Vanthoor tops Valencia F3 test

The Signature driver completed 68 laps in his Dallara-Volkswagen on a track that began wet, but dried out steadily during the day, and set the pace in a time of 1m35.264s.

Swede Felix Rosenqvist was second quickest, 0.485 seconds behind, in his Mucke Motorsport Dallara and was the best of the Mercedes-powered drivers during the day.

Prema's Daniel Juncadella and Motopark's Kimiya Sato made it drivers from four different teams in the top four places while Roberto Merhi completed the top five in the second Prema car.

Merhi had actually gone quickest during the morning session, but with track conditions improving by around 15s by the end of the afternoon, he slipped back.

GT convert Kuba Giermaziak went sixth quickest on what was the F3 test debut of the new Star Racing team while Motopark duo Gianmarco Raimondo and Jimmy Eriksson were next up.

Last season's Euro Series runner-up Marco Wittmann was surprisingly down in ninth on the day he announced he will return for another crack at the title with Signature, while Mucke's Nigel Melker completed the top 10.

Pos  Driver              Team       Car           Time       Gap
 1.  Laurens Vanthoor    Signature  Dallara-VW    1m35.264s
 2.  Felix Rosenqvist    Mucke      Dallara-Merc  1m35.749s  + 0.485s
 3.  Daniel Juncadella   Prema      Dallara-Merc  1m36.207s  + 0.943s
 4.  Kimiya Sato         Motopark   Dallara-VW    1m36.896s  + 1.632s
 5.  Roberto Merhi       Prema      Dallara-Merc  1m37.077s  + 1.813s
 6.  Kuba Giermaziak     Star       Dallara-VW    1m37.425s  + 2.161s
 7.  Gianmarco Raimondo  Motopark   Dallara-VW    1m37.480s  + 2.216s
 8.  Jimmy Eriksson      Motopark   Dallara-VW    1m38.491s  + 3.227s
 9.  Marco Wittmann      Signature  Dallara-VW    1m39.860s  + 4.596s
10.  Nigel Melker        Mucke      Dallara-Merc  1m39.932s  + 4.668s
11.  Carlos Munoz        Signature  Dallara-VW    1m41.651s  + 6.387s
12.  Daniel Abt          Signature  Dallara-VW    1m46.787s  + 11.523s