2013 GP3

[paddocksi]

Seeing as there isn't a forum on here for GP3 yet, we might as well get one started. From testing at Estoril and at Barcelona it looks like its going to be an interesting season with the Marussia Manor team looking like the main team to be watching. Having three top drivers performing consistently and with only one mechanical break downs over the course of the two tests they're looking the team to beat and also looking like a contender for the best looking car. Whilst Marussia Manor performed consistently the big name on the grid this season is probably that off the son of the WRC racing legend Carlos Sainz, Carlos Sainz Jr. although during heavy rain at Barcelona Sains Jr. did have a heavy spin and damaged his Arden car beyond repair to get back out on the track for the remainder of the test. After a GP2 test at Barcelona the previous weekend Conor Daly (driving for Art) topped day one with Niederhausen in the Jenzer managed to top the brief dry running on day two.

Day two came to an anti-climx with the on-set of heavy rain causing rain to stop running for over half an hour whilst each team waited for another to take the plunge and test out the track conditions. It was Status that eventually braved the wet track sending out the McLaren Autosport Award nominee Josh Webster and Adderly Fong, however it wasn't long until the red flag was waved and Webster's car was returned to the pits on the back of a low-bed, the red flag was to become the predominant theme of the afternoons running. Carmen Jorda, the new singing for Bamboo, left the track, along with Samin Gomez of Jenzer, Nick Cassidy suffered a nasty moment on turn 4 aquaplaning across the track through the gravel and into the wall. The test at Barcelona was finally ended under a red flag as Tim Harvey of ART returned to the pits missing a wheel, whilst strangely presenting no signs of a crash.

With GP3 being a closed test, there are no film cameras present at the circuit, however journalists and photographers are allowed to enter after gaining permission from GP3, post if you follow a certain driver through the ranks and wish to present an opinion.

In the meantime don't forget to check out the Dino Zamparelli Youtube page at http://www.youtube.com/user/dinozamparelli for videos from previous series and GP3 videos as and when they can be obtained.

[StrikeForceF1]

Would be nice to have some pics of cars and drivers etc...as I am sure people will start following this thread closely as it has some potential F1 drivers at their early stages.

Thanks

[paddocksi]

Silverstone Practice Report

The morning started slow. A very cold night, the coldest start to April on record and a light frost has left the track at Silverstone a chilling minus two degrees centigrade. All the teams were hesitant to leave the pit garages and venture out onto the track. For this two day test each driver gets four sets of the Pirelli hard compound dry tires and running one of these sets on a cold track would yield very little in terms of speed and data. After half an hour eighteen drivers had done installation laps, meaning no times were set and very little activity on track. Even after one hour Samin Gomez, the Venezuelan Jenzer Motorsport driver was the only person to have set a time, and even that was forty seconds off the perfect lap time.

It took until two and half hours had passed of the morning session to see a difference in the track temperature and most of the drivers venture out to record their first timed laps. Nick Cassidy the New Zealander racing for Marussia Manor Racing put in a competitive 1:48.127 on only his first visit to the Silverstone circuit. recording the third quickest time up to this point as Alex Fontana of Jenzer topped the times on a 1:47.700. Although these positions weren’t to last.

As the chequered flag came down on the morning session it was Carlos Sainz Jr. who topped the time sheet. The spanish driver who had impressed at both Estoril and Circuit de Catalunya posted a 1:46.795 the only driver to dip below the 1:47 mark. Fontana after holding the lead earlier in the session finished with the fourth fastest time and Cassidy fifth whilst Cassidy’s team mate Tio Ellinas put a quick 1:47.389 in to go second.

With the sun coming out and a strong tail wind down the straight to Brooklands times in the afternoon session should drop a little further.

