1m56.063s 33 12. David Fumanelli Jenzer 1m56.122s 24 13. Nicholas Latifi Carlin 1m56.354s 31 14. Dino Zamparelli Manor 1m56.379s 26 15. Marvin Kirchhofer Russian Time 1m56.525s 11 16. Luis Sa Silva Carlin 1m56.703s 21 17. Ryan Cullen Manor 1m57.024s 32 18. Ivan Taranov Russian Time 1m57.136s 30 19. Robert Cregan Trident 1m57.255s 20 20. Levin Amweg Jenzer 1m57.601s 18 21. Gustavo Menezes Status 1m57.734s 29 22. David Pittard Carlin 1m58.381s 25 23. Juan Branger Trident 1m59.088s 23 24. Saeed Al Mehairi Trident 1m59.310s 12 25. Carmen Jorda Koiranen GP 2m00.571s 25 26. Sheikh Hasher Al Maktoum Jenzer no time
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