GP3

The GP3 Series paddock gathered at the Hungaroring for a two day test mid-season session ahead of Round 2 at the Red Bull Ring in Austria next month. ART’s George Russell was the quickest man of the morning session in a 1:32.159 ahead of teammate Jack Aitken and Dorian Boccolacci.

The proceedings were delayed by one hour to wait for the full medical staff to be operational. As the pitlane went green at 10am local time, all cars fed onto the track to complete their installation laps with Tatiana Calderon the only driver to set a laptime in the opening 45 minutes. On the one hour mark Boccolacci went top, dipping under 1m34s, but Russell found some extra pace to move up to P1, three tenths faster than Alessio Lorandi in P2.

Russell remained top for most of the trouble-free session, improving to break the 1m33s barrier, but with thirty minutes left on the clock Boccolacci temporarily edged him out, going fastest by four hundredths. In the closing stages, Russell went P1 again as Aitken also improved to move up to P2, four tenths slower than his teammate.

At the chequered flag, and behind the top 3, Arjun Maini, Santino Ferrucci, Lorandi, Raoul Hyman, Marcos Siebert, Nirei Fukuzumi and Anthoine Hubert rounded up the top 10. There will be a two-hour break before the action returns at 3pm local time with the pitlane closing at 6pm.

Day 1 Morning results

Arjun Maini has dominated this morning’s race 2 at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona, easily grabbing the lead into turn one when the lights went out before leaving his rivals floundering with a mature and impressive sprint all the way to the flag to win by 6 seconds from Dorian Boccolacci and Alessio Lorandi.

The victory was set up at the start, which opened under clear but cool conditions with the grid lying in the shadow of the giant front straight stadium: poleman Raoul Hyman made a poor getaway with Boccolacci in P3 making a strong start but being stuck behind the South African, handing Maini a clear run to the first corner. The Frenchman pushed the Indian hard for the lead but Maini was equal to the challenge, while behind them Hyman was looking in his mirrors at the coming menace of the ART threat looming there.

Anthoine Hubert soon disposed of Hyman and was looking to get into the mix of the fight for the lead, but in front of him Maini and Boccolacci were running side by side all around the circuit, which was only resolved when a small touch saw the Frenchman stumble, falling back towards his countryman and allowing the Indian to scamper away.

Further back and Lorandi was on a charge: the Italian was repeating his impressive speed from yesterday’s race to easily dispatch Hyman before focussing on Hubert, easing by the Frenchman at turn 1 with 5 laps to go and was looking towards Boccolacci, although he was running out of time to make a real challenge.

At the flag all the applause was for Maini, who celebrated his new alliance with Haas F1 by bringing home Jenzer’s first win since 2012 and easily dominated his rivals all race long. Boccolacci held off the Lorandi charge to grab P2 by a second, with Hubert joined in the closing stages by teammates George Russell and Nirei Fukuzumi, with Hyman holding on for P7 ahead of Santino Ferrucci in the final points position.

Fukuzumi leads the drivers’ title fight after Round 1 on 29 points ahead of Lorandi on 25, Maini on 21 with Boccolacci, Russell and Hubert all on 20 points ahead of Leonardo Pulcini on 18, while the teams’ fight has ART Grand Prix stake an early lead on 73 points ahead of Jenzer Motorsport on 46, Trident on 20 and Arden International on 18 points ahead of Round 2 of the series at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.

Race 2 Provisional Classification 

Nirei Fukuzumi has dominated his rivals for his first GP3 Series win this afternoon at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona, leading a close fight with ART teammate Jack Aitken before the Briton suffered a mechanical gremlin which eased the pressure on the Japanese driver, who then flew to a 7 second victory over Leonardo Pulcini and Alessio Lorandi.

The race took place under scorching conditions, with front row starters Aitken and Fukuzumi storming off when the lights went out towards turn one: the Honda development driver had the outside line as they ran three abreast with Dorian Boccolacci and nabbed the lead into turn two, with the Frenchman running wide at turn two and allowing Pulcini a run through to P3.

Aitken and Fukuzumi were swapping fastest laps as they looked for any advantage over the other, pulling away from the rest of the field as they did, while further back Lorandi was on a charge: moving up a spot to P6 off the line, the Italian mugged Arjun Maini for 5^th on lap 9 and ran through Boccolacci 4 laps later as the battle for the lead intensified.