For more photos and videos from the GP3 practice sessions don’t forget to check out the FB Page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Granvill ... 9448533821

Times for Morning Session
Sainz Jr. 1:46.795
Ellinas 1:47.389
Fumanelli 1:47.490
Fontana 1:47.700
Cassidy 1:47.850
Kyvat 1:47.904
Yelloly 1:47.942
Venturini 1:48.047
Vainio 1:48.238
Korjus 1:48.242
Kujala 1:48.370
Niederhauser 1:48.493
Zamparelli 1:48.545
Visoiu 1:48.796
McKee 1:48.889
Webster 1:49.025
Fong 1:49.484
Lichtenstein 1:49.546
Guimaraes 1:49.633
Sa Silva 1:49.644

[paddocksi]

Silverstone GP3 Test Report - Afternoon Session

The track during the afternoon session had managed to warm up to a toasty four degrees centigrade. The sun had managed to move some of the clouds away but a strong wind dogged the flat and open track making for good tailwind down into Brooklands but hindering the car down the old pit straight.

Most of the teams were opting to run a qualifying and race simulation program. Marussia Manor sent Dino Zamparelli out on a qualifying simulation and immediately set a very good 1:47.391 a time that, in the morning session would have placed him third, but as the session moved on times dropped with the extra track surface temperature. Facu Regalia posted a 1:47.763 and Sainz Jr. started posting quicker and quicker times until Luis Sa Silva left the track and entered the gravel at Becketts bringing out the red flag.

Yelloly and Ellinas started to head the field as practice resumed, Yelloly eventually completing the most amount of laps out of any of the drivers. The big surprise of the afternoon happened to be Melville McKee setting Bamboo Engineering’s first really competitive lap time of all practice sessions at 1:46.719. Sainz Jr. looked set to repeat his earlier form and did with setting a fast time at 1:46.319.

With 30 minutes to go Facu Regalia, driving for Art Grand Prix, set a quick lap time splitting Ellinas and Yelloly with a 1.46.247. With most of the drivers out on the track, times looked set to drop until another red flag as Status‘ new signing Adderly Fong spun off into the gravel and brought about a holt to the session.

Twenty minutes to go and racing resumed however with the session being interrupted tires had past their optimal performance zones and no new fast laps were set.

Although the time sheets looked set with Carlos Sainz Jr. placing amongst the fastest, their was one surprise still to come. With all the cars coming back into the pits the FIA chose to select cars (usually the fastest) to be placed under scrutineering and the results showed that Sainz Jr.’s car came in underweight, his time wiped from the time sheets. Speculation can always be placed within racing politics, teams wishing to gain extra sponsorship by topping the time sheets or just wishing to make other teams nervous, we cannot say for definite what the issue could be, however the rumours amongst the paddock suggested that the red bull livery Arden ran without the lead weights in the car, but again this is paddock rumour.

Thus ends the first practice day, exciting times ahead, and with wet weather to follow (we’ve already seen the Sainz Jr. doesn’t handle wet weather well) drivers like Zamparelli, Cassidy, Niederhauser look to add competitive times under changeable weather conditions.

[paddocksi]

Silverstone Day 2 - Morning Session

Yesterday started cold and the hopes were high for this mornings session to begin under better circumstances, however the weather had other ideas. A light snow travelled down over the Silverstone circuit but fortunately it caused little hinderance. The track temperature also settled in favour of the drivers, even with the sun hiding behind a thick white cloud blanket, settling at a rather chilly three degrees centigrade. With many of the drivers heading out to do shake down runs.

Visoiu, Harvey and Sainz Jr. were first to brave it out on track, but it was Facu Regalia who set the first competitive lap time at 1:47.627 only to be beaten by David Fumanelli to replace him at the top with a 1:47.324. With an hour gone the order remained the same with Fumanelli leading Regalia, Venturini, Visoiu and Webster, that is until the driver who was disqualified at the end of yesterdays session, Carlos Sainz Jr. returned with a 1:46.671.

