Koiranen GP driver Dean Stoneman topped the opening day of post-season GP3 Series testing at Yas Marina on Tuesday.
Stoneman, who missed three years of single-seater competition while battling testicular cancer, took a podium finish on his series debut at the track last weekend.
The 23-year-old Briton stayed on for the test with Koiranen and set the pace in the morning session in 1m56.278s and improved to a 1m55.829s later on.
Frenchman Pierre Gasly and the man he narrowly beat to the Formula Renault Eurocup title this year, Britain’s Oliver Rowland, were second and third for, respectively, the ART and Manor teams. Both were just over a tenth slower than Stoneman.
GP2 runner-up Sam Bird was fourth fastest as Russian Time took part in its first test as a GP3 entrant, Igor Mazepa’s squad having now officially taken over Bamboo-Engineering’s entry.
Kevin Korjus, a regular in GP3 with Koiranen this year, was fifth fastest for Status, while ART’s Alex Fontana and MW Arden’s German F3 champion Marvin Kirchhofer were next up.
Briton Jann Mardenborough, who has raced top-level F3, GT and sportscar machinery this year, was eighth fastest for Carlin with Roman de Beer of Trident and Status driver Nick Cassidy next up.
All of the top 10 times came in the faster, later session. Stoneman was pushed hardest in the morning by Jenzer’s Patric Niederhauser and MW Arden’s Dino Zamparelli.
The red flags were brought out twice, both times for incidents involving Jenzer drivers. David Fumanelli tagged a barrier during the morning while Kevin Joerg’s car was stranded on-track later on.
Among a number of line-up changes for day two are a switch by Nicholas Latifi from Carlin to Status, where he replaces Jordan King and will be joined by Cassidy and Indy Lights racer Jack Hawksworth.
Latifi’s Carlin seat will be taken by Luis Sa Silva.
Morning times Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps 1. Dean Stoneman Koiranen 1m56.278s 18 2. Patric Niederhauser Jenzer 1m56.584s +0.306s 19 3. Dino Zamparelli MW Arden 1m56.649s +0.371s 18 4. Sam Bird Russian Time 1m56.711s +0.433s 16 5. Kevin Korjus Status 1m56.837s +0.559s 16 6. Jan Mardenborough Carlin 1m56.858s +0.580s 22 7. Melville McKee Manor 1m56.921s +0.643s 25 8. Alex Fontana ART 1m56.927s +0.649s 20 9. Roman de Beer Trident 1m56.986s +0.708s 27 10. Emil Bernstorff Carlin 1m57.067s +0.789s 24 11. Pierre Gasly ART 1m57.198s +0.920s 19 12. Marvin Kirchhofer MW Arden 1m57.211s +0.933s 20 13. Oliver Rowland Manor 1m57.430s +1.152s 12 14. Edward Jones MW Arden 1m57.511s +1.233s 16 15. Jimmy Eriksson Russian Time 1m57.635s +1.357s 8 16. Adderly Fong Koiranen 1m57.665s +1.387s 20 17. Emanuele Zonzini ART 1m57.670s +1.392s 19 18. David Fumanelli Jenzer 1m57.881s +1.603s 15 19. Jordan King Status 1m57.883s +1.605s 5 20. Nick Cassidy Status 1m58.023s +1.745s 19 21. Nicholas Latifi Carlin 1m58.349s +2.071s 21 22. Santiago Urrutia Koiranen 1m58.701s +2.423s 21 23. Ryan Cullen Manor 1m58.771s +2.493s 26 24. Kevin Joerg Jenzer 1m59.080s +2.802s 26 25. Ivan Taranov Trident 1m59.225s +2.947s 27 26. Juan Branger Trident 2m02.334s +6.056s 20 27. Kuba Dalewski Russian Time 2m03.730s +7.452s 6 Afternoon times Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps 1. Dean Stoneman Koiranen 1m55.829s 25 2. Pierre Gasly ART 1m55.940s +0.111s 29 3. Oliver Rowland Manor 1m55.967s +0.138s 17 4. Sam Bird Russian Time 1m56.028s +0.199s 27 5. Kevin Korjus Status 1m56.419s +0.590s 24 6. Alex Fontana ART 1m56.432s +0.603s 25 7. Marvin Kirchhofer MW Arden 1m56.468s +0.639s 26 8. Jan Mardenborough Carlin 1m56.469s +0.640s 33 9. Roman de Beer Trident 1m56.549s +0.720s 23 10. Nick Cassidy Status 1m56.603s +0.774s 16 11. Patric Niederhauser Jenzer 1m56.614s +0.785s 24 12. Dino Zamparelli MW Arden 1m56.628s +0.799s 25 13. Adderly Fong Koiranen 1m56.653s +0.824s 25 14. Emil Bernstorff Carlin 1m56.678s +0.849s 33 15. Edward Jones MW Arden 1m56.845s +1.016s 23 16. Jimmy Eriksson Russian Time 1m56.904s +1.075s 28 17. Emanuele Zonzini ART 1m57.019s +1.190s 29 18. Melville McKee Manor 1m57.247s +1.418s 23 19. David Fumanelli Jenzer 1m57.269s +1.440s 20 20. Jordan King Status 1m57.274s +1.445s 26 21. Santiago Urrutia Koiranen 1m57.295s +1.466s 22 22. Nicholas Latifi Carlin 1m57.381s +1.552s 30 23. Ryan Cullen Manor 1m57.675s +1.846s 25 24. Ivan Taranov Trident 1m57.978s +2.149s 30 25. Juan Branger Trident 1m58.652s +2.823s 34 26. Kevin Joerg Jenzer 1m58.798s +2.969s 14 27. Kuba Dalewski Russian Time 1m59.116s +3.287s 30
