GP3 Hot News

Rookie Lewis Williamson tops Day 2 in Estoril

Autoracing1

There was a new driver in Portugal today for the second day of post-season testing, and he certainly caught the attention of the GP3 paddock. 20-year old Brit Lewis Williamson topped the times sheets this afternoon with his best laptime of 1:31.431, two tenths quicker than Nigel Melker and this morning’s fastest man Antonio Felix Da Costa.

There were a few driver changes for day two: Rio Haryanto swapped back to his old team Manor Racing, and was replaced at ART by Matias Laine. Ivan Lukashevich was back in his #5 Status GP car; Miki Monras swapped to Tech 1 Racing and was replaced at Addax by local man Felix Da Costa, who in turn was replaced by British driver Richard Bradley at Carlin. Julian Leal joined Addax Team, European Formula BMW Champion Robin Frijns joined MW Arden for his first taste of a GP3 car, Marlon Stockinger replaced yesterday’s quickest man Nico Müller at Jenzer and Lewis Williamson joined Atech CRS GP.

The morning session started under clear blue skies, and once again newbie James Calado was first to top the time sheets in his ART Grand Prix car, but in the end he couldn’t match the pace of local man Antonio Felix Da Costa, who ended the session on top for Addax Team at his home track with a time of 1:31.627. Nigel Melker was back on form in his RSC Mücke Motorsport machine, and was running in the top two spots until the end of the session when he was just edged out by Calado – the British driver finishing just 0.103 seconds ahead of the Dutchman.

Felix Da Costa immediately took his place at the top of the timesheets again in the afternoon session and was looking untouchable, but by the time the chequered flag fell rookie Williamson and Melker had both edged ahead. Michael Christensen was quick again for Status and finished fourth, improving his time from this morning by over three tenths. RSC Mücke Motorsport’s Willi Steindl was next quickest rookie in fifth, and Pedro Nunes continued his strong performance for ART finishing sixth.

There were a splattering of red flags throughout the day, but the only incident of note came when Tamas P’al Kiss went off and damaged the front end of his Status GP car. The top 18 cars in both sessions were separated by just one second showing how competitive the Series continues to be.

The three day test concludes tomorrow.

AFTERNOON SESSION TIMES:

POS CAR # TEAM DRIVER LAPS TIME
1 31 ATECH CRS GP LEWIS WILLIAMSON 35 1:31.432
2 10 RSC MUECKE NIGEL MELKER 33 1:31.672
3 17 ADDAX TEAM FELIX DA COSTA 44 1:31.782
4 4 STATUS GRAND PRIX MICHAEL CHRISTENSEN 31 1:31.843
5 12 RSC MUECKE WILLI STEINDL 49 1:31.945
6 3 ART GRAND PRIX PEDRO NUNES 42 1:31.976
7 2 ART GRAND PRIX MATIAS LAINE 37 1:32.004
8 19 ADDAX TEAM ROBERTO MEHRI 37 1:32.030
9 15 CARLIN JOSEF NEWGARDEN 31 1:32.044
10 7 MANOR RACING CONOR DALY 39 1:32.052
11 29 ATECH CRS GP NICK YELLOLY 38 1:32.068
12 1 ART GRAND PRIX JAMES CALADO 48 1:32.124
13 21 MW ARDEN SIMON TRUMMER 44 1:32.151
14 25 JENZER MOTORSPORT MARLON STOCKINGER 34 1:32.182
15 18 ADDAX TEAM JULIAN LEAL 39 1:32.208
16 20 MW ARDEN ROBIN FRIJNS 40 1:32.273
17 22 MW ARDEN MITCH EVANS 41 1:32.296
18 24 JENZER MOTORSPORT ZOEL AMBERG 40 1:32.301
19 23 JENZER MOTORSPORT VITTORIO GHIRELLI 37 1:32.601
20 28 TECH 1 RACING MIKI MONRAS 31 1:32.624
21 26 TECH 1 RACING DORU SECHELARIU 28 1:32.637
22 27 TECH 1 RACING HUGO VALENTE 34 1:32.659
23 9 MANOR RACING THOMAS HYLKEMA 34 1:32.751
24 30 ATECH CRS GP TAMAS P'AL KISS 14 1:32.752
25 5 STATUS GRAND PRIX IVAN LUKASHEVICH 32 1:32.779
26 8 MANOR RACING RIO HARYANTO 33 1:32.815
27 6 STATUS GRAND PRIX KOTARO SAKURAI 29 1:32.991
28 16 CARLIN RICHARD BRADLEY 32 1:33.188