With many of the drivers out on race simulation runs or qualifying runs an hour into the morning session it was the slowest driver from yesterday who stopped play for everybody else. Carmen Jorda, the Spanish Bamboo Engineering driver, had spun and stopped out on track bringing out the red flag as the recovery truck went to collect her stranded car. And after practice resumed it was Jack Harvey in the ART who split the top two with a 1:46.350.

Vainio was the first to challenge the times set in the afternoon session yesterday, setting a 1.46.226 just shy by a hundredth of a second off Tio Ellinas’ table topping time. However with that aggressive driving stance that made Tio so enjoyable to watch last year he quickly started to challenge Vainio’s time and eventually move up to second just 0.055 of a second off the leader.

Adderly Fong then took his turn to stop any running apparently running out of fuel, but the recovery team were quick to move him off the track to let running resume once again, and it was Dino Zamparelli who shook up the timing sheets with a very impressive 1:46.157 setting the fastest time of the two days and laying down the gauntlet for the other drivers. Regalia quickly responded allowing Zamparelli only just enough time to get from his car and see his name at the top of the timing screens. Regalia’s 1:45.855 was the first to drop below the 1:46 mark then Fumanelli responded with a 1:45.213 almost a second faster than Zamparelli who by this point was in fifth.

With ten minutes to go the red flag is waved once more and once again it is Carmen Jorda who spins out. With just under three minutes to go a few cars head out before lunch but with little time to get the heat into the tires times remain the same.

The big difference this morning, in regards to time, has been the track temperature, the slight increase has allowed for much faster times, the cars are already setting times over three seconds faster than last years GP3 cars, and I for one am looking forward to this afternoon’s session.

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The times
Fumanelli 1:45.213
Regalia 1:45.855
Fontana 1:46.040
Sainz Jr. 1:46.107
Zamparelli 1:46.157
Vainio 1:46.226
McKee 1:46.262
Ellinas 1:46.281
Venturini 1:46.282
Cassidy 1:46.336
Harvey 1:46.350
Visoiu 1:46.339
Kujala 1:46.406
Daly 1:46.437
Yelloly 1:46.468
Guimaraes 1:46.526
Kvyat 1:46.539
Niederhauser 1:46.888
Zonzini 1:47.039
Korjus 1:47.312

[paddocksi]

Silverstone Day 2 The Afternoon session

The afternoon session started much slower than the morning. Korjus was the first to set a competitive lap time and that clocked in at over one and a half seconds slower than the fastest of the morning times posting a 1:46.771. With over forty-five minutes of the session gone only eleven drivers had actually set lap times and many of those much slower than their morning pace.

The next fifteen minutes saw most of the cars brave the cold as a gentle flurry of snow came down. The track got busier and times started to drop as drivers battled for clear air and track position. At an hour it was Tio Ellinas in the Marussia Manor car once again setting the timing screens alight. With purple sector times he’d moved to the number one spot with a 1:46.287, 0.153 seconds ahead of Venturini and 0.189 ahead of his Manor teammate Nick Cassidy.

Whilst lap times continued to be set, it finally came clear why Samin Gomez hadn’t been out in the morning and wasn’t out on track in the afternoon as she tweeted that her health wouldn’t allow her to race today.

Shortly after the one hour mark a battle for top position seemed to be unfolding as Jack Harvey set a time just 0.021 seconds faster than that of Ellinas.

The session halted for the first time int he afternoon as Alex Fontana’s trident developed a fault and stopped on the pit straight, the Silverstone team scrambled the recovery truck and within ten minutes the lights changed to green and practice resumed. Facu Regalia then took his turn once more to go quickest on a 1:46.194 with only an hour remaining of the session. Then, as the battle continued, Ellinas set the first, and only time it would turn out, to dip below the 1:45.821.

With the chequered flag fallen it was Marussia Manor with all three of their drivers inside the top ten who showed to have dominated the weekend on overall performance and Ellinas who conquered on individual driver status setting purple times for all three sectors. Whilst Sainz Jr., now with proper ballast in his car, floundered in 17th and 1.693 seconds of the pace.