But the fight came to an end on lap 16 as Aitken stuttered on track before being slowly swallowed up by his pursuers as he limped back to the pits and retirement: with the pressure now off Fukuzumi soared to the flag, while the battle shifted to the two Italian rivals behind him. Lorandi was all over the rear wing of his countryman for the closing laps, but to no avail: Pulcini was impervious to attack and punched the air as he crossed the line in P2.

Behind them George Russell had stayed out of trouble and preserved his tyres to push up to 4^thplace at the flag, just holding off teammate Anthoine Hubert as he did so, while Boccolacci will have picked up a lot of lessons on his way to P6, denying Maini at the end of the race. Further back Campos pair Raoul Hyman and Marcos Siebert had a huge fight over the closing laps for team bragging rights, with the South African just holding on for 8^th and reverse pole when Santino Ferrucci got in the mix, nicking P9 from Siebert at the final corner.

Race 1 Provisional Classification

Jack Aitken emerged on top of this morning’s season-opening qualifying session at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona, finding a gap in traffic and soaring to pole in the closing minutes of the session to deny teammate Nirei Fukuzumi and Dorian Boccolacci by just over a tenth.

The Briton squeezed onto the top of the timesheets with a stunning lap of 1:34.187, nailing his lap at just the right time to claim the first GP3 pole position of 2017 in a qualifying session that saw the times tumble throughout the 30 minute period, right up until the chequered flag.

The session opened to dry and sunny conditions, with all of the grid heading straight out on track to make the most of them. Giuliano Alesi set the first competitive time, with his rivals soon on the attack: Santino Ferrucci, Boccolacci, Aitken and Fukuzumi all spent time on the top spot before Boccolacci laid down a challenge just before everyone returned to the pits for fresh tyres, giving his rivals one last time to target.

The field re-emerged for the final 10 minutes and built up enough heat in the tyres for a final push: in the final 2 minutes George Russell struck before ART teammate Aitken displaced him in P1, with first Boccolacci and then Fukuzumi slotting in just behind him as the clock rolled down to zero.

Russell, Leonardo Pulcini, Arjun Maini, Alesi and Alessio Lorandi all improved on their final lap to fill out the top 8, with 15 drivers finishing the session within a second of the pole time: the battle recommences in this afternoon’s race 1.

Provisional Qualifying Results

The 2017 driver line-up of Team Trident is now complete with the addition of two first-class drivers, namely 18-year-old Frenchman Dorian Boccolacci and 22-year-old American Ryan Tveter.

They will be joining the already-announced Giuliano Alesi and Kevin Joerg in a four-strong roster for the Italian squad. Despite his young age, Boccolacci has a remarkable amount of racing experience under his belt as he already entered the European Formula 3 and Formula Renault 2.0 championships with promising results. .

The same goes for Tveter, who entered the European Formula 3 series in the last two years, increasing his experience and skills. Together with Team Trident, Dorian and Ryan left a strong impression in preseason testing. The 2017 championship will be starting in mid May at Montmelò, supporting the Spanish Formula 1 Grand Prix.

Dorian Boccolacci, Team Trident driver #12: “I am extremely proud to have been chosen by Team Trident for the new GP3 Series season. It is a new and challenging series for me considering the high level of the competition. I feel very confident after all the work done together with the team’s technical staff. They enabled me to perform at the very best during preseason testing. We expect a tight battle this season and we have a lot of work in front of us. This brand-new experience is really fuelling my motivation and expectations. I am ready and excited like never before. The countdown is almost over and I can’t wait to start the season and fight at the front.”

Ryan Tveter, Team Trident driver #11:  “It's a fantastic opportunity to be racing with Trident for the 2017 GP3 season, and I'm especially proud and grateful to be joining the KFC and Pertamina supported squads alongside Giuliano in GP3 and Sean [Gelael] and Norman [Nato] in Formula 2. The chemistry with Trident has been great from the start and we’ve worked really well together since my first GP3 test in Abu Dhabi at the end of the season last year. With a strong preseason testing under our belts, I'm feeling happy, confident, and well prepared for Barcelona and the season ahead. Thanks again to Jagonya Ayam/KFC and Pertamina for the opportunity to represent such outstanding companies, and to Trident for their hard work and confidence.”

Giacomo Ricci, Team Manager, Team Trident: “We are extremely pleased to announce our full line-up for the 2017 GP3 Series season with Dorian and Ryan joining Giuliano and Kevin in an highly-competitive roster. We have four extremely strong drivers and I’m sure they will work well together and provide the team with a great contribution in order to fight at the top of the pack, which is a tradition for Team Trident in this challenging championship. Day by day, the GP3 Series continues to establish itself in the developmental path towards Formula 1.”

Campos Racing announced that South-African Raoul Hyman and Argentinean Marcos Siebert will race alongside Frenchman Julien Falchero in the GP3 Series, whose curtain raiser event will take place at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya next weekend.

Siebert (16 March, 1996 – Mar de Plata, Argentina) will make his debut in the GP3 Series after clinching 2016’s Italian Formula 4 championship with four wins and nine podiums to his credit.

Hyman ( 12 May, 1996 – Durban, South Africa) will also taking his first steps in the GP3 Series but, just like Siebert, he also impressed by finishing solidly amongst the top GP3 Series runners in preseason and completed six productive days of testing ahead of season opener.

ART Grand added of Anthoine Hubert in its 2017 GP3 Series line-up. After competing in karting at a national and international level.

The 20-year-old Frenchman began his career in motorsport with a title in French Formula 4 in 2013. After two seasons of Formula Renault 2.0 highlighted by a 5th place in 2015, Anthoine had a remarkable year in Formula 3 in 2016, securing a victory and often running at the same level as his more highly-experienced teammato 

At the end of 2016, Anthoine took part in the GP3 test days in Abu Dhabi and positively impressed ART Grand Prix by recording good lap times and adapting quickly and efficiently to the car and the team's working methods.

"I am really happy to join GP3 Series with ART Grand Prix! This is an excellent career opportunity because it is the most titled team of the championship." Said Hubert.

"My ambition is to work on my integration into the team this winter in order to get the best out of the package and to be ready to take up the GP3 challenge in the first races of the year as well as fighting with the front-runners."

I thank ART Grand Prix for this opportunity, as well as my partners and in particular Eurodatacar, the Lamirault Group, the FFSA and KLM taking care of my management."

team principal Sebastien Philippe added: "ART Grand Prix is proud to have one of the best young French drivers among its ranks. We have followed Anthoine's career development for several years now".

"We have noticed his intelligent approach to racing, which will be an important asset for a championship as hotly contested as GP3."

GP3 Series organisers are pleased to announce the 2017 calendar. This season, the Series will be contested over a total of eight rounds, with seven support events to the Formula One World Championship. Seven rounds will be held on European soil, including Jerez de la Frontera which will host the only standalone race weekend. The campaign will conclude at Yas Marina.

The eighth season of the Series will kick off at Barcelona on May 12-14 followed by a test session in Budapest on June 06-07. The action will resume in July with Spielberg and Silverstone back-to-back on 07-09 and 14-16 respectively. There will be a third race weekend at the end of the month at the Hungaroring on July 28-30 before the summer break.

The teams will meet again at Spa-Francorchamps on August 25-27, back-to-back with Monza on September 01-03. The seventh round of the year will be held at Circuito de Jerez on October 06-08 whilst the season will conclude the following month at the Yas Marina Circuit on November 24-26.

GP3 Series CEO Bruno Michel commented: “I am pleased to confirm that there will be a total of eight rounds on the 2017 calendar including seven race weekends alongside Formula One. In order to control the costs, we have decided to have only one flyaway event this year, which will be Abu Dhabi in November. We are also delighted to take GP3 racing alongside GP2 in Jerez in October between Monza and the final round of the season.

 “This campaign will bring new challenges with the addition of the DRS to the third generation GP3 car. I am convinced that there will be many opportunities for our drivers to showcase their talent in front of the F1 paddock and the fans.”

2017 GP3 Series Calendar 

What a turnaround for Jake Hughes: After a disastrous start to the weekend, the DAMS rookie started yesterday’s Race 1 from the pitlane and fought back to earn himself a front row start for the final race of the season. The Briton was opportunistic on the inside of Turn 1 and remained unchallenged until the chequered flag.

Arden International’s and Renault Academy’s Jack Aitken was second with ART Grand Prix and Honda’s Nirei Fukuzumi completing the podium.

Campos Racing’s Konstantin Tereschenko started from reverse pole and made a good getaway but Fukuzumi from P4 made an even better one to jump into the lead. The Japanese driver ran slightly wide into T1 with Tereschenko and Alex Palou on the outside of him. While the trio were busy battling, Hughes dived down the inside to take the lead. Tereschenko dropped to P7, while Aitken jumped up into P2.

An early safety car was deployed after there was wheel to wheel contact between Alexander Albon and Tatiana Calderon. The pair both retired and it concluded a sad weekend for the ART star after his sterling efforts through-out the season to be in the title hunt until the final round. The safety car came in at the end of lap three as Hughes led Aitken and Fukuzumi. Meanwhile the Campos Racing trio were providing loads of entertainment: firstly Alex Palou passed Steijn Schothorst and then Tereschenko also got the job done on his teammate with an audacious move.

Our newly crowned GP3 Champion Charles Leclerc who started in P17 began carving his way through the pack and looked like a man on a mission as he moved into the top ten by the first half of the race. Antonio Fuoco was also slicing his way through the field; he attempted a pass on Race 1 winner Nyck De Vries but the door was shut. The Italian continued to attack the Dutchman for P11 but had to bail out and run wide. The Trident driver then had to give the position back to the ART driver after gaining it via track limits and was issued with a 5s time penalty for causing a collision.

At the front, Hughes had built up a 2.8s margin over Aitken with Fukuzumi and Dennis hot on the Briton’s heels for second position. Leclerc was also looking racy as he was all over Kevin Joerg for the final point on offer. He attempted a brave manoeuvre around the outside of the Swiss rookie but Joerg fought back to re-claim P8.

The tussle between De Vries and Fuoco was still not over as the pair ran side-by-side with the Ferrari Driver Academy finally getting passed the Dutchman in a titanic tussle. The Trident driver dropped down the order after his time penalty was applied at the end of the race. On the final lap, Dennis began harassing Fukuzumi for the final rostrum position but the Honda protégé withstood the pressure to claim another podium.

But the race belonged to Hughes who took the chequered flag and his second victory by 2.8s. Aitken pocketed yet another podium finish, with Fukuzumi happy to be back on the rostrum. Dennis had to settle for fourth ahead of the Campos trio led by Palou who crossed the line ahead of Tereschenko by the smallest or margins. The Russian driver achieved his career best in the Series. Schothorst finished P7 ahead of Joerg who was able to resist the best efforts of GP3 Champion Leclerc. The Monegasque celebrated his title on track in P9 ahead of Giuliano Alesi who equalled his best result.

The battle for the GP3 crown was won yesterday but following the non-score for both Albon and Fuoco; the Thai and Italian racer finished both second and third respectively in the drivers’ standings. ART GP clinched the Team Champions’ trophy back in Sepang ahead of Arden International in second and Trident in third.

The season may be over but there is more action just around the corner. The teams remain at Yas Marina Circuit for a three day post-season test next week on Nov 30 – Dec 02 2016.

Ferrari Driver Academy and ART Grand Prix rookie Charles Leclerc started the 2016 GP3 Series season as a title favourite and today his dream became reality after a very eventful Race 1 at the Yas Marina Circuit.

His title rival Alexander Albon (also from ART GP) started from pole but suffered damage and retired during a battle for the lead of the race. Dutchman Nyck de Vries won the race from the Arden International duo of Jake Dennis and Jack Aitken. The Monegasque also retired in dramatic fashion but he had done enough already to clinch the prestigious crown.

Albon started from pole and made a good getaway to retain the lead. Dennis from the front row lost several positions after a sluggish start, thus promoting Aitken and De Vries. It was a frenetic first lap with the top four drivers glued together. Leclerc remained in fifth at this point until DAMS’ Santino Ferrucci passed the ART driver at the close of the opening lap.

The opening lap saw Trident’s Antonio Fuoco suffer a right front puncture after contact with Jenzer Motorsport’s Arjun Maini: the Italian finished outside of the points. Meanwhile a huge train of cars were sat behind Leclerc in P6 with Kevin Joerg the next one eager to make a move on the Series leader.

Aitken posted the fastest lap of the race in second place, putting the pressure on Albon in P1 who was leading by 2.6s, with Leclerc 7s adrift. The safety car was briefly deployed after Tatiana Calderon spun and stopped at Turn 1. Once the race resumed, the Thai racer controlled his getaway from Aitken well, but the Arden driver was ready to attack as the duo enjoyed a superb wheel to wheel battle for a number of corners with Aitken coming out on top.

Aitken held a half a second advantage over the ART driver but Albon was quick to retaliate and fought back into the lead of the race, knowing a win was vital to help his chances of remaining in the title battle.

On lap 11, disaster struck for Albon as he ran over the kerb whilst dicing for the lead and his ART machine went airborne, making contact with Aitken. Albon’s race was over, as were his hopes of becoming champion. This promoted De Vries into the lead who had been holding off Dennis for the large majority of the race.

Ferrucci was holding onto the final podium position ahead of Leclerc. The Ferrari Driver Academy star was eager to celebrate his newly gained GP3 crown on the podium by passing the American driver but unfortunately there was a small contact between the pair, which resulted into the Monegasque having a puncture and retiring. Still, Leclerc had done enough to clinch the title and returned to the pitlane to celebrate with his ART GP squad.

Aitken carved his way past Ferrucci for P3 in a feisty battle; the DAMS driver was then issued with a 10s time penalty for forcing the Briton off track. Amidst all of the excitement, De Vries continued to drive a mature and confident race, keeping Dennis at bay to pocket his second GP3 win of the season by 1s. Aitken completed the rostrum ahead of Kevin Joerg – his best result in GP3 with fourth. Nirei Fukuzumi, Steijn Schothorst, Jake Hughes, Konstantin Tereschenko (also his best result), Ferrucci and Alex Palou completed the top ten.

George Russell (ART GP) posted the fastest time on Day 3 of testing. The Briton’s best laptime of 1:55.364 which was set in the morning was six tenths quicker than Trident’s Santino Ferrucci and Jenzer Motorsport’s Alessio Lorandi.

It was also the fastest lap of the three day test session. The ART driver also headed the timesheet in the afternoon ahead of Lorandi and Arden International’s Leonardo Pulcini.

There were two familiar faces added to the day three line-up: 2016 GP3 drivers Alex Palou and Matt Parry both testing for Campos Racing.

ART GP tester Arjun Maini headed the times early on for the third and final day of post-season testing at the Yas Marina Circuit. Fellow ART GP tester Anthoine Hubert was first to lap in the 1m57’s, before Russell set a time of 1:56.965.

There was an early red flag when Steijn Schothorst stopped at Turn 19. Trident’s Raoul Hyman went P1 before a length red flag period for Hubert who made contact with the barrier at Turn 7. There was damage to the TecPro barriers so the session was delayed while they were repaired. The session was over for Hubert as the monocoque was damaged from the incident.

Arden International’s Pulcini then set the pace with a 1:56.170 before Russell became the first driver to dip into the 1m55’s. Arden’s Max Defourny and Lorandi moved up to second and third respectively in the final 30 minutes. Ferrucci shot to P2 near the close of the session.

Russell remained on top at the chequered flag; behind him were Ferrucci, Lorandi, Max Defourny, Leonardo Pulcini, Jack Aitken, Maini, Schothorst, Kevin Joerg and Marcos Siebert.

The afternoon session got underway after GP2 Series had their turn on track. Arden’s Pulcini topped the timesheet with a 1:56.363 ahead of Ferrucci and Palou. With less than one hour remaining, Russell shot to P1 with a 1:56.307. There was a brief flag due to debris on track in two different locations. Once the debris cleared, the action resumed, but only shortly as Joerg stopped on track at Turn 20.

ART’s Maini moved up to second in the final stages, until Pulcini displaced the Indian driver to P3. But nobody could better the time set by Russell as he stayed in P1 until the chequered flag. However, there was one final switch in positions when Lorandi bettered his fellow compatriot Pulcini for second position. Behind the top three were Maini, Ferrucci, Giuliano Alesi, Aitken, Robert Shwartzman, Palou and Bruno Baptista.

Day Three – morning session

*Raoul Hyman disqualified as his #5 car was found underweight.

 Afternoon